Fast Takes on Tech: Make ‘Peace’ With Data Centers

“I grew up in Pennsylvania in the 1970s,” recalls Steven Greenhut at The Orange County Register, when “giant steel mills, oil refineries, and clanking, pollution-spewing factories” all “loomed over our communities.” So why the panic over “clean, low-slung and quiet” data centers? The nation’s “data-center concerns are so severe” that they’re warping politics from Michigan to Texas. The “hysteria is channeling the public’s inchoate fears about the rapid expansion of AI and is a flash point for anger at tech moguls and billionaires.” And “if that is upsetting voters, then you can be sure politicians will eagerly take advantage of their angst.” Yet if “we want to have easy access to computer innovations, then we need to make peace with” the creation of data centers nationwide.