#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
Many of us grow up in small towns, rural areas or neighborhoods of larger cities and grow fond of the area, the people etc.
But, when we enter adulthood, perhaps going off to college, it hits us: we may not realize our full potential if we settle down back home. Settle may be the operative word here.
New York Times columnist David Brooks discussed this phenomenon. He wondered whether, in the meritocracy vs. government race, it would be so bad if meritocracy won.
In a nutshell, a young person leaves home and goes off to college. He realizes his limited potential if he moved back home, where only a small percentage of the folks living there had college degrees. He decides to move to a place where, as Brooks quotes, up to 50% of the people have college degrees, i.e. San Francisco, San Jose, Boston, Washington or the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina.
The folks back home may call him snooty for not wanting to move home. But he has a degree from an elite university, i.e. Stanford or an Ivy League school. He got good enough grades back home to get into the prestigious school, did well once he got there and now HAS to reside where people are more like the new him.
WAITING TO HEAR THOSE WORDS
A friend relayed the story of his childhood. He grew up on a farm in Georgia. When he wasn’t in school, he was working on the farm. He enjoyed some aspects of farming, but it was backbreaking work.
Finally, in his teen years, he told his father that he did not want to do this the rest of his life.
His father, it turned out, had been waiting years to hear those words.
Farming taught him hard work. But it also taught him how NOT to spend his life. There was so much more out there.
He stayed in Georgia, but had a superb sales career.
So what’s wrong with growing up in a small town, or rural area, or a specific neighborhood of a city? Nothing at all. But the kids grow up in an age of equality – everyone is the same and should be treated as such. When they move on to bigger and better things, they have to learn to go for distinction. They must be more accomplished, more cutting edge, to thrive in the new world, as Brooks points out.
This distinction even occurs in higher education. Many universities look to hire professors from the elite schools. Even the graduates they produce are not good enough, Brooks says.
The world demands innovation, collaboration, global thinking. Where one has grown up often thrives on a collective sameness and routine. There is security in sameness. There is tradition in sameness. There is equality in sameness. But for those who want to thrive in the world, change must be the operative word.
There is good news for those who may live in the sameness of “home,” wherever that is. There are many ways for you to prosper without leaving home. To check out one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. Like the young college grad who needs to move out of his comfort zone into the bigger world, those left at home may have to leap outside their comfort zones. And, it can be done without leaving home.
The moral here is that sameness and equality may not improve the world as it should. Those seeking to see their great potential thrive have to depart their world of sameness and venture out into the world of competition, and, yes, discomfort.
It isn’t to say that they shouldn’t help the folks back home. But, they don’t have to settle for the sameness of their parents’ world. The more people who jump from their comfort zones to find their full potential, the better the world will be. Striving to be equal has far worse consequences than striving to be better.
Peter
