Marshall McLuhan tells us that every technology is a prosthetic, and every prosthetic entails an amputation. We lost our legs (and visible abs) to the automobile. Memory died with the printing press. Apple’s advertisements for its new “airpods” tell us what artificial intelligence proposes to amputate.
Apple plans to launch these in 2027. They will have tiny cameras built in, not to take photos, but to be the eyes of your phone’s artificial intelligence. One ad I viewed boasted that the airpod cameras would scan your refrigerator for ingredients, and instruct you what to make for dinner. In other words, AI is aimed straight at choice and will.
For this reason alone, I am no friend of AI, and do not intend to use it anywhere it can be avoided. There are however, many people who make use of AI, who are also opposed to data centers. Should they be derided as hypocrites? Must we exclude them from our number? Does their use of AI in opposing data centers make us all ridiculous?
No, no, and no. The first thing to get out of the way is that all of the references to “AI Data Centers” are so many euphemisms. When most people hear AI, they think of image, video, and music creation, productivity enhancement, or perhaps “winning the race against China”–but there are other, more sinister uses of this technology, publicly discussed, but less advertised by news media. An individual using AI to generate a hamster kaiju is just as irrelevant to the development of over 600 data centers in the Commonwealth, as an individual social media user is to a color revolution in Ukraine.
The internet, social media, and artificial intelligence were developed for military and surveillance applications. A purist would refuse to use all of these, on the same grounds—but we don’t have time for ideological or praxeological fastidiousness. We have a job to accomplish. It starts with opposing the Botetourt data center, and I will welcome any tool that presents itself. At data center rallies, I have spoken to avowed communists, and to men sporting confederate flag hats. Some are concerned about environmental issues, some about increased water rates, others direct impacts to their property, and many are weary of runaway development touted as “progress.” I’ll take any and all of the above.
I recognize each of these, and my chief concern touches them all. In the decade after the Second Great War, government in the United States was reengineered to create a hierarchy of public-private partnerships, ultimately responsible to entities like the Bank of International Settlements and the United Nations, and following the trend of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Every state was affected; the Commonwealth of Virginia fell in 1950. Corruption we had had before—the instant great fortunes were amassed, they purchased legislatures—but this institutionalized corporate control of policy and resources.
To repeat, our current model of government, national, state, and local, was engineered for corporate access and control. I could give you historical citations, but the proof is all about you. Let’s consider some local testimony. Here are partial transcriptions of two statements made at yesterday’s meeting of the Botetourt County Planning Commission.
Linda George made these excellent and moving remarks:
“Every decision that has been happening in our county is based on revenue, it has nothing to do with quality of life…exemptions left right and center…as a matter of fact what you’re doing is depleting the quality of this area…we’re an agricultural community…builders get whatever they want and we get nothing, and we lose something every single time…it’s very difficult when you constantly feel like you’re losing something every single time we come here, and that’s why we are all upset, because we are losing something, and we’re not getting it back.”
And, from the stalwart Danny Goad:
“I’m amazed, to say the least, that questions are raised about water, how many times have questions been raised about water, and you still can not admit that this is for Google…The Western Virginia Water Authority installed a sixteen inch line to deal with pressure problems in Highland Manor. Come on, you don’t believe that, you didn’t believe it then, and you shouldn’t believe that…necessarry to supply eighty homes. Did you know before you installed the sixteen inch line, how much pipe you had coming into Botetourt County on the northern side along Lee Highway? An eight inch line and a twelve inch line for everyone in that part of the county. You have no idea how much water this is. You have no idea what your capacity is. And why, why must the county keep lying to the people?…The Roanoke Valley and Botetourt County is going to suffer because of what’s going on with our water…and there is nothing you’re going to be able to do to solve the problem except kick the big consumer out…You are taking all of our water. I don’t know how in the world Roanoke County and Roanoke City are sitting idly by and allowing you to do it. They’re going to be bringing out pitchforks in Roanoke County and Roanoke City when all of this is done.”
Arguments about AI use are pointless until such time as we have meaningful control of our local governments. All hands on deck. No time for quarrelling in the ranks.
Also in this series:
The Botetourt Data Center: Vampire Pimps
The Botetourt Data Center: The Legacy of Fascism
The Botetourt Data Center & the Lie of Freedom
If It’s Not Love, Then It’s the Data Center That Will Bring Us Together
The Botetourt Data Center: A Bad Deal with a Scammy Cherry on Top
The Botetourt Data Center, The Water Authority, and an Invitation to Corruption
The Botetourt Data Center: Bilious Corporate Prerogative
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