Actually yes. They did vote for this.

People should be angry and upset about this. Similar to the story some weeks ago where residents of a small Texan town (seemingly rightfully at first) complained about the noise pollution of a Bitcoin mining farm. Turns out they all voted Republican. It's always "we'll deregulate and bring business" just that the modern businesses they bring are a net negative for the area except for the politicians and the companies. Is almost like these regulations were there for a reason.

Both Bitcoin and AI are stupid VC money that only matters in a very small bubble, and they're not business in a traditional sense. They just leech resources at their compute centers to make the people who own them and live far away rich. I pity all this who didn't vote for this kind of bullshit. The rest, enjoy your shorter showers and everything else! But remember, it's the Dems who want to dictate stuff like water usage. Not in my free country! Oh, the water is gone because a greedy Corp stole it? That's fine, one day it's my turn to be rich.

This but just the Microsoft logo lol

It's always a good idea to put computer centers in areas with water scarcity. /s

If AI centres need so much cooling, why are they building them in Texas in the first place?

During the 1986-1992 California drought, we were informed in the San Francisco Bay Area region that water service prices were going to go up unless we conserved strictly.

They said this to a bunch of California hippies, on account that we were in California.

So we way got on board. We stopped flushing. Any water that was rendered non-potable we'd repurpose for watering plants or filter it for second use. Japanese naval baths (weird tiny bowl seats and a sponge, used in the Imperial Navy, WWII) got popular so people were keeping clean via a tenth of normal water usage.

We conserved too much according to the water department and they raised prices anyway.

This sparked some investigations (by journalists, since investigative journalism was still a thing then) and found that agriculture got water for much cheaper, and was still using it once before flushing it (now laced with pesticides) out into the sea. Needless to say, we conservationist hippies were livid.

It's still a problem, as the utility companies routinely lobby our congress and governor (and Newsom may know how to be a California liberal, but he's still a Dianne-Feinstein-style ( / Nancy-Pelosi style) money-grubbing neoliberal. He just has game, especially when opposed to far right idiots. The setup in Monster's Inc (power crisis in a city where scream is the principal power source) was inspired by the Enron fraud affair leading to rolling blackouts and Texas siphoning off California's general fund. And our governments from Schwarzenegger (who I will never forgive) to Newsom are in the pocket of PG&E. (I'm on SMUD now and my bill is conspicuously less.)

Also, according to Climate Town, the Sauds own a lot of California farmland, where they grow alfalfa to import to the mid-east to feed their cows. Alfalfa crops are one of the most water hungry, and is one of the big ways beef is driving the climate crisis (and towards a massive food shortage and global famine!) and the water tables, to which they have access and first-tap rights, gets lower every year. 🕙

So I suspect that the Texas AI centers are getting water at a cheaper rate than private homes. Maybe it's something to get active about.

elon is currrently. using the aquifer drinking water under memphis to cool grok. he’s also powering it with generators and smogging out the city.

please do not use grok.

Texan here: we barely get to vote on shit at all. And they're gerrymandering to make it even harder.

I'd call Texas a clown car but it's too big to qualify.

Yes, Texas did vote for that. Haha, Red states suffering is funny.

@grok this true?

I don't understand why AI data centers would CONSUME water. Once they fill up their chiller loops, then... that's it, right?

It's hard for me to imagine them relying on the temperature of the incoming water, and dumping all the warm water as discharge.

The priorities are completly screwd up. If they found a way to power the AI datacenters with humans, Matrix style, would they ask Texans to sacrifice their first borns to do so?

Why the fuck do they alway pick the driest places to use the most water. Fucking morons

Stoopid Texans. You've got the guns, start using the things. If they need cooling, maybe aerate a few blocks of servers for them.

its funny how these AI centers are mostly if not all in red states only, simply because they know the legislation wont do anything, and encourage them anyways, plus the resident that leans right are less likely to make a big fuss over it.

So not only are Corporations... People

Now they are more important people than regular citizens?

Don’t feed the people but we feed the machines

Why aren’t they building these things underground or repurposing old mines in areas where geothermal is plentiful for power and aquifers are stable, instead of in water-poor, temperature extreme places like Texas and KY? …Oh right, poverty and red voters. Better to exploit and damage then have some upfront cost and long-term stability. I forget.

My country is int he middle of a data center boom, fuelled by the usual royal and political, uh, inputs. We also have seasonal droughts, which often result in water rationing and angry people upset at the mismanagement of our resources. Wonder which will give way first.

You should complain whenever million gallons of water are wasted by corporations seeking profits or by governments for their shady operations. Not just when it's about AI.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Data_Center