What are Data Centers for?

Hans Blaster · Jun 28, 2026

RDKirk said:
Wait..."Colossus?"

They named it "Colossus?"

How is this not going to come back to bite us?

Musk is part of a cadre of tech billionaires that read some cautionary tales in speculative/science/fantasy fiction as a youth and decided to use the object lesson of what not to do as inspiration. I used to think that the Bond Villians were over the top, but Musk basically is a Bond villain at this point. He'll probably try to set of a major fault line soon...

Stopped_lurking · Jun 28, 2026

RDKirk said:
Wait..."Colossus?"

They named it "Colossus?"

How is this not going to come back to bite us?

Haha, I know it is the wrong movie. But if it asks "Shall we play a game?", just pull the plug.

CaspianSails · Jun 28, 2026

Landon Caeli said:
I don't understand why so much power and water are being used, for data centers, since I haven't personally noticed much difference in my life prior to data centers. Is there something big we should be expecting in the future that they will do?

I've heard general excuses for their existence, such as "AI", and "cloud", and "data"... But we've already had those things, and we already have AI, so what's the purpose of wanting more data centers?

Is there a goal that the masses are allowed to know about? Or is it a secret?

I would say, first, what is called AI today is neither artificial or intelligent. It is a process of search (data collection), data correlation, comparison and filtering which is then compiled and creats an output. It is a simple, by computer standards, process and is not intelligient. This requires an extreme amount of processing and memory. Which leads us to hyperscaled data centers which simply means lage enough to provide the storage and processing required for the many such requests to be executed simutaneously. Computer chips running at high speeds within relatively small areas generate extreme heat which left unchecked would consume the processors themselves, this the need for cooling. It is expected that systems will "learn" from the results decreasing the need for extensive search. However that would also result in new searches of more limited data and in the short run create more biased results and no learning. Will these devices reach intelligience? Doubtful in our lifetime but possible at some point. Quantum computing systems have the promise of a small amount of inteligience eventually, but quantum brings its own randomized and unstable issues which are yet meaningfully addressed. So, yes data centers are needed but we may just be chasing our tails in the search to create intelligience.

essentialsaltes · Jul 1, 2026

New Mexico residents say their names used without permission to support Project Jupiter data center

Residents from three New Mexico cities say their names falsely appeared on letters urging state environment officials to approve air quality permits for the controversial Project Jupiter data center after they were approached by canvassers for the project.

Residents in Las Cruces, Albuquerque and Rio Rancho in interviews said that canvassers in Project Jupiter T-shirts approached them while they were pumping gas or leaving the grocery store and asked for their opinions on the $165 billion data center development under development in southern New Mexico, which is expected to support Oracle’s and OpenAI’s operations.

All three recalled telling the canvassers either that they were skeptical or outright opposed to the development, citing concerns about its water use and environmental impact. None of them voiced support for the project, they said.

As each of them ended the conversations, they said the canvassers asked for their email addresses so they could provide more details about Project Jupiter.

All three told Source NM that soon afterward they received emails thanking them for making public comments on the New Mexico Environment Department’s online portal. The public comment period for project developer Yucca Growth Infrastructure’s air quality permit application ends July 6.

In each case, the residents’ names appeared at the bottom of identical form letters.

CIA Agent #1029 · Jul 3, 2026

Landon Caeli said:
I don't understand why so much power and water are being used, for data centers, since I haven't personally noticed much difference in my life prior to data centers. Is there something big we should be expecting in the future that they will do?

I've heard general excuses for their existence, such as "AI", and "cloud", and "data"... But we've already had those things, and we already have AI, so what's the purpose of wanting more data centers?

Is there a goal that the masses are allowed to know about? Or is it a secret?

I live in bumbuck nowhere, so I don't have personal experience with it. My location is extremely unsuited for datacenters too.

Can you explain what you mean? Just how bad is it?

Desk trauma · Jul 4, 2026

jacks said:
What are Data Centers for?

Heat islands for the lizard people.

Nithavela · Jul 4, 2026

CIA Agent #1029 said:
I live in bumbuck nowhere, so I don't have personal experience with it. My location is extremely unsuited for datacenters too.

Can you explain what you mean? Just how bad is it?

It's about yay bad:

essentialsaltes · Jul 9, 2026

Cheyenne suspends datacenter wastewater after rare bacterium traced to Meta's AI site

Meta's massive data center in Cheyenne, Wyoming, isn't even finished, but it's already become another illustration of why more people would rather live next to a nuclear power plant than one of these facilities. City officials say wastewater from the site introduced a rare bacterium into Cheyenne's reclaimed water system, forcing a cleanup and a wider pause on data center discharges.

Cheyenne's Board of Public Utilities (BOPU) traced Cupriavidus gilardii to wastewater discharged by Goat Systems, a contractor working on Meta's $800 million, 715,000-square-foot data center south of the city. The facility, announced in 2024, is being built for Meta's AI workloads and is expected to come online in 2027.

Cheyenne has not only revoked Goat Systems' discharge privileges; it has also suspended discharges of data center fill-and-flush and closed-loop cooling wastewater from every data center connected to city services.

Cheyenne's reuse water system was taken offline, and BOPU staff spent two months draining and disinfecting the network and Prairie View Pond. Affected irrigation systems were temporarily switched to potable water supplies to prevent the bacterium from spreading through the reuse network.

essentialsaltes · Jul 14, 2026

Utility giant Georgia Power is planning to build a new transmission line to in part help power new data centers. It estimates 70-80% of the power on the new line will help serve data centers and the remaining 20-30% of power will serve the state's growing residential and commercial demand.

According to the company, increasing demand has outpaced the capacity of its existing grid and building a new transmission line requires acquiring more than 300 parcels of land, including residential properties.

Ansley Brown's childhood home that she said was built when she was 5 or 6 years old is just one of the properties impacted.

essentialsaltes · Tuesday at 12:33 PM

The Trump administration is exempting data centers from pollution laws intended to prevent acid rain
The EPA calls this one of the president's "commonsense approaches to regulating."

The Trump administration just announced that it is exempting data centers from certain pollution limits that were originally mandated to prevent acid rain, according to a report by Reuters. Simply put, power plants that primarily serve data centers will not have to be part of the Clean Air Act's Acid Rain Program (ARP).

These "islanded" power plants that serve data centers instead of human communities will no longer have to reduce emissions of acid rain precursors like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. There are nearly 60 of these power plants being built or currently operating throughout the country, which were typically fast-tracked by the government.

The EPA says this new guidance is in place because the ARP policies are only for electric utilities. Power plants that serve data centers are not considered utilities, as they don't offer any kind of service to the public.

Bloomberg has projected that data centers will account for 20 percent of the nation's energy usage within the next eight years or so.

CIA Agent #1029 · Tuesday at 12:58 PM

essentialsaltes said:
The EPA says this new guidance is in place because the ARP policies are only for electric utilities. Power plants that serve data centers are not considered utilities, as they don't offer any kind of service to the public.

If we're not helping the public, we should at least harm them.

RDKirk · Tuesday at 1:48 PM

essentialsaltes said:
The Trump administration is exempting data centers from pollution laws intended to prevent acid rain
The EPA calls this one of the president's "commonsense approaches to regulating."

The Trump administration just announced that it is exempting data centers from certain pollution limits that were originally mandated to prevent acid rain, according to a report by Reuters. Simply put, power plants that primarily serve data centers will not have to be part of the Clean Air Act's Acid Rain Program (ARP).

These "islanded" power plants that serve data centers instead of human communities will no longer have to reduce emissions of acid rain precursors like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. There are nearly 60 of these power plants being built or currently operating throughout the country, which were typically fast-tracked by the government.

The EPA says this new guidance is in place because the ARP policies are only for electric utilities. Power plants that serve data centers are not considered utilities, as they don't offer any kind of service to the public.

Bloomberg has projected that data centers will account for 20 percent of the nation's energy usage within the next eight years or so.

We have been conquered by aliens. This is what being conquered is like.

Hans Blaster · Tuesday at 1:50 PM

RDKirk said:
We have been conquered by aliens. This is what being conquered is like.

Or oligarchy.

High Fidelity · Tuesday at 2:18 PM

I think there should be concerns about monopoly, but hopefully Nvidia and SpaceX will go ahead and build data centres in space which will solve the energy and water issue.

Space-based computing power will be the future.

Desk trauma · Tuesday at 3:37 PM

Hans Blaster said:
Or oligarchy.

Same thing.

What are Data Centers for?

Returning from Wilusa

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Fact-Based Lifeform

New Mexico residents say their names used without permission to support Project Jupiter data center​

I Watch Your Every Move

[redacted]

you're in charge you can do it just get louis

Fact-Based Lifeform

Cheyenne suspends datacenter wastewater after rare bacterium traced to Meta's AI site​

Fact-Based Lifeform

Fact-Based Lifeform

I Watch Your Every Move

Alien, Pilgrim, and Sojourner

Returning from Wilusa

Well-Known Member

[redacted]

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New Mexico residents say their names used without permission to support Project Jupiter data center

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