By Douglas V. Gibbs ——Bio and Archives--September 23, 2026
Artificial Intelligence (Super Intelligence, according to President Trump at his recent United Nations speech) represents a technological frontier that has captured our imagination for decades. We've been conditioned by science fiction to fear the day when technology outsmarts us. As someone who enjoys science fiction and has even explored the AI versus humanity question in my own writing, I understand these concerns. But in the end, it's all fiction.
In the real world, we're witnessing a near-hysterical reaction to data centers; the essential infrastructure for AI and our connected world. People are reacting as if prisons for hardcore inmates or nuclear waste dumps were being proposed in their backyards, with emotional protests drowning out rational discourse. This hypocrisy mirrors socialists protesting capitalism while using devices born from free-market innovation. We enjoy and depend on modern technology while protesting against the very data centers that make it possible.
These emotions can derail progress if not balanced with reason, analysis, and critical thinking. Those who fear data centers should consider disconnecting from their cell phones, social media, streaming services, web searches, and video calls. The data we use no longer flows through telephone lines or gets stored on physical media., It exists in the cloud, which isn't some ethereal entity above us but physical servers and equipment housed in massive buildings called data centers. Despite thousands already existing across the country, likely one near you. suddenly everyone is panicking about them.
What's remarkable is that this concern has emerged across the political spectrum simultaneously. Isn't it interesting that as America begins pulling ahead of China in the information age technology race, fears about data centers are suddenly rising to a crescendo? There are no accidents in such coordinated panic. When a former Anthropic employee suddenly became the flavor of the week warning about AI ending humanity, it wasn't the first such warning. Stephen Hawking said the same twelve years ago, as have countless sci-fi writers.
While public hysteria grows, the four biggest AI labs called for slowing development and increasing government regulation. Barack Obama urged Democrats to make AI a campaign issue. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called for immediate congressional action to regulate AI development. Reporters pressed Trump about "concerns about AI leading to human extinction."
Trump's response revealed everything: "We're leading China in AI, we're the most sophisticated country in the world, and frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI, wins." If we're in a technology race with China, and suddenly there are calls to slow down and stop building data centers, isn't it obvious who might be stirring up this chaos?
Like any technology, AI's value depends on how it's used. Like a firearm, it can be a valuable tool or dangerous weapon. Its potential is tremendous, and our enemies seek to exploit it. If we sleep, they will defeat us with this new weapon. Whether terminator robots eventually exist or not, we must ensure America remains on top. Otherwise, those terminators might bear the Chinese flag.
While Democrats call for heavy federal regulation, the reality is that government involvement slows innovation. America's freedom lies in how our culture and society adapts without government interference. When the free market is unleashed, our economy roars ahead of every rival.
Data centers are necessary—perhaps a necessary evil. To win on the world stage regarding AI, we need data centers. If we want emerging technologies available to the American public without depending on China, we need more data centers. That's the cold hard truth.
That's why it perplexes me that a Fox poll found 70% of Americans oppose building new data centers in their communities. They're crucial to our future as a high-tech economy. When automobiles were new, should communities have fought against auto assembly plants?
Both sides are falling for Chinese propaganda and hysteria. Texas Governor Greg Abbott and New York Governor Kathy Hochul have announced construction moratoriums on data centers. This backlash comes despite data centers being needed to power our future economy from AI to everything associated with the Cloud.
If we allow these moratoriums to stand, China benefits, as planned by them. Anti-data center forces have attracted strong support from communist China, which has been linked to more than 200 accounts on X promoting data center misinformation. Evidence shows China is waging an online, anti-data center campaign.
New data centers expand job and technology opportunities for everyone. President Trump's insistence that they come with their own power supply will ensure they don't raise electricity rates. Systems not relying heavily on "renewable energy" can easily increase supply to meet demand. What's really driving up energy prices isn't data centers but wind and solar, which are not cheaper as advertised, and have proven to be unable to keep up with increased demand.
The myth that data centers will use up all water is disproven when you realize your average golf course consumes more, with many data centers now using air-cooling or "closed-loop water cooling" where "90-95% of the water returned are available for treatment." Data centers built five years ago will look like technological dinosaurs compared to what's coming. If we don't build data centers, China will. Data centers are about more than AI. Our modern life depends on them, with today's average household having close to twenty internet-connected devices compared to just a couple fifteen years ago.
I'm not suggesting Democrats are in league with China, though I believe in many ways they are. It's their usual idiocy where they claim to be for the little guy but their policies hurt them instead. Take California's law requiring all commercial big rigs to be equipped with $25,000 catalytic converter-like devices. Smaller trucking companies couldn't afford compliance, so they went out of business or left the state, leaving only large companies who benefitted from reduced competition. Leftists did the same with meat-packing policies that knocked small operations out of business, forcing dependence on four major corporations and driving up beef prices.
The same applies to large technology companies contributing to AI hysteria and attempting to manipulate Congress into regulating AI. As Issues & Insights reports, "almost everyone involved is affiliated with Coefficient, Open Philanthropy, Anthropic, and/or OpenAI – all of who serve to benefit financially from creating regulation." Regulation blocks new market entrants and crushes smaller competitors; it’s the "robber barons" scheme all over again.
In the end, AI companies kill their competition, Democrats get political control, and Chinese interests catch up and pass us by as we fall for their propaganda and tie a noose around our own throats.
The protests and hysteria against new data centers are unjustifiable and illogical once you understand all this. The effects on local resources aren't what they're being made out to be, and data centers bring economic development that China fears and Democrat policies could never encourage. As technology increases and data centers are added to the landscape, innovation, job creation, and tax revenue increase. As local governments drown in debt, why wouldn't they consider adding data centers? In Loudoun County, Virginia, nearly half of all tax revenue comes from data centers, and residents pay an average of $5,800 less in property taxes. Our entire online world relies on data centers from using debit cards at stores to inventory systems, online shopping, social media, apps, streaming services, texting, and phone calls.
Modern technology is at the center of our modern world. Life is more convenient, faster, and comfortable because of data centers. To stop their production is not just a step backward but downright dangerous considering how our Chinese enemy and American tyrants seek to use such scenarios to gain more power and shoot down competition.
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Douglas V. Gibbs of Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary, has been featured on “Hannity” and “Fox and Friends” on Fox News Channel, and other television shows and networks. Doug is a Radio Host on KMET 1490-AM on Saturdays with his Constitution Radio program, as well as a longtime podcaster, conservative political activist, writer and commentator. Doug can be reached at douglasvgibbs [at] yahoo.com or constitutionspeaker [at] yahoo.com.