Data Center victory in Manassas

[gary]

Just to offer a somewhat contrary opinion on data centers. I think its rather simplistic to think "Data Centers bad". For better or worse, they are the future, or at least the foreseeable future. If the US wants to be a leader in AI development we need the infrastructure to support it, and data centers are a key part of that. I think a lot of opposition to data centers is fear of AI. Which is a kind of a Luddite attitude. We can't hold back the future. That does not mean we should not regulate it, but its coming whether we like it or not. So these things need to be built somewhere where its cost effective. I do agree its well past time that governments look at how data centers are regulated, but with an eye towards making them cost effective and to limit their impact on the rest of us.

That being said, the investment in them should also require an investment in expanding the power grid and other resources that these centers use. As a former real estate lawyer this seems like a perfect opportunity for society to use zoning laws to decide where we can build these things, and to require any developer to also contribute towards the costs of the resources that also must be built. These are commonly known as impact fees and are pretty standard in many parts of the country. Especially in more densely populated areas.

As for this particular project, my understanding is that it is adjacent to the battlefield (not on it) and people were complaining about the buildings being seen above the trees from the battlefield. My question is, if not a data center, then what use of the land would be acceptable to folks? Would you prefer a condominium project that brings in thousands of residents and much more car traffic? A data center is at least a low impact use of land in terms of traffic and other effects other than electricity and water. It seems the answer of what would be acceptable is usually limited to keep it as farm land forever, which becomes more and more implausible in a rapidly developing area like Northern Virginia. Not to mention that people want to deprive the owner of making a profit on their land without compensating them for it. If the answer truly is keep it as farm land, then the owner needs to be compensated for the loss of development rights. Who is going to pony up for that payment?

And for the people questioning if the investors will ever get a return on their investment, I suggest if that concerns you then don't invest. Otherwise, its not really your concern. If people want to make that investment and take on that risk, that is what capitalism is all about.

All right, flame on.

Data Centers are not about AI. That's just a strawman sales pitch. They're about track/trace and imposing an electronic control grid over the peasantry. AI has some use, but predictive programming is not one of them. Peter Thiel's (y'know, VP Vance's big supporter/buddy) Palantir provides predictive programming to the IDF so the latter can whack potential dissidents before they cause problems --- them AND their family (collateral damage). The Chinese Communist Party showed us the horror of AI and social credit score. Persona non grata types can't buy tickets to visit/leave. When programmable money comes in, then they can adjust prices to reflect your score.

As for "low impact", how about all water they use to cool their circuitry down? Never mind we're in a drought situation in the SW and I'm certain Utah isn't much better if any off than Coloradostan. It's worse in NM, AZ and NV. At least the Chinese build their data centers near the ocean. Energy consumption is another matter. They used to worry about "globular warming" but there's no need to worry about energy generation when it comes to data centers. It's kind of an admission that warming was all bovine feces designed to reduce human activity and impose bovine fecal oriented carbon tax.

I can see a time when people begin rejecting AI and go toward a humans-first movement. Real social interaction like when we were kids and not FB friends that you've never met in person. American programmed AI is stupid. It had PC built into in and when you asked AI to generate an image of a German soldier, you got a black man (OK, there were a handful of black Arabs) in a Wehrmacht uniform. You even got Asian Females in the Union. How lame and useless. The Chinese don't put the same PC Agenda driven garbage into their AI. We've already lost the race because of the garbage the programmers put in.

 

[Belfoured]

Just to offer a somewhat contrary opinion on data centers. I think its rather simplistic to think "Data Centers bad". For better or worse, they are the future, or at least the foreseeable future. If the US wants to be a leader in AI development we need the infrastructure to support it, and data centers are a key part of that. I think a lot of opposition to data centers is fear of AI. Which is a kind of a Luddite attitude. We can't hold back the future. That does not mean we should not regulate it, but its coming whether we like it or not. So these things need to be built somewhere where its cost effective. I do agree its well past time that governments look at how data centers are regulated, but with an eye towards making them cost effective and to limit their impact on the rest of us.

That being said, the investment in them should also require an investment in expanding the power grid and other resources that these centers use. As a former real estate lawyer this seems like a perfect opportunity for society to use zoning laws to decide where we can build these things, and to require any developer to also contribute towards the costs of the resources that also must be built. These are commonly known as impact fees and are pretty standard in many parts of the country. Especially in more densely populated areas.

As for this particular project, my understanding is that it is adjacent to the battlefield (not on it) and people were complaining about the buildings being seen above the trees from the battlefield. My question is, if not a data center, then what use of the land would be acceptable to folks? Would you prefer a condominium project that brings in thousands of residents and much more car traffic? A data center is at least a low impact use of land in terms of traffic and other effects other than electricity and water. It seems the answer of what would be acceptable is usually limited to keep it as farm land forever, which becomes more and more implausible in a rapidly developing area like Northern Virginia. Not to mention that people want to deprive the owner of making a profit on their land without compensating them for it. If the answer truly is keep it as farm land, then the owner needs to be compensated for the loss of development rights. Who is going to pony up for that payment?

And for the people questioning if the investors will ever get a return on their investment, I suggest if that concerns you then don't invest. Otherwise, its not really your concern. If people want to make that investment and take on that risk, that is what capitalism is all about.

All right, flame on.

Without getting into all these points - as to several of which there is reasonable disagreement - a fundamental problem with the Manassas project is that it was approved by a lame duck board and certainly created the appearance of a simple-minded grab for tax base $$$ by local pols headed out the door, other issues be *****. Unfortunately, that sort of tactic seems to be in the playbook of a lot of these groups and what often is their cavalier dismissal of impacts because the project creates temporary jobs and adds $$$$. They're encountering resistance in the West because the locals are properly concerned about the lack of attention to that scarce commodity called water.

 

[CWdiaryPA]

There's much debate re the end result of these centers. "AI" seems a bad joke in the shadow of what some see marching up the horizon toward Americans, which is technofeudalism. Own nothing, be happy, eminent domain land grabs, car switch-offs, social credit scores, everything an app, renting instead of owning now even entertainment, fees fees fees monthly. Quite something at the 250th anniversary, isn't it.
For what's going on in Georgia, see @Ansleysgarden or find her on YouTube, Ansley Brown.

Here's more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Techno-authoritarianism

 

[James Brenner]

Given how quickly things are changing, I wonder if, by the time all the data centers are built, the technology that goes into them won't be obsolete, requiring a different kind of facility.

Just an idle thought.