Is that really true though? Like there’s no reason I could be president except for the massive amount of connections and funding is need that effectively means it is not possible for me to be effective. (Nussbaum or Sen would say this is not about actual capability.)

I certainly think we could grow a new internet, but there is so much culture and forces pushing against this, that it may not be actually possible with addressing the systemic forces first.

Not to say we should do nothing (similar to recycling — we should do what we can as individuals, but it’s somewhat moot as long as industrial processes continue as they are now). We should do what we can and work toward a better vision.

(Edit: I think I was responding to only the first part of your comment because when I re-read it, I think I’m actually saying something similar to you)

This is a pretty good article. Something I try to stress to my students. Technology is a major driver of culture and society, and understanding that complexity of relationships is important. It’s not developed in an isolated bubble, nor is any technology neutral or value-free.

I like that the article highlights community engagement. That is so very true. Otherwise some good-intended deployment can quickly become technological colonialism when the users might not be able to do system upkeep or it solves the wrong problem

I think it might be real:

I think you’re on the right track. It’s like they heard “you can’t hold and observe an electron” and just really ran with that but missed all the actual nuance behind it. Still baffling why they would print this, seeming to point to on something like only god knows how electricity works while there’s a person using a very clearly engineered device and electric socket.

Sucks you can’t charge it and have to instead go to a central bank to exchange minted coins for notes that you can exchange for the commodity that is the radio.

We noticed this when we went to a Texas Roadhouse. Their restaurant prices for steaks hadn’t gone up hardly at all and seemed very surprisingly reasonable, whole beef at the grocer is painful.

https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2025-01/final-fonsi-ea-2251-rivian-stanton-springs-north-2024-12.pdf#page26

Does mention it is passed to a treatment facility, some is treated on campus, and other is stored.

So according to epa report it was not expected to affect local groundwater.

I thought I found something earlier that alluded to it, but Lemmys on my phone and doing any real research is always annoying on it. I can try to find something. I know they do release very significant amounts of wastewater though. But whether that’s all back on public utilities or how it’s but back in the ground is unclear. I’ll see I can find anything specific.

But combine that with someone dumping thousands of gallons of wastewater into the ground basically across the street and weirder things are going to happen.

EDIT: Yeah, I don’t think they are dumping water into the ground. Scratch that out. These datacenters DO use lots of water, as in millions of gallons per day, the concern there is more about how the public utilities and incentives were structured. [Quote for millions comes from Kate Crawford’s Atlas of AI book, but the link was the the first data I could source, which looks less than that.]

I’m now thinking this article may be more about the person not liking the datacenter than it specifically affecting the well. Could construction cause some extra sediment to clog up the well intake? Seems likely.

In the south it’s also more common to either not have a garage at all or have a carport instead of an enclosed garage. It’s just easier to leave your car or vehicle (tractor) out anyway. Combine that with, I need to sell this or work on it at some point, you park it in your yard and will get around to it someday. Or maybe your cousin might need it one day so you’ll keep it. It’s a bit of an ingrained impoverished idea that you “might need it someday” attitude.

I’m also staying with family that are regularly using tractors pushing 60? 70? Years. I’m not even sure how old they are, but it takes a bunch of parts and pieces to keep these things running. Luckily here though the scraps are either off in a barn or not directly in between the house and the street.

You need both though. Memes and shitposts to scroll though and chuckle, and then quality stuff to engage on. Lemmys got that, and the momentum will keep it growing.

I tried lemmy like a year or so ago, and it felt so stale. The technology is there, but the content just wasn’t. That’s clearly changed now. 😊