It's kind of fun when a thing you've been focused on enters the discourse; when something you know something about turns into the real headlines. You feel like you're on the inside of a big thing. The feeling goes to the ego because being on the inside or faster to some news or having the crowds finally come around to your thing makes you think you're smarter than most. Most people probably aren't smarter, but at least a few had the luck to be a little earlier to a trend.
I have felt that feeling just a bit recently with AI and data centers. My work for a software concern brought me into the workaday worlds of LLMs something like four years ago; a few friends of mine have been talking about data center building projects for something like twenty years (going to college near AWS Ashburn will do that for you). AI and data centers have emerged fully into the discourse: editorial pages and campaign pledges and viral town meeting videos this summer. Even comedy and sports podcasts, the silly things that help me while away some sleepy weekday train rides home, now are loaded with AI hand-wringing and data center consternation. My slight bit of experience with both make me a little less worried than, say, Peggy Noonan, who is a latecomer to the panicky vogue. My attitude is pretty close to SNL's, which is to say: we shouldn't take technology salespeople seriously when they make wild claims about their technology.
The discourse likes nothing better than fear. The flavor of our AI fear is interesting: we have the conservative's fear of anything new, but our energy to stop technological progress comes mostly from the political left. The fear inspired by data centers is both fear of the new and fear of change in one's backyard: there's nothing like "NIMBY" vibes to amplify rumors and myths and conspiracies. While our response to this fear is probably not warranted, I think it's worth being, if not afraid, then at least in a posture of noticing or maybe concern. It seems like things might be changing and what comes next is unclear. Focusing on what could be next is important: the future will be better if we exercise as much foresight as we can muster. (The corollary isn't true: the future won't stop if we exercise as many vetoes as we can find.) The pieces linked below represent what I'm finding most interesting about the discourse right now: folks trying to think about what's new, what's coming next, and how we could tilt things to make the future just a bit better. Enjoy the reading and let know what you think.
Soggy fries, ghost kitchens, and a $19 bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich: what we’ve actually gained on the path to convenience.
Once you realize what that means, you’ll be giving two cheers for the American work ethic.
The age of modern media has seen the emergence of a new key element catalyzing growth in contemporary societies: a compelling urban vision. Urban visions formulate attractive paradigms of what a successful city looks like, focusing on four central ingredients: people, businesses, leaders, and capital. American cities largely lack such a unifying idea today.