Oct 9, 2026 · 51 min · 14 segments
Data centers are popping up across the country to power the artificial intelligence boom. But as tech companies race to build more of them, communities are asking: At what cost? From rising…
Jeremy HobsonHost
Evan HalperGuestTolliverHostspeaker_7Well, I have a question.
I was wondering how many data centers worldwide do we need? And why are we going so fast without fully understanding the end game of artificial general intelligence on humanity and on the environment?
I think that speaks to the anxiety a lot of people have about data centers, not just in, you know, if you're living right next to one, but just seeing all of these things get built.
I mean, you know, again, as we talked earlier in the show, the White House and, you know, the industry says we have to do this.
But, you know, people are looking at this and saying, why? what is going on here we're hearing about rogue ai agents and you know all these potential problems and we don't seem to even have control of this we need to slow it down yet the industry is just trying to build this faster and faster and that i think is why public opinion is a big reason why public opinion on this is just you know turned so dramatically in like just like within a year i mean you
communities even northern virginia where like it's the data center capital of the world and everyone loved data centers you know up until not that long ago we pulled northern virginia and 75% of people like Democrats wanted data centers in their community.
You know, they're more comfortable with a nuclear power plant in their community and their data center.
Hi, thanks for having me.
Um, yeah, I would say I'm overall, um, against particularly the, the mega data, the mega data centers.
Well, I have a question.
I was wondering how many data centers worldwide do we need? And why are we going so fast without fully understanding the end game of artificial general intelligence on humanity and on the environment?
I think that speaks to the anxiety a lot of people have about data centers, not just in, you know, if you're living right next to one, but just seeing all of these things get built.
I mean, you know, again, as we talked earlier in the show, the White House and, you know, the industry says we have to do this.
But, you know, people are looking at this and saying, why? what is going on here we're hearing about rogue ai agents and you know all these potential problems and we don't seem to even have control of this we need to slow it down yet the industry is just trying to build this faster and faster and that i think is why public opinion is a big reason why public opinion on this is just you know turned so dramatically in like just like within a year i mean you
communities even northern virginia where like it's the data center capital of the world and everyone loved data centers you know up until not that long ago we pulled northern virginia and 75% of people like Democrats wanted data centers in their community.
You know, they're more comfortable with a nuclear power plant in their community and their data center.
Hi, thanks for having me.
Um, yeah, I would say I'm overall, um, against particularly the, the mega data, the mega data centers.
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