Cursed Infrastructure

Data centers and AI are anathema to human flourishing

According to Gallup, there are more people in America who are opposed to the building of AI data centers in the area they live in than there are people opposed to the construction of nuclear power plants in the area they live in. They also found that “7 in 10 Americans oppose constructing data centers for artificial intelligence in their local area, including nearly half, 48%, who are strongly opposed. Barely a quarter favor these projects, with 7% strongly in favor.”

There are not many issues that inspire such cohesiveness of opinion in Americans, and this moment where so many of us are standing in united opposition to these centers is a moment which should demand widespread attention and give us pause.

I recently had the honor of writing an article, entitled Against False Technological Necessity, about these centers from the standpoint of a citizen who lives in an area which is currently being threatened by their proposed existence for PublicDiscourse (please go read it!).

In it, I state:

Generally speaking, the rural American is not interested in becoming a member of the faction of ineluctability, which is a requirement of the technological class. The fatalistic view about AI that includes the idea that this is inevitable is the view Big Tech urges us to accept. This inevitability is worthy of hearty opposition because it is representative of a future built by a small few and that only reflects the values of those (literal and figurative) architects of the AI-powered future. We owe it to our descendants to ensure the world they inherit isn’t more cyborg than human.

I live in a rural town in a rural county in Missouri, and we are facing the very real possibility of not one, but two, hyperscale AI data centers being built on hundreds of acres of land that previously was used for agricultural purposes. The land here is full of rolling, gentle hills. Forests of rough Cedars and gnarled Oaks open up to prairies full of birdsong and golden, bright abundance. This area is full of springs, wetlands, woodlands, and caves. It is known for the four rivers that flow through it, the Missouri, Meramec, Gasconade and Bourbeuse. The indigenous and later French roots of the area are echoed in those names. One of the potential centers, named the “Gateway Digital Campus” will run alongside historic Route 66 and butt up to one of the region’s most beautiful conservation areas, the 2,400 acre Shaw Nature Reserve.

My own photo of Shaw Nature Reserve, from 2024

Was this land chosen for these proposed projects thanks to the water source these centers would be drawing from—the Ozark aquifer, which spans between Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas and is the source of about 47% of Missouri’s potable water? Was it chosen thanks to the proximity to the largest power plant in the state, owned by Ameren, an energy corporation that recently signed multiple binding agreements with unnamed data center developers ensuring the provision of the energy needed to run them? Maybe these locations were chosen due to the fact that the local governments could use the promised (although not in writing) tax revenue and jobs (mostly construction related and not permanent) and these companies knew they could take advantage of this fact, along with the ignorance and greed of the local commissioners who make the decisions?

This place is special, but so too are all of the other places across the country that are suddenly, simultaneously being forced into fights against these developers. It’s a wonder, and a fright, how the story my own community can tell is one which is being echoed back to us from neighboring towns and states. The hyperscale data center problem is seemingly pervasive. So too though, is the hostility of citizens towards this problem.

In The Technological Society, Jacque Ellul states:

“It is easy to boast of victory over ancient oppression, but what if victory has been gained at the price of an even greater subjection to the forces of the artificial necessity of the technical society which has come to dominate our lives?”

AI is the ultimate instrument of technical society, and its makers are hellbent on convincing the people that it is necessary. A means to an end that we all apparently should desire. That is inevitable, and good! And will save the world! All through breaking through the shackles of that ancient oppression we are meant to blindly shun and snicker at, and never truly examine or interrogate for truth and context.

What is the technology, though, if it is actually a means to an end that many do not desire? To an end that may hurt us, enslave us, dull our spirits, steal from us…all via the mining of our own minds? An end that does not serve humanity, but something else. Does this change the technology into something more than simple means? Perhaps these shackles are tighter and stronger than those ancient ones.

Photo by Massimo Botturi on Unsplash

In the article¹, I discuss why people are worried about these data centers and how the worries are both physical and metaphysical. They extend from negative environmental impacts to health concerns to the ethics of the product and its myriad uses.

I think it is very vital for our nation to perceive AI and its consequences as a completely unprecedented technology that has implications that potentially reach into every aspect of human cerebral experience and ability. AI is to human intellect and creativity what porn is to human sexuality. It’s an illusion based on something sacred and real, meant to cause dependence and total distortion. It’s an extractive agent of potentiality theft. How can humans truly thrive and flourish if our potential is stolen?

This, and there is the question of what exactly the rush is to build all of these centers simultaneously. Why suddenly, the label of “anti-tech violent extremist” is one which the federal government is utilizing. Why these centers are being pushed while Flock cameras, technology which is easily abused by those with access to the data it collects, are simultaneously installed? I will not pretend to know what the surveillance state reality of these centers entails, but I am confident in saying that there are insidious endeavors underfoot.

With the 250th anniversary of America hanging in the near future, I cannot help but think of the oft-quoted adage “united we stand, divided we fall”. Ironically, this phrase sits on the seal of Missouri:

This is an issue that has the power to unite Americans. We all live in special places worth protecting from data center developers, and we all can find common ground in our distaste for corporate greed trying to dig its claws into our collective precious land. Let the dirt we rest and work upon sit under our own fingernails, not tossed aside to lay foundations of cursed infrastructure which makes possible both the distortion of our intellect and the control of our communities.

This is probably so niche but also to any “anti-tech extremist” labeler people: this is how I really feel about technology! 😉😉

1. https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2026/05/101062/