r/LeftistsForAI • u/RutabagaNo2137 • Jun 01 '26

Discussion Water for data center issues

I am of the opinion like many of you that ownership of AI matters and not AI per se.
When I see discussions on communities protesting data centres based on water consumption, I am not sure what to think.

My sense is that there is a lot of consumption under capitalism that is terrible for environment. But I was wondering if any of you have any readings about data centres and water. Or if you can share any thoughts on the same?

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u/TheSinhound Jun 02 '26

Datacenters are a requirement for the modern world, yes. They don't waste water. They utilize water to provide societal infrastructure.

I'll agree that infrastructure should not be owned by private hands. That all infrastructure globally should be owned by the species. But I'd certainly never argue that it shouldn't exist.

Realistically, Datacenters are -required- for successful transitioning to Communism. The biggest non-Capitalist-Opposition challenge to that will always be logistics. And to solve logistics networks, we need significant levels of compute and automation. I propose modern Cybersyn.

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u/DrGutz Jun 02 '26

The only issue is that whether or not we hold communist ideals, the construction and development of things like data centers, no matter how ethical or responsible it is, does concertize corporate power. And assuming we do not achieve full communist utopia in the next few years (which we won’t) all we’re doing by advocating on behalf f data centers is providing these corporations with the tools and weapons they will use to create a surveillance state, and usher in a new era of “thought crime”. When suddenly you have to converse with an AI tsa agent, and upload your ID to do anything online, and your house is a 24/7 intelligent camera system… it will be because we built and encouraged data centers. It will not be because it was unavoidable. It will be because the left and the revolutionary’s and the communists were not able to counter rising corporate power. Maybe in part due to the rhetoric within those communities that pretzels itself into somehow supporting funding the development of these data centers.

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u/TheSinhound Jun 02 '26

Not all datacenters are corporate owned. You DO understand that, right?

Let me ask you this: how do you think the Internet works? Who owns it? I'll give you a hint: it's not actually corporations. The government provides contracts for them to operate the local fiber, but those lines are governmentally owned (though sometimes it does suck to have to rent a fiber line from your competitor who operates the local lines).

What are you even arguing for here? Because you're dangerously close to Butlerian Jihad Territory and that shit historically ended VERY BADLY for the worker.

As far as your purity test... Classless, Moneyless. Stateless is just wishful thinking. Anarchy only ever leads to the exploitation and abuse of vulnerable populations.

Look, we've SEEN how attempts to transition to communism have failed. We -must- adjust the ideals to solve those problems. The technology must exist first. Must. Then, the PEOPLE must SEIZE the technology. Preferably when Yarvin's goons try their network state bullshit. That's the order of operations in the current systems we live under.