Many small towns supply the water that cools data centers. They pay the electricity bills. They provide the land, and the physical labor to keep the data centers operational.
Meanwhile, researchers in distant cities use that infrastructure to train AI-models, create new research, develop strategies, and advise governments on policy.
New regulations are written in distant capital cities. New norms are set. The people who shouldered the environmental cost rarely have a seat at the table where decisions are made about the systems their sacrifice helped build. That’s the rift.
Craig Van Pelt 