Dying World 🔥🌎🔥May 27
Andrew Lokenauth

The only thing growing faster than AI right now is how much regular people absolutely hate it.

I've never seen public opinion turn this quickly.

48 data center projects worth $156 billion got blocked last year and 20 were canceled in the first quarter of this year.

Tech executives are getting booed during college graduation speeches. Someone threw a Molotov cocktail at Sam Altman's home.

May 26 at 9:16pmWeb
Show threadAndrew LokenauthMay 26

In Missouri, voters ousted 4 city council members. The reason? They'd approved a $6 billion data center one week earlier.

360,000 Americans have joined Facebook groups fighting data center expansion.

Energy bills are rising because data centers drain power grids. Wells are running dry near server farms. People fear losing their jobs. The revolt is here.

Show threadLinda Rose SmitMay 26
@FluentInFinance we should all get off the web. Dump our laptops. Stop social media. Use pen and paper again.
Show threadBent ChinrestMay 27

@lindarosesmit @FluentInFinance
No one had to be surveiled and coerced to use the web.
No one was threatened with loss of career and livelihood for not joining one-or-another social media platform.
But people are being fired for not using AI and others aren't even able to start a career because, surely, the moment when "it's gotten better" is just around the next quarterly report.

If you're trying to be funny, you have failed your inten.
If you're trying to be sincere, the irony doesn't read.

Show threadLinda Rose SmitMay 27
@paneerakbari @FluentInFinance not by you bc you limit it to AI. The problem did not start there. The centers are there. One not to far off here where a local politician was ousted bco a google dc. Using up water. They can not force you to use ai. You can opt out. But sure enough I know people using chatgpt while claiming to be against AI. So irony is not a strong enough word for that. Do not buy it. Do not use it. Do not take their shares. Do not vote for the wrong politicians.
Show threadDeborah Preuss, pccMay 27

@lindarosesmit @paneerakbari @FluentInFinance re: "you can opt out."

fyi in tech, many people who "opt out" of using AI in their work are getting systematically laid off. Metrics on AI use are being baked into performance reviews in some organisations.

Show threadLinda Rose SmitMay 27
@deborahh @paneerakbari @FluentInFinance yep. I know. Let’s hope the bubble will burst quickly. I am doing my best .
But apart from that: with every new technology workplaces and jobs shift. If we all would refuse chatgtp and ai assistant with everything…..
Show threadDeborah Preuss, pccMay 27

@lindarosesmit I'm not sure where you're headed with that "… "

... if you care to elaborate :-).

Show threadLinda Rose SmitMay 27
@deborahh @paneerakbari @FluentInFinance we. The users. The ones they expect to go along and use AI. (And pay for it). Or we, the ones hoping to cash in on their investments. We can opt out.
The ones working and being forced out: organise.
Show threadDeborah Preuss, pccMay 27
@lindarosesmit @paneerakbari @FluentInFinance ✊
Show threadpunIssuerMay 27
@lindarosesmit @FluentInFinance depends; staying on the Fediverse is probably fine
Show threadLinda Rose SmitMay 27
@punissuer @FluentInFinance sure. I am not leaving either. But we should realise our use of socmed etc is part of the problem.
Show threadpunIssuerMay 27
@lindarosesmit please excuse my ignorance, which problem, exactly?
Show threadLinda Rose SmitMay 27
@punissuer We are constantly online, we are saving our emails in teh inbox, we are using a lot of power to watch catpics...
Show threadpunIssuerMay 27
@lindarosesmit good thing our electricity grid gets greener constantly, then. If it weren't for the LLM bubble, digital technologies would have kept using roughly the same amount of energy each year, while providing more and more services.
One of the biggest changes one could make re: greenhouse gas emission, would be to switch to a plant-based diet...
Show threadLinda Rose SmitMay 27
@punissuer yep there us always room to reduce one’s footprint. Plant based in place. Water diwn. Gas down wtc etc.
Show threadmorfil (any)🌈May 27
@FluentInFinance if the irony of this sentence does not, in the next decade, is heard by a majority, then all hope is lost:
360,000 Americans have joined Facebook groups fighting data center expansion.
Show threadWe don't need AI. AI needs us.May 27
@FluentInFinance
I see the Iranian solution to data centers the only option.
Show threadAdam WilliamsMay 26
@FluentInFinance I've worked in IT for 30+ years. Watching these useless clowns get booed is one of the most beautiful things I've seen in years. 🥰 Next time we should supply students with baskets of rotten food to throw at them.
Show threadRonagoMay 26
@FluentInFinance Maybe tech execs should just stop going to college graduation speeches. Save the speeches for people who actually do stuff of value.
Show threadAdam WilliamsMay 27
@ronago @FluentInFinance Why on earth do Universities invite them?
What is the most appropriate term for the presidents, boards, and leaders of our universities: Collaborators or Sycophants?
Show threadGhostOnTheHalfShellMay 27

@FluentInFinance

You can add to that the number of data centers that have simply been canceled because they don’t have the power or water and worst of all they don’t have any customers.

Show threadOlsonMay 27

@GhostOnTheHalfShell @FluentInFinance

Yay!

Show threadGhostOnTheHalfShellMay 27

@Olson @FluentInFinance

There’s so much work to be done to stop and then dismantle the super rich.

They are out to kill most of the people in the world and what you need to do is check your net worth. If it’s less than nine figures we don’t count

Show threadThe DoctorMay 27

@GhostOnTheHalfShell @Olson @FluentInFinance Abso-fuckin'-lutely.

We don't matter to them. We aren't people.

Show threadOlsonMay 30

@drwho @GhostOnTheHalfShell @FluentInFinance

I would not say that. I would say they think they’re Gods.

Show threadThe DoctorMay 30
@Olson @GhostOnTheHalfShell @FluentInFinance The two are not mutually exclusive.
Show threadHTPC NZMay 27
@FluentInFinance uh I think most "normies" are NIMBYs when it comes to data centres but happy to use whatever BS generator they can get their hands on if free... i.e. go build those data centres in the part of the town where people with a different skin complexion live.
Show threadAndrocatMay 27

@htpcnz

Well, that is certainly what the press would have you believe.

The same press that tries to tell you you will be left behind if you don't pick up a token addiction while the tokens are cheap.

@FluentInFinance

Show threadRandy EdmondsMay 27
@FluentInFinance the President is also having a UFC fight on the front lawn of the white house. It's Idiotiocy all around the way around.
Show threadpunIssuerMay 27
@FluentInFinance to the surprise of nobo... of the few people who actually profit from it 😄
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/05/ai-graduation-speeches-booing/687266/
Why College Students Are Booing AI

The sound of a cosmic howl

The Atlantic