No data centers in my backyard: Wisconsin residents push back on the AI buildout
ivan_bezdomny · x · 2026-08-19
Jasmine Sun published a long-form Substack piece, "No Data Centers In My Backyard," reporting from Wisconsin on the most tangible conflict of the AI boom: hyperscale data centers landing "like a spaceship crash" in rural America.
Key points:
- Data centers are the most visible, physical manifestation of the AI boom, often spanning hundreds of acres and wrapped in new transmission lines
- Research in DC in February found the two uniting issues of the AI backlash are kids' safety and data centers — very different from SF's fears of self-propagating machine species
- Through spring, proposed data center sites lit up digital maps, followed by proposed moratoriums; viral videos showed protesters dragged out of city meetings and residents with brown tap water
- The piece frames the conflict through money, power, and populism in the AI buildout
Related event: Data centers face NIMBY backlash rooted in distrust of Big Tech(3 posts)→
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