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Opponents of Data Centers On The Wrong Side OF History

By: Gene Marks
Your Turn
Guest columnist

..... Deforestation, Habitat destruction. Water and air pollution. Land and resources devoured. Noise. Corporate corruption. government corruption. Monopolies. eminent domain. communities tron apart. Farmland eaten up. small businesses uprooted. Corporate titians who buy off local politicians with promises of tax revenue.
..... One industry expert and author called it a "decisive struggle, in which, from the beginning to the end, the fighting will be forced,' with power "rapidly centering in the hands" of "the blest, the most energetic, and by no means the most scrupulous men in America."
..... Except the expert. Charles Francis Adams Jr., didn't say this in 2026. he said it in the late 1870s. and he wasn't talking about data centers. He was talking about railroads.
..... In the 19th century, thousands of miles of railroad were built, and the opposition to them was intense. These weren't organized environmental groups. They were conservationists, local residents, business owners, landowners, parents, farmers, Native American tribes and taxpayers enraged at how their elected leaders were spending their money.
..... Many didn't want trains rolling through their backyards. Many today don't want data center complexes in theirs. you can't blame them.
..... Billions were spent moving freight and people faster and more efficiently, fueling economic growth, eating jobs, opening up markets and standardizing the flow of information. The costs were significant., but so were the benefits. We are better off for it.
..... More then 150 years later, little has changed. Today's data centers are yesterday's railroads. They are the infrastructure behind everything that powers our economy. Railroads move freight. Data centers move information and make modern commerce possible. yesterday's railroad barons were Cornelius Vanderbilt, jay Gould and James Hill. Today's builders are the companies behind hyper-scale computing: Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Nvidia.

Old jobs, new industries

..... Like all new technologies, railroads destroyed jobs, too. Stagecoach lines, wayside inns and the small towns that depend on them withered as travelers stopped passing through.
..... But railroads cerated far more than they destroyed - construction and manufacturing jobs building everything from rail cars to locomotives, and jobs in the cities that boomed at the end of the line. they built entire new industries, national retail, refrigerated food, mass media, mail-order commerce, modern tourism and standardized time.
..... Like the railroads, the artificial intelligence applications that data centers owner will destroy some jobs. But these technologies have also fueled millions of new businesses in just the past few years, backed by a wave of venture capital. Robotics, cybersecurity, semiconductor manufacturing and computer components - all are expanding because of AI.
..... And data center construction alone has propped up the building trades through rough economic stretch.
..... In the past 20 years we've seen job titles no one had heard of: cannabis compliance manger, remote work coordinator, wellness manager. AI alone has produced prompt engineer, governance manager, autoignition developer and solutions architect.
..... The naysayers predicting mass AI unemployment are making the same mistake railroad skeptics made: betting against the human capacity to find new ways to work and contribute. History says that bet loses.
..... Both railroad and data center constructions have become more efficient. Ecological impact eased as energy efficiency improved, technology advanced and resources were used more wisely.
..... Government regulations reined in the worst abuses in the 19th century, and it will do these same today. Communities adjusted. Supply chains adapted.
..... Today we look back on the railroad debate and wonder what all the fuss was about. Future generations will likely say the say about ours.
..... None of this excuses poor planning, unnecessary environmental damage or taking property unfairly. Communities deserve a voice.

We can't cede our future to other countries - enemies or allies

..... But they shouldn't have a veto over infrastructure that benefits an entire nation. Are we simply not going to build data centers - and cede the field to China? To Russia? To Europe?
..... Imaging if that option had been on the table during the railroad debate.
..... Today's hyper-scale computing giants are as vital to America's future today as Union Pacific and the Pennsylvania and New York railroads were to a prior century. in both cases, a minority suffered for that expansion. But because of the sacrifices made, hundreds of millions of Americans have gone on to enjoy a quality of life unmatched almost anywhere on the planet.
..... Every generation faces he same choice: Build the infrastructure that powers the next century, or let fear of disruption preserve the past. Americans chose the railroad. I'm convinced they'll chose AI infrastructure too.

..... Gene Marks is founder of a small business consulting firm, The Marks Group.

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