Is this just a “NIMBY” issue or do people actually not want data centers to exist at all?
Neither. People were OK with datacentres when there weren't an utterly absurd number of hugely power- and water-hungry ones crammed full of GPUs running Large Language Models that exist
ONLY to keep pumping more hot air into the "AI" bubble.
"AI" does nothing that is valuable enough (or within three orders of magnitude of valuable enough) to justify the amount of money and resources that are being pumped into this datacentre construction frenzy. And it is almost certain that it never will.
Tidying up some emails, writing legal briefs that cite non-existent precedents, and making fake photos and videos, is vaguely nice to have, but it's not going to ever be worth the insane sums of money that are being invested.
At this point, even the investors don't think the stuff will ever turn a profit; They are running up the price because they believe that when the music stops, they will have been smart enough to grab a seat before there were none left.
Investing in a bubble can make you rich, if you have the testicular fortitude to hang on through the blips, AND the ability to cash out at the top of the curve.
These datacentres are just the visible signs of this aquisitive insanity; They will soak up power and water and land and resources and lives, until the bubble inevitably goes "pop!", and they become derelict shells.
I wouldn't want one anywhere near me, either. (And I would actively welcome, for example, a nuclear power plant in my neighbourhood. I am no luddite nor NIMBY).
