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Working class neighborhoods are resisting data centers at 5 times the rate of wealthy ones
(www.bloodinthemachine.com)
this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2026
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i.e. the data already takes into account that those data centres are more likely to be built in poorer neighbourhoods.
My hypotheses:
No idea if either/both/none is true.
It might also be the kind of data center that is being built. Cheaper data centers are noisier, inefficient with water, etc
Working class areas may already be distrustful towards large companies coming along and using up all of the local resources
The rich are also more educated. Lemmy hates AI, but other upper-middle-class types might just see a datacenter as a big box full of cool technology.
To plumbers and cashiers, it's more of a new-fangled abomination we don't need.
Being more educated doesn't make llms more useful. Being less educated doesn't make them less fun.
Problem with them is the magnitude of the push vs their usefulness. There was no need for that massive of scaling. It's all "we must get all the investor money before we have to raise prices to become profitable".
If there was any education behind making those slopcenters, they wouldn't make them gas powered in a desert.
No, but appreciating what a big generic building does could require education.
Yes, they're designed and built by illiterate cavemen. /s
Like, obviously you know engineers do that, and are educated and well compensated. It seems like you've drifted off to a different argument here.
You are the one drifting the argument. Slopcenters are built to be cheap now. Like every short term plan. The actual engineering is simple, but still more then "big generic building", which it is not.
Then there is the moral part of the "argument", of which they have none.
And don't bring engineers into this. They do what they are paid for. The requirements come from the cokeheads up top.
Also, poor people are likely to already encounter a massive polluter or nuisance being dropped around there for no benefit to them.
Yeah, past experiences with a wonderproject that actually turns out to be meh may very well be part of it. Especially if it's an older person.
Speaking of pollution, the whole "wifi/5G causes cancer" thing is still out there too, and might be conflated with a datacenter.
Great, they should build them in those neighborhoods.
Even in those neighbourhoods they're still going to inflate water and electricity prices and consumption.