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Theodora Scarato's avatar

Thank you for sharing! Watch my testimony to the Montgomery County Council focused on the public health risks associated with electromagnetic fields (EMFs) generated by the high-voltage transmission lines and substations needed to power large-scale data centers. https://theodorascarato.substack.com/p/speed-should-not-come-before-safety

Keith Cutter's avatar

Yes, please do watch this testimony. And don't forget to signup for Environmental Health Sciences newsletter: https://ehsciences.org

Tesstamona's avatar

I hope we can get toxic tort litigation for EMFs -- although its already damn hard enough but this is absolute madness. I gotta call you and tell you about something i can't discuss publicly.

Jackie Hunt's avatar

I would like to think I am now electrically sentient. I would imagine that those of us who read Keith's column are also electrically sentient. Data Centers scare the life out of me. I live in a populated and a data center is roughly an hour drive away and I worry about the dirty electricity impacting my house. I have DE filters but I think I will have to make a point to regularly check my house to be sure they are still effective. What about the wildlife in the fields and farms around a data center? The bees? Pollinators? Birds? This technology is moving WAY too fast. Unfortunately I like AI and use it occasionally. Should I stop using it and boycott it??? Would enough people do that? Would it matter?

Keith Cutter's avatar

Great comments and questions Jackie, thank you. Andrew shared some thoughts on data centers--I'll be publishing our latest conversation soon. In my opinion, he's one of the most important voices on electrical systems included conducted emissions. We would both suggest having a capable consultant visit and evaluate your home's electrical system. With regard to using AI, Theodora mentioned specifically that the build out isn't so much about personal use of AI, but industrial (perhaps governmental as well): "... it's about AI, but it's not about the AI that you look up recipes or how do I say this? Or it this is a whole other level. This is the robot revolution, this is machine-to-machine communication..."

yantra's avatar

yes, if enough people boycotted, it would affect the rollout. perhaps as least as important is making sure you are not investing in AI, it's infrastructure and the rest of wireless big tech (you know, starting with the mag 7 or whatever is the latest acronym). if you have a 401k with index funds in it (as most 401ks do), you might need to consider altering that investment. it is possible. and kinda makes sense, no?

yantra's avatar

my husband coined the term "bio-electrically aware" back about 10+ yrs ago.

Elisabeth Donati's avatar

Such a connundrum and clusterfuck of things to reconcile.

Keith Cutter's avatar

History offers a cautionary lesson.

Large infrastructure projects are almost always introduced by emphasizing their benefits. Jobs. Economic growth. Tax revenue. Technological progress.

Those benefits are often real.

What history repeatedly shows, however, is that the full costs frequently become apparent much later—and are often borne disproportionately by those living closest to the project itself.

Elisabeth Donati's avatar

I've said for decades that humans biggest challenge is that we are so intensely short sighted.

Peter Torito's avatar

The future will tell us about the taking of those lands. I liked the term "electrically sentient" but I found it a little bit soft to my taste. It has inspired me though to find something tougher, more appropriate to my refusal of being a victim. I've defined myself as "electrodivergent" and wrote last night Torito's Electrodivergent Manifesto. You can read it here https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122227238078290940&set=a.122096963468290940

yantra's avatar

or maybe bio-electrically aware. (i don't do FB so cant read your post).