Letter: Why are we having seminars on data centers?
The Jasper Chamber of Commerce appears to be interested in promoting a data center in our area as it is sponsoring an event to give a developer from northern Indiana a platform to “educate and inform”. Given the widespread opposition to data centers both here and around the entire country, as well as concerns about their safety it would be more to the point to ask why? The real questions include who wants them and why, who benefits and who doesn’t, and who has the answers. And you are unlikely to get the answer to these questions from such a single biased source.
I think I would be safe in saying that no one would want to live near one. And I can also say with some certainty that they are ALWAYS accompanied by a whole lot of problems which are still being articulated. In addition, a good many of the originators of these AI systems are already backing off and sounding alarms. They are beginning to see the negative impacts, especially now that so many are in operation and the problems that accompany them are intensifying. The supposed benefits are showing their dark side, and clearly, the promises they hold are hollow.
What are they? Artificial Intelligence machines have been in the works for decades. Until recently, they have been the province of few profiteering high-tech geeks who have brought the technological age into being. Historian Jill Lepore explores this in her book THE RISE AND FALL OF THE ARTIFICIAL STATE. Science Fiction has had dark fun with them for over a century, and even today these AI generators can process information at speeds which surpass ordinary human endeavors. Essentially, they create a “reality” which only exists as data. Sadly, these creations are not fail proof. They are programmed to do certain things, but because they have no wisdom, no awe, no empathy, no morals, they can bypass things which are vital to human experience. And they threaten the natural world with their insatiable energy demands. Many, including Pope Leo, see them as destroyers of our humanity.
Who benefits? Those who created them are those who will profit the most financially. Many of them are already billionaires. The developers sign on to make money as well. Often the local developer gets tax breaks, and secures undisclosed perks for bringing them to a community. Almost the only jobs they bring with them are the labor required to build them, for after they are up and running they require few employees. Sadly, there is NO indication that they benefit the communities in which they are built. They bring with them so many problems, some of which are just beginning to manifest, but a few of them are notorious.
They use lots of water and electricity, are noisy around the clock, brightly lit at night, and too often they clash with other needs of the local community, especially when they discover that the data center has first dibs on the energy they are plugged into due to the non-disclosure agreements they make with the governing body who is swayed by their promises of job creation and covering up of side effects. Energy costs rise rapidly for all of the rest of us, and put our needs for water at risk. They are fatal to wildlife, and are terrible relentless neighbors. Their pushers promise job creation, rapid growth, and prosperity for the community, but these things rarely happen after they are built and the construction workers leave the area.
Even as they destroy the overall Quality of Life that the surrounding community possesses, any financial benefits that these endeavors offer are also lost to the entire community and there is much speculation that the developers themselves are at risk financially. There is so much information available, that one letter can only focus on a very few.
What are the answers? One thing you can be sure of is that the developer doesn’t have any of them. These things are moving at such warp-speed that that no one has a definitive answer. One of the biggest things that is being overlooked is the changing climate, another is the interconnectedness of the natural world of which we are only a small part. A major factor of our continued quality of life depends on our ability to live within the limits of this earthly world but sadly, we are already living beyond our limits. And AI is pushing that into even more unpredictable and deadly patterns.
This past weekend I drove from Jasper to Paoli on SR 164 through Celestine and Wickliffe, past Patoka Lake to SR 145 and French Lick then east to Paoli. The curving roads wound through farms, and hillsides glowing the sunlight. I met with old friends and new as I joined a protest around the square, and drove home along a different route down SR 56 past Hillham, Crystal, and Haysville, places where I spent much of my life. The changes there have been slow, and I was reminded of the old saying that the region from Bloomington south to the Ohio River both to the east and the west was a special place, different from all the Indiana north of Bloomington because it was off the beaten path because it had more forests, more farms, more wildlife, and less population than so many places. I have always considered myself a resident of rural Southern Indiana, which like the Appalachian region is “a heaven kind of place.” This is the reality we all depend on.
The countryside and the small towns I drove through were so peaceful, so healthy and so filled with life, that I had trouble imagining anything more perfect. The old curvy roads were a reminder to slow down and enjoy the moments as they pass. And beauty was everywhere. This “Quality of Life” has little to do with money, but with the places and the people who inhabit them. It is what the future needs. Building any new interstate highway, or data center, or BESS facility, anywhere would be a sacrilege. Those of us who live here must continue to community and its high quality of life. This entire region is too healthy to destroy for any amount of money.
Jeanne Melchior
Jasper
We are so blessed to live in a place which contains so many people who are devoted to maintaining a high quality of life for everyone in Southern Indiana. I strongly encourage you to attend the following event.
