Connecting some data dots

There has been recent news coverage, such as this article in the Star Tribune, about a data center proposed for Rosemount by Meta, Facebook’s parent corporation. Data centers consume great quantities of energy. Meta/Facebook tout the energy efficiency and sustainability of their data operations. Minnesota has, at best, a poor track record meeting its own energy goals. The state’s own Department of Commerce, in a recent assessment, found, inter alia:

For total energy use, Minnesota is at risk of missing the state goal of 25% of total energy use from renewable energy by 2025. For greenhouse gas emissions reductions, Minnesota missed the 2015 milestone and is not on track to meet 2025 goals for reduction. Emissions by industrial, residential and commercial activity have all increased by 15% or more. 

Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American today informed US, among other things, about a recent European Commission report:

Other countries are pushing the disinformation that splits Americans. A report published last week by the European Commission, the body that governs the European Union, says that when X, the company formerly known as Twitter, got rid of its safety standards, Russian disinformation on the site took off. Lies about Russia’s war against Ukraine spread to at least 165 million people in the E.U. and allied countries like the U.S., and garnered at least 16 billion views. The study found that Instagram, Telegram, and Facebook, all owned by Meta, also spread pro-Kremlin propaganda that uses hate speech and boosts extremists. 

The report concluded that “the Kremlin’s ongoing disinformation campaign not only forms an integral part of Russia’s military agenda, but also causes risks to public security, fundamental rights and electoral processes” in the E.U. The report’s conclusions also apply to the U.S., where the far right is working to undermine U.S. support for Ukraine by claiming—falsely—that U.S. aid to Ukraine means the Biden administration is neglecting emergencies at home, like the fires last month in Maui. 

where do data centers fit in Minnesota’s energy future?

Photo by J. Harrington

From my perspective, the preceding raise some quite critical questions.

• Would the proposed data center enhance Minnesota’s attainment of its clean energy goals by a meaningful amount, or would it be a net contributor to the state's continuing failure to attain self-imposed environmental objectives?


• Until and unless Meta and its subsidiaries establish a track record of effectively controlling the spread of disinformation, especially that affecting democracy, should Minnesota, in the interests of patriotism and democracy, refuse to permit data center development? In light of the EU report, would allowing a Meta data center not be a form of aiding and abetting an enemy?


• Would it be a good idea to resurrect an office of state planning to help address questions such as those above?

Again, in my opinion, the world we live in is obviously not the one most of US were born into. “More of the same” responses to development proposals is unlikely to help US create a sustainable, democratic, future. We long ago refused to buy into the idea that “What’s good for General Motors is good for the country.” The same refusal should be rendered on Meta, X, AI creators. We are a country of humans, not just legal persons. Corporations make good servants but poor masters.

[UPDATE:  Chinese Social Media Campaigns Are Successfully Impersonating US Voters, Microsoft Warns (cnbc.com)]

 

Common

By David Rivard

The American common is no collective or princedom

but privacies of need & pleasure as they intersect

in public spaces, tho the insufferable powers that be

breed their plots behind our backs, thinking us

witless, seemingly blind to their afflicted intentions,

just a bunch of demographic motormouths & screw-ups

to be targeted by commodities traders & search engines—

a marketing niche for every need, stereotypes

tagged by algorithms—here is a typical team

of baton twirlers in an airport bar, each of them clad

in foxy red track suits & tuned-in to the dollhouse

stimulations of pigeon-talking sales reps; there

is a previously undetected aggregation of retirees,

evangelical camp kids, kickass bowlers,

and mothy nuns in starched wimples, for whom

the news of the day means the aging boy-man

Hugh Grant's fear of double chins—neither of

these or any other data dump entirely false,

but so narrow-minded sometimes as to lose sight

of us entirely: the midtown lady in Capris,

a four-square surgeon off-duty & headed out

to play poker, the plumber fly-fishing by the river—

a sky of twilight slate now—not a word written on it.

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