198
Oh, I don't want new data centers anywhere.
Same. We have more than enough compute for what we need.
If we could kill all these stupid generative AI companies and allocate that compute to actual scientific research, that’d be great, thanks.
Does this imply that 53% do want data centers or was there a "no opinion" option. Unfortunately I can't read the article due to the paywall.
There doesn't seem to be a paywall on the source the article links to. From there:
Nearly half (47%) of U.S. residents oppose the construction of an artificial intelligence data center in their neighborhood, while 38% support it.
That seems to leave 15% "no opinion".
Gen Zers (48%) and millennials (50%) are more likely than Gen Xers (38%) and baby boomers (22%) to support data centers in their backyard.
Broken down by political preference, roughly half (49%) of Republicans support the construction of an AI data center in their neighborhood, compared with 36% of Democrats.
They don’t own homes, so they are likely less protective of what is built near them.
(Obviously many of them do, but statistically they are less likely)
I'm wondering why younger generation supports it. Are they thinking it will create jobs (it won't, very few people are need to operate a data center) or it is some other reason?
I only see drawbacks, like higher energy bills, higher water bills, typically an ugly windowless building.
With the AI trend there might be some coal power plant kicked off that pollutes the neighborhood like musk does in Tennessee.
They are less likely to be home owners and understand what actually goes into owning a home, and all of it's problems for decades.
But they are also the least likely to be voting for, or against data centers so it could also be ignorance.
It's like if I asked my toddlers opinion of a $500 bounce house.
And apparently the noise is relentless and mind-breaking.
It absolutely is: https://youtu.be/t-8TDOFqkQA
I've been in a data center and yes the noise is quite loud from all the fans in servers and AC running, but it is just inside.
I am by no means an expert but I think most of the noise pollution coming from data centers is outside of the perceptible range for humans.
This video breaks down infrasound rather well and demonstrates the issues it can pose for people living miles away from the source. This could also have several unstudied consequences for wildlife as well.
who's going to blame the boomers now?
I will, just for tradition.
DAMN YOU BOOMERS!
eyeshift
Admittedly most also don't want many social services, below market housing etc near them either...
I wonder how this compares to the percentages of people that want construction of any kind near their homes.
I imagine the number of people who want construction and the number of people who think homes are investments are close to a circle in venn diagram terms.
Buy somewhere that's nice. Let it become development hell. Sell high.
Oooh, interesting! I'd bet pretty closely given the low-ish percentage but I'm not sure of any survey that asks so explicitly (nor am I sure respondents would be honest/accurate about construction "of any kind".)
At least they’re justified in not wanting data centers near them, the other stuff is just straight up poor people hatred. Opening another fracking site or oil well pump might be a better comparison.
The point is that whether Americans want more or less of something near them is a very bad metric for judging something.
I'll go one further.
I don't want new data centers built. Period.
My neighborhood. Your neighborhood. The middle of the nevada dessert. Doesn't matter. Globally I don't want new data centers.
There are plethora of reasons to not want datacenters in the neighborhood but people in my country has been using the wildest reason to protest.
Electromagnatic field. Yes. They are afraid of "getting cancer by electronics in the datacenter"
God people are fucking stupud.
Wow. That's another depressingly low stat.
Those are rookie numbers gotta get that shit up.
The other half have no idea how loud they are and how much their water and power build would go up.
this post was submitted on 06 May 2026
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