224
Rural Americans say they're worried AI data centers will drain their wallets
(www.businessinsider.com)
this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2026
224 points (98.7% liked)
Technology
86251 readers
3722 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
They voted for this.
Generally I agree with this sentiment, but did either American party campaign for AI data centers and/or technological deregulation in 2024? I suspect Trump may have, but I kind of doubt it. I always thought the Dems were the ones who wanted to push the tech industry. Now I think both of them do (maybe different companies/industries but they both wanna cash those checks).
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/why-is-china-treating-north-carolina-like-the-developing-world-122892/
Specific quote:
"American companies have long taken advantage of these trends. A leaked report from the 1980s, which was prepared for a waste-management company seeking a community for “locally undesirable land use,” listed the “least resistant personality profile” as: “longtime residents of small towns in the South or Midwest,” “conservative,” “Republican” and “advocates of the free market.”"
They voted for billionaire rule. Many even said they want a Republican dictatorship.
Both parties are billionaire rule, and America is not a democracy. AI and crypto lobbied both parties hard. There wasn't a chance either would side with the populous. Rather than voting by party -- as if that does anything in a gerrymanded system -- we should be voting for populous candidates who promise voting reform in the primary of whatever party your district is gerrymanded for. We should be reforming our local election systems to actually transition into electoral democracy (ranked voting, lottery option, recall mechanism, randomized districting).
There's not a single other issue worth spending political capital on until we're a democracy because it can all be easily undone.
Since Reagan it has been one of the Republican pillars that businesses should have no regulations, taxes, or standards of any kind. They will of course break from that position when they see an opportunity to screw over a minority or attack a business they don't like for some reason, but otherwise yes ask your average Republican if some business regulation (or regulatory agency) should be repealed and they almost always say yes.
The biggest surprise at the moment is actually that many of the voters are turning against the data centers, although I suspect the majority of them would still oppose any kind of regulatory attempt to block them.
Seems to me this is happening in red states a whole lot more. But what do I know.
Replied to wrong comment.
"American companies have long taken advantage of these trends. A leaked report from the 1980s, which was prepared for a waste-management company seeking a community for “locally undesirable land use,” listed the “least resistant personality profile” as: “longtime residents of small towns in the South or Midwest,” “conservative,” “Republican” and “advocates of the free market.”"
See above comment for link