Calls for halting data center development are growing louder. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and others have framed the recent surge in digital-infrastructure construction as reckless, extractive and environmentally destabilizing. Their concerns deserve consideration, but they also fit a familiar historical pattern. Whenever a transformative technology begins reshaping the economy, resistance rises in parallel. The Luddites are rising again.
Let’s acknowledge the real risks. Yes, data center development could ultimately outstrip demand in some markets. Yes, chip architectures are improving, chips are running cooler, and cooling systems are becoming more energy-efficient. And yes, quantum computing — about which most of us, myself included, know far too little — could eventually alter
