Invasion of the Country-Snatchers
Invasion of the Country-Snatchers The AI-powered surveillance state is un-American. Literally. (Part I of a series) Helen of desTroy Data centers are easy to hate. The hyperscale facilities used to train and serve AI models are being plopped down like Monopoly pieces in a hostile takeover of the American countryside, tax-free million-square-foot monuments to the technofeudalist conquistadors who’ve similarly parasitized the state apparatus. They inspire the same kind of sinking feeling as finding a massive network of termite tubes honeycombing the ceiling of your basement: an understanding that parasites have been working hard to destroy what’s yours, and they aren’t leaving without a fight. But then, neither are you. Hyperscalers are exploiting economic hardship and outdated laws to seize land and water, concealing their true identities and intentions from the communities they colonize, belching carbon monoxide , nitrogen dioxide , methane , and other pollutants into the...