Here’s a bunch of my random observations about Data Centers for your consideration:

I made this illustration using AI and one or more data centers

• As more and more of our lifestyle, employment, and prosperity depend on information / data / automation / artificial intelligence it seems the growth of data centers (mass information storage and distribution in some form or other) is inevitable.

• Data is money. Control of data is power. Both can be used for good or for evil.

• The relentless collection of personal data is mostly for commercial purposes so far. I type this very post knowing that everything about it and me will be transmitted, received, bought and sold, used and abused, without my knowledge or permission. I’m not okay with that, but there’s nothing I can do about it. Between flock cameras on every street plus phones, computers and Alexas recording every sight, sound, keystroke, and activity 24/7, there is nowhere to hide. Our lives are already hugely influenced by algorithms using all of this collected data.

• We are rushing headlong into a world where privacy will be scarce and precious. Unless one chooses to live off-grid, which most won’t, everything that is within visual or auditory distance of a web-connected device will be available to any entity that gathers it or buys it. I predict that some new industry / technology that protects privacy will make a ton of money.

• Because information is power, governments want as much of it as they can get and are in a race to control it. I suspect most data centers are speculative businesses wanting to cash in on the government gravy train, like the medical and education institutions have done in recent years. Famous criminal Willie Sutton, when asked why he robbed banks, said “that’s where the money is.” Smart investors will build data centers to feed our government’s insatiable appetite for information and BTW, the government is “where the money is.”

• The United States is in a fierce competition with China to collect information – mostly data about America and Americans, not so much about China and the Chinese. The CCP is instigating much of the opposition to the wave of data center construction so that they can “corner the market”. How do they intend to use it? Commercially? Politically? Militarily? Probably all of the above. Some will say (including President Trump) that data centers are necessary for national security.

• Local governments face the choice of welcoming data centers or rejecting them. Early projects brought mixed results – some were transformational and positive for their adoptive communities, and some were disastrous. Lessons were learned. Any community that gets surprised and abused after so much trial-and-error with water and power use, noise, and other early issues, deserves what they get for not doing their due diligence and building etched-in-stone protections. But those who run from this abundant revenue opportunity will be left with regrets.

• A central (and scary) issue is the burgeoning surveillance state. The sudden explosion of flock cameras is evidence that our government is determined to know everything about all of us, all the time, even though it makes a mockery of our constitution. We apparently are happy to trade the security gained for the loss of privacy and potential for abuse, as there is no pushback to be found anywhere. A friend of mine was recently rousted by local police and accused of car theft when a flock camera found his license plate number erroneously matched to a crime in a distant state. Law enforcement (and mistakes) at this accelerated level are not possible without quick access to massive data.

• Data collection and distribution has changed our political system irretrievably as each of us individually are fed a constant stream of curated and censored news and propaganda based on algorithms that know what gets our own adrenalin pumping. Recent investigations prove that China has used our stolen voter data to influence elections.

• Those who are immovably opposed to data centers may be picking the right fight, but for the wrong reason. The threat to our freedom trumps the prospect of higher utility bills. We need to fight the conversion to central bank digital currency with every breath, because that will be the end of the fairest and most beneficial economic system in history. It’s just one more reason why the government is pushing data centers.

• As our public schools become more computer-driven the data collection extends to our children. The cycle of control via personal data is now cradle-to-grave.

• It’s the predicted arrival of Big Brother. Almost 50 years ago Pink Floyd observed, “We don’t need no education, we don’t need no thought control.” We don’t need no data centers either, but that horse has left the barn. Prayers are in order.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side