could you imagine being against electricity in the 1900s? the transformation people went through then was far uglier than the transformation we’re currently undergoing with AI.
Power plants looked like hideous factories as smokestacks dotted the landscape, often needing to be placed in beautiful areas near the water so coal could reach the plants by barge or train.
and then hundreds of thousands of miles of ugly poles and power lines needed to be strung up around every neighborhood. all of it, for this thing that helps mechanize and automate so many manual-labor jobs.
and today, no one cares about that. no one would rather not have electricity. today, if people do not have electricity, or even internet, they riot.
the anti-AI data center craze is quite silly in this light. its build-out is far less invasive; in a decade, and soon no one will be able to imagine living without the AI they provide.