Tag Archives: financial markets

DATA CENTERS RILE UP COMMUNITIES

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#DataCenters #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #neighborhoods #RuralAreas #transparency
No one wants a big data center in his or her back yard.
They use lots of power. They use lots of water. They emit disturbing noise, and who knows what else.
But, at this moment, if the country wants to be the best in the world at artificial intelligence innovation, the data centers might be a necessary evil.
Artificial intelligence has its own pitfalls, when it comes to people. Currently, there’s a real fear that AI will take away lots of jobs people now do.
Still, it’s scientific progress, and that’s hard to stop when it’s in motion.
Therefore, it’s incumbent on us, as a nation, to figure out how best to use AI, and to prevent evil uses of it. And, as data centers are proposed, everything should be done in the open at all phases. No tax breaks. Lots of public hearings during the process.
AI is a big unknown. Even some of its creators are unsure exactly how best to use it once it’s perfected. And, large companies have invested big in AI, and most have yet to see it pay off. That spurs fears of an AI “bubble” bursting in the financial markets.
When there is such an unknown, lots of imaginations run wild – good and bad.
Those who fear for their jobs imagine the worst. Those who wish to innovate imagine the best.
Those who imagine the good create it, then find unintended consequences that are not so good.
So, as one imagines what AI might do, it might be best to either innovate or be flexible enough about one’s life to find ways to make the best of it when it throws a curve at you.
Data centers, meanwhile, are big, hulking artifacts that occupy lots of space. Particularly if you live in a rural area, where most of them are being built or proposed, a data center could be a real eyesore to your neighborhood, and quiet way of life. It might be best to move them to already noisy industrial areas, and make them provide their own power and water, without affecting anyone else’s.
The question not often posed is: If AI technology progresses to the extent that these big data centers ultimately require a smaller footprint, what happens to the big, hulking creations we might need now to bridge the gap?
To illustrate that, remember that computer mainframes were reduced to desktop towers, then to laptop and tablet devices, then to pocket phones.
This all happened in relatively few years. It’s not inconceivable that these big data centers could get smaller, and smaller again, over time.
Then, those who live near the big warehouse data centers would be left with empty monstrosities.
But, here’s the rub: Technology is created in stages. It’s impossible to know when, or even whether, those data centers will get smaller, and, thus, more palatable.
The big centers offer new jobs, but what happens to those jobs when they get smaller?
What do people do as they wait for technology to take its course?
The hopeful thing is that technology usually evolves quickly. The concerning thing during the evolution is much damage to individual lives can be done, and can’t be undone.
This is why it’s important, as individuals, to anticipate the worst and, when it happens, to make the best out of it. Some people will really prosper. Others will be left behind. It may be up to the individual to see on which side of the spectrum he or she will be.
If you get stuck with a big data center near you, make sure those officials who brought it take whatever action necessary to mitigate the problems it will create.
Peter


YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE ALL SET, BUT …

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History may judge the years 2007 to 2012, give or take a few years on either end, as the retirement bust years.
People not only lost jobs just before they were about to retire, but also their pensions shrank.
People who thought they were all set for retirement, with a nice, promised pension, got a rude awakening. The monthly benefit on their retirement documentation shrunk considerably.
It was a combination of the economy tanking, and companies contributing less, if anything at all, to their retirement accounts. Added to that, the stock market , which supports most retirement accounts, took a big tumble. Net worth of everything – companies and individuals — had the bottom fall out.
Even the savviest investor could not prevent what happened in those years, short of taking his money out of the financial markets ahead of time. Any investor who withdraws completely is probably not that savvy. Savvy investors take the ups and downs of the market as an expectation, though no one expected what happened in those years.
So the question becomes not who to blame for the mess. There’s plenty of blame to be spread around among Wall Street, government and, yes, individual decisions. But blaming wastes energy that should be focused on recovery.
We have all had to rethink retirement. Some of us have told ourselves we have to work until we die. Some of those folks may have other alternatives, but they are not seeing them.
Certainly, some of us have said we have to work past the age we thought we were going to retire. That’s fine if you are in good health personally. But don’t think for a minute that your job will be there for as long as you want it. Companies reorganize drastically and often. The younger generation of workers, when they retire, may brag about how many reorgs they survived, just as the older generation is thankful for the steady work they had.
Speaking of young people, they may want to think twice about ASSUMING they will survive every reorg. It’s great to believe, or even be told, how good you are at what you do and how your employer cannot possibly live without you.
But, you can’t always see into the future, especially today. The world changes quickly. Companies are constantly looking at ways to work more efficiently. Lots of good people have lost jobs they expected to have for as long as they wanted to work.
How do we avoid the instinct to cast blame and rethink retirement? First, work on you. Make sure you have a good and optimistic attitude. Remember, those who innovate are usually optimists. It’s tough to see the future properly without believing that all, eventually, will be good.
Secondly, think about the things you DON’T like to do – things that make you “uncomfortable,” or so you believe. Give them a try. Then, try them again, and again etc. This will take you out of your comfort zone, where you may have to go, eventually, to survive.
Thirdly, don’t be afraid to look at something different. The people who lament that they thought they were all set, are many of the same people who tell themselves, “oh, I couldn’t possibly do THAT!”
There are many ways to fight this. For one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. If you leave your comfort zone to look at something new, you may lose the instinct to cast blame for your troubles, and find a way out.
This may not be your dad’s way to retire, but the world has changed. We need to be part of our own solutions, rather than focusing on how we got into trouble.
Think of it this way: the federal government bails out some companies because innocent people would get hurt if they didn’t. But they won’t bail you out as an individual if you get hurt. You have to bail yourself out. You might not only bail yourself out, but prosper in many ways in the process.
Peter