Middle America resists AI data centers via local NIMBY power
joshua_saxe · x · 2026-08-22
The author contrasts the California tech bubble with Kansas' work-to-live culture, where Big Tech feels like a distant, uncontrollable force. Locals recently stopped a suspected OpenAI or Meta data center, viewing this physical resistance—possible because infrastructure is capital-intensive—as a rare "off switch" against tech expansion. While intellectually pro-data center, the author criticizes the tech industry's blindness to these grassroots dynamics.
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