Podcast #208
John Steppling, Hiroyuki Hamada, Dennis Riches
https://x.com/MatrixMysteries/status/2051715799446958328?s=20
https://youtu.be/pCL_7m7nUgo?si=RBUuQlx-QhSPm_6G
https://x.com/fivestarmichael/status/2051777004907659655?s=20
https://x.com/thematrixb0t/status/2052252148994580632?s=20
https://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/
https://x.com/WallStreetApes/status/2052147645221892316?s=20
https://x.com/MAGA__Patriot/status/2051734610740937167?t=ULVDsOR0FbSOmI_FBgW8Mg&s=19
https://x.com/factpostnews/status/2052053839453299000?s=42 https://x.com/sfgate/status/2051723657408335913?s=46&t=R0HHtSoSUnxm3ApvOulW3w
https://peacephilosophy.blogspot.com/2026/05/satoko-oka-norimatsu-can-japan-afford.html
https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2020/08/27/book-review-kindred-neanderthal-life-love-death-and-art/
Hi, I listened to John Steppling's comments on data centres. I would like to chime in on a couple of points.
1. Water usage: it depends on whether the data centre has cooling towers or chilled water systems. Cooling towers use evaporative cooling so yes that design model can use huge amounts of water. One issue is if there is a break in the water supply then the cooling will cease to function unless a back up supply can be secured. I have worked on this issue and it is very diffficult to solve.
However, many new data centres use chilled water, these are closed loop systems so only need occasional top up water - it is a small amount and not an issue. But the trade off is that they use way more electrical power.
2. Deisel generators: They do not run 24/7, not ever. They are part of the back up system in case of a utility blackout. But the noise and vibration is an issue. Monthly no load tests are run which draw complaints from surrounding neighbours. The test has to be carefuly managed and the neighbours informed.
3. Why the explosion in building data centres?: It may be just a case of everyone jumping on the AI bandwagon. Honestly, I am not certain what the truth is, but it appears there are real constraints on the availability of materials and income generated from AI to cover the costs of them.
I am under a pseudonym and it really is necessary. I have to protect my income and the main reason I use one is not to hide from authorities, but so colleagues cannot easily find me online.
Great podcast and I am a regular listener.
Re: Data centers-- yes there's a huge push, and yes it has to do with surveillance and "AI", but, especially for the latter, I think there's also a sort of frenzied "boom" quality to it (which is very American btw), that isn't even part of the planned panopticon. It's, I guess, a "morbid symptom." of the pure spectacle quality of all of it.
But the reason I say this is that I did some research on the Project Jupiter Oracle data center proposal in NM near Texas border.
The NY times sucks but this article actually sets out that dynamic pretty well.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/07/business/boarderplex-new-mexico-data-center-mystery.html
According to the article, the data center frenzy is attracting a lot of financial middle men who set up these companies (with no physical presence and no connection whatsoever to tech), who go into poor areas and float "jobs jobs jobs" to city counselors. ANd I'm sure, grease palms. And then the real partners--Oracle, Microsoft etc are revealed. It reminds me of that Upton Sinclair book _Oil!_ about the oil boom in California in the 1920s. Or of "Music Man" even.
This is also interesting (and this is a good website for dc opposition)-- "Cui Bono"
https://www.datacenterresponsibility.com/cuibono
Lastly, John, you should write a play on Bader-Meinhoff. I don't know much about this, but there was apparently a theater/dance piece done in Germany in the 1990s about Bader-Meinhoff which was supposed to be controversial (whatever that even means) Ican't remember the name. That was I guess when Germany was still putting out decent work.