00:03:04 · Katie Prescott, Danny Fortson
[00:03:04] S2: And we should say as we're recording this, I mean, you are waking up to this news. Right? It's what? 08:39 in the morning for you? What's what's that been like? [00:03:14] S1: By the time we went went to bed last night, it was pretty clear that, you know, this is the biggest kind of change election probably in something like fifty years in terms of a midterm election where one party just really sweeps into power and knocks the knocks the other off its perch. So it was really quite incredible. And, you know, my phone is blowing up from family, from friends, different parts of the country. I have a... I'm one of four kids, so we are like a kind of a family divided by politics. So, you know, it's been an interesting... The the text chatter, this morning across the family WhatsApp. But, you know, it's really incredible that the Democrats have taken control of both houses, the House of Representatives and the Senate. And, really, I remember talking about the election two years ago on this podcast where I was like, you know, Donald Trump's running for president, then, like, AI wasn't even on... Wasn't even talked about. And I remember thinking at the time, that's so weird because it was all you and I were talking about. And it seemed like such... Like, this big freight train that was headed toward the economy and everybody. And it just wasn't talked about. And this time, two years later, it was like center of the bull's eye Yeah. For a bunch of races across the country.
00:04:34 · Katie Prescott, Danny Fortson
[00:04:34] S2: As you say, it's sort of... It's the the data center point. I mean, obviously, there's things going on in the economy and the cost of living, but it's it's... In terms of tech, it's the data centers, but it's also the power and the money Mhmm. I feel behind it. And it feels like there's a a real sort of backlash against the [00:04:51] S1: The rise [00:04:51] S2: of the tech billionaires [00:04:53] S1: Yeah. [00:04:53] S2: Who are controlling this. We've seen Elon Musk donate almost $500,000,000 to the Republican campaign, about 250,000,000 of that to Texas. I mean, just Absolutely. [00:05:05] S1: There's a lot to, dig into for sure. But before we do that, we should give people a quick reminder. You know, we we are split in two. We have the the... Our news show, which is what you're listening to now, and then The Big Interview coming on Sunday. And who do we have this week?
00:05:05 · Danny Fortson, Katie Prescott
[00:05:05] S1: There's a lot to, dig into for sure. But before we do that, we should give people a quick reminder. You know, we we are split in two. We have the the... Our news show, which is what you're listening to now, and then The Big Interview coming on Sunday. And who do we have this week? [00:05:21] S2: It's a it's a goodie. I've been speaking to Yoel Roth, who's the head of trust and safety at Match Group, but you may know him best from his Twitter, where he had a similar role at the time that Elon Musk took over the company. And how do I put this politely? Rather shook up its trust and safety regime. And he had a bit of a public fallout with Elon Musk at that time. We spoke about whether AI can help you find love, because, of course, he's at Match Group, but also why tech bosses in general are taking a step back from online safety. But, anyway, let's get back to today's episode and what you're waking up to. As fascinating as it, a few years ago, I think many people had not heard of a data center. And if they had, I'm not sure they'd have had a particular opinion on them. But when you look at the speed at which they're growing, the amount of electricity, the amount of water that they use, it's fueling a huge public backlash around the world, and particularly where you are.
00:05:21 · Katie Prescott, Danny Fortson
[00:05:21] S2: It's a it's a goodie. I've been speaking to Yoel Roth, who's the head of trust and safety at Match Group, but you may know him best from his Twitter, where he had a similar role at the time that Elon Musk took over the company. And how do I put this politely? Rather shook up its trust and safety regime. And he had a bit of a public fallout with Elon Musk at that time. We spoke about whether AI can help you find love, because, of course, he's at Match Group, but also why tech bosses in general are taking a step back from online safety. But, anyway, let's get back to today's episode and what you're waking up to. As fascinating as it, a few years ago, I think many people had not heard of a data center. And if they had, I'm not sure they'd have had a particular opinion on them. But when you look at the speed at which they're growing, the amount of electricity, the amount of water that they use, it's fueling a huge public backlash around the world, and particularly where you are. [00:06:22] S1: That's right. So I'll give you one example. So as I said, I I did a kind of a deep dive last week for the paper. And I talked to some, you know, kind of regular folks in Texas. I talked to a lady in the town called Red Oak, Texas, which is kind of like a bedroom community outside Dallas. [00:06:38] S2: Oh, what's community? Sorry. [00:06:40] S1: Bedroom community. Basically, like [00:06:42] S2: What's that? [00:06:42] S1: How would I describe it? You know, it's like, you know, a few train line stops out of a a major city where people [00:06:48] S2: Like a suburb.
00:06:48 · Katie Prescott, Danny Fortson
[00:06:48] S2: Like a suburb. [00:06:49] S1: Yeah. Sure. But they're usually quite quiet. They usually have the more space, but people often still work in the big city. Yeah. There's 20,000 people, small place, and the town is encircled now by seven different data centers that are either already operating or being built. [00:07:06] S2: And really, really, really big ones. Right? [00:07:07] S1: Really big ones. Right? And it's kind of been seized upon by Gina Hinojosa, the woman who just was elected the new governor, Democrat, as an example of just like, you know, because a lot of the way these these data center projects have been pushed through is that you have an alliance between big tech, big, you know, big tech billionaires. Elon Musk obviously has most of his businesses that are now in Texas. He's very close with the now outgoing governor, Greg Abbott. And then all of a sudden, you know, 300 acres of farmland just gets snapped up by... Not by Google, for example, but by some corporate shell. So there's usually like two or three levels removed from the actual company or it's like not a company you've heard of, all of sudden they buy it. And then there's some public hearings. The thing gets pushed through and before you know it, this farmland or ranchland is turning into a giant construction site. [00:08:03] S2: And why do they care?
00:08:03 · Katie Prescott, Danny Fortson
[00:08:03] S2: And why do they care? [00:08:05] S1: Well, part of it is, you know, people move to these places because they are what they are. You know, it's farmland. It's ranch land. It's rural. It's quiet, whatever. And then all of a sudden, they have this giant, you know, industrial warehouse plunked down in the middle of their land. And also, you mentioned water, which I think has basically become this really interesting thing that everybody's freaked out about, and especially in places like Texas, are already prone to drought, already have very little water. I think it is indicative of how poor a job the tech industry has done at kind of bringing people along. It's been a pretty reckless and careless, you know, kind of massive build out, do it as fast as possible, ask questions later, bring people along later. And I think that's what people have really started to reject. At the same time, it's like, okay, what is it in that data center? It's like an army of digital workers that may hack your bank account, may make it harder for your kid to get a job. You're like, what am I getting out of this? Like, where's the good part? And I think that altogether is what's really seen, you know, this huge backlash against data centers. I think there's something like 40 plus propositions or measures on the ballots across various different states. At least 30 were approved to either ban or severely limit data center development in various different jurisdictions. Like, it's been a real moment.