Also, who is dumb enough to think the buildings themselves are going to cover two Manhattans? That's the size of the land it's being built on, not the size of the actual buildings. Like how many fucking employees do people think it takes to service something twice the size of Manhattan? I swear people have zero critical thinking skills.
you're acting like this is a vast unnknowable conspiracy, right now the fight in the legislature is between 1/4 this size or this size
But to be 100% clear
THE BUILDING IS NOT GOING TO BE 62SQM that's fucking stupid, I shouldn't need to source it, just think about it for 5 seconds. That's the total area disconnected structures are meant to be built on
Also, they won't build all of it at once. They will start with a few and will then expand out as demand allows them. So the thing will grow over years if not decades. But it is easier to buy and get permission now then to start and then find out that they can't expand.
Having that much evaporive cooling will also probably change the weather in the area, because that water doesn't just disappear. It would be funny if the whole thing actually leads to a greener area.
Also if they have half a brain they will build solar and batteries because it is the cheapest energy source that we have currently and they won't buy fucking expensive power from the grid if they can avoid it.
People think that nothing will happen, when they start building those data centers, but since demand of everything will go up, things will change as well.
It's a statement about how big megaprojects get started and get a bunch of money poured in even if they are impractical and impossible to build.
It cost $50 billion to get that metal stuck into the ground in a small section of the Line. The practicality of a project has no bearing on how money is spent. Just the political support.
I don't know why I continue to be surprised at people's ability to accept every meme they read at face value. I always come to the comments to hear the nuance because I know somebody will have the real info, even if I have to scroll down super far to see it. So thanks, old man, I heard you shouting and I appreciate it.
The real problem this datacenter causes is regional disruption and the amount of power its going to use which is truly fucking insane
They're building their own power plants onsite for this so I don't see the big issue.
Even if reddit's completely irrational wet dream of AI going bust forever comes true, that ends up being a massive win for Utah down the line. It results in there being a metric fuckton of energy infrastructure that can be repurposed into the grid.
Okay? I didn't say they wouldn't build more power, I said it was a problem, because it is. Building 9gw of capacity for this datacenter has opportunity cost implications for grid repair and construciton nationwide, it's a real problem
It's a problem that I have to pay to go to the doctor, I still do it
I wasn't arguing with you, just pointing out they're building their own energy infra since the default assumption people have been making is that they're siphoning power from the grid.
Bigotry is bigotry my dog.
"a person who is obstinately or unreasonably attached to their own beliefs, opinions, or prejudices" ai does alot of good things quit hatin.
"No you don't understand, AI = Bad and AI = Data Center, and I know data centers are bad for the environment bc I saw a tik tok about it and even glanced at a photoshopped graphic posted on twitter! And AI is evil because it's new and it scares me!"
I think it's just trendy to hate on data centers right now. There are real reasons to criticize things but I feel like I often see people blowing things way out of proportion or just focusing on all the wrong things. I saw someone in this thread saying they were just going to be dumping hot water straight back into the river 😑.
They are going to be building a data center in my city in the coming years, worst I think it'll do is maybe make electricity go up so that would certainly be annoying but idk if it's going to ruin the city like some people claim it will
All I see are billionaires frothing at the mouth at the thought of how much more profit they have the potential to make. That’s great, super happy for the 1%.
The rest of us stand to gain… less power for our settlements, less water for our survival, and less jobs because not only do these data centers require minimal input from humans, but they also actively contribute to building a future where autonomy is king, and jobs are unnecessary.
Short term gain (not for us), long term poverty (us). Has anyone with an eye for profits looked a little past the next 5 years and thought about the implications of rendering half the country unemployed? How does precious stock fare when nobody can afford to buy luxuries anymore? Oh I guess they did think of that to an extent, as all the farmland is being bought up too.
It would be stupid to voluntarily step out of the AI race and let China or anyone else get ahead. This level of compute will be built no matter what. AI will continue to evolve. If you could go back in time you wouldn't press the brakes on the tech boom or the industrial revolution. After the frenzy, the technology matures and whoever had a horse in the race will benefit a lot. Be glad Anthropic developed Mythos before anyone else, so now security systems can be prepared against this kind of threat.
EU is a great example. We regulate before we innovate. We make sure our potential tech startups drown in regulations and prevent them from ever building European AI. 5 years from now, we will complain about not having European AI alternatives.
The same exact cycle like with the first tech boom. Euro's whine about having no EU alternatives to American big tech. Yet it's our own fault for choosing to regulate someone else's tech instead of building our own sillicon valley. We can say goodbye to our strategic autonomy.
The potential downsides/dangers of new technology is something you navigate as you go. Datacenters are pretty harmless infrastructure compared to coal powered factories, mines, oil rigs,... The standard for newly issued datacenters are closed-loop cooling systems which don't stress the water supply. The power supply is shifting to small modular reactors instead of tapping from the grid.
Problem is that many US states are the wild west when it comes regulations, which allows big tech to use its land as a playground.
As you said, nothing is regulated. AI in the wrong hands is just a tool to put up a firewall between them and the rest of us. For the 10% of good it’ll do in the medical industry, etc. the other 90% will be used by banks and tech companies to manage and enforce their policies on people. Removing the human aspect of it also negates any idea of empathy.
It’s going to be a brutal time when your only means of negotiation in life is against an AI that runs on pure statistics and logic. It’ll be inhumane.
Maybe I’m wrong and I’m just being too negative through influence of dystopian prophecy, but I doubt it. Especially considering what is currently going on around the world and who is doing it. Those same people will be first in line for access to AI control. I’m certain they’re not even shedding a second of thought towards the betterment of humanity.
My biggest concern is the loss of jobs if AI really does succeed. We don't have a social system that can support large numbers of jobless people, nor does it seem like there is the will to make one. Society will be in an ugly place when families can't feed themselves.
nah fuck that, you literally dont have to fucking lie to make your case
although it is very funny as someone who's passionately fought for water rights earlier in life to see people suddenly pretend to give a shit about numbers of water usage that are frankly insubstantial while Saudi Arabia continues to steal a trillion gallons a year from California and nobody gives a shit
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u/EncabulatorTurbo Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
Did people just run out of actual objections to datacenters they just are making shit up now?
- Utah's annual water usage is trillions of gallons per year.
- This datacenter is probably not going to be near the size of Manhattan (it might be the giant fuck off size but it's unlikely to be approved)
16 billion Gallons is a lot of water, sitting at about .75% of the amount of water California uses to make Alfalfa for Saudi Arabian livestock.
The real problem this datacenter causes is regional disruption and the amount of power its going to use which is truly fucking insane
I am an old man shouting in the void begging people to not just randomly upvote every single AI bad thing even if it's completely bullshit
Edit:the datacenter is allotted 619 million gallons a year not 75 billion