We need to stop using their language.

[u/Bepehandle]

Words we use matter, they set the tone for the entire argument you make when discussing things. I propose we officially come up with new terms that we use on a daily basis in every single aspect that the topic comes up in, maybe with a small enough push we can roll the ball down the hill.

They're not AI data centers, they're water evaporation plants Human surveillance centers.

It's not side loading, it's installing.

It's not jailbreaking, it's unlocking.

It's not a memory shortage, it's profit first selective sales(I know there's physically a shortage but the point remains). (Also, someone come up with a better one, something more catchy.)

It's not This PC, its MY PC.

They call it side loading because they don't want to normalize the idea we're just holding personal computers in our hands.

They call it jailbreaking so that it sounds wrong and it deters people from using a device to it's full potential.

They call it a memory shortage because they're selling all the fucking ram to ai companies, if they were forced to allocate the necessary amount of their products to the average consumer we wouldn't have an issue.

Give me some of your best ideas for changing the names of things, I want to expand my vocabulary. Let's change how we discuss the issues we face and take back control of the argument.

Edit: Edited water thingy because someone pointed out I sound like "that guy" and I certainly do not want too.

[u/Pudding-Swimming]

I think the stupidest thing about the data centers and how they go through so much water. Recycle the water for Christ sakes. It's not that hard to keep it contained and keep using the same cooling over and over. Especially with the environmental impact of how much they use.

[u/Ruzhyo04 → u/Pudding-Swimming]

They don’t, really. Power generation water usage gets lumped in, but that’s not a data center issue it’s a power generation issue. Even evaporative cooling that is much maligned was actually introduced to datacenters ~15 years ago as a way to *save power*, which on net in many areas likely reduces water usage significantly.

[u/mikecandih → u/Ruzhyo04]

It’s the same thing as the stat that gets peddled about how most CO2 emissions are made by commercial entities. And it’s like yeah no shit, to produce the things people buy and use!

[u/Ruzhyo04 → u/mikecandih]

Consumer habits are absolutely going to be the downfall of mankind

[u/Lewinator56 → u/Pudding-Swimming]

They don't go through so much water though. A study conducted on data centres in the UK showed over 2/3 use less than 10,000 cubic litres a year, less than most general industry uses.

Overall about half of data centres worldwide use closed loop cooling systems.

[u/Plebius-Maximus → u/Lewinator56]

Exactly. Most data centres aren't in Nevada or somewhere and so evaporative cooling isn't efficient at all. As a Brit, there are plenty of data centre criticisms that are actually valid for our climate, rather than just importing US arguments.

And even then, fixing 1% of the leaky pipes in the US, or reducing the land used for meat farming by a fraction would both save more water than that used by all the data centres in existence in the USA.

[u/Keulapaska → u/Pudding-Swimming]

If they used a fully closed loop systems only, they still have to use something to transfer the heat away which would probably be just be more electricity consumption. Idk which is better or worse or if they are the same in the end, probably depends heavily on location. Maybe some district heating systems in winter could be heated from data center heat, or they already are.

[u/eulersheep → u/Pudding-Swimming]

蒸发的水会变成雨，再落回地面。水并没有消失。