A Boring Dystopia

During the 1986-1992 California drought, we were informed in the San Francisco Bay Area region that water service prices were going to go up unless we conserved strictly.

They said this to a bunch of California hippies, on account that we were in California.

So we way got on board. We stopped flushing. Any water that was rendered non-potable we'd repurpose for watering plants or filter it for second use. Japanese naval baths (weird tiny bowl seats and a sponge, used in the Imperial Navy, WWII) got popular so people were keeping clean via a tenth of normal water usage.

We conserved too much according to the water department and they raised prices anyway.

This sparked some investigations (by journalists, since investigative journalism was still a thing then) and found that agriculture got water for much cheaper, and was still using it once before flushing it (now laced with pesticides) out into the sea. Needless to say, we conservationist hippies were livid.

It's still a problem, as the utility companies routinely lobby our congress and governor (and Newsom may know how to be a California liberal, but he's still a Dianne-Feinstein-style ( / Nancy-Pelosi style) money-grubbing neoliberal. He just has game, especially when opposed to far right idiots. The setup in Monster's Inc (power crisis in a city where scream is the principal power source) was inspired by the Enron fraud affair leading to rolling blackouts and Texas siphoning off California's general fund. And our governments from Schwarzenegger (who I will never forgive) to Newsom are in the pocket of PG&E. (I'm on SMUD now and my bill is conspicuously less.)

Also, according to Climate Town, the Sauds own a lot of California farmland, where they grow alfalfa to import to the mid-east to feed their cows. Alfalfa crops are one of the most water hungry, and is one of the big ways beef is driving the climate crisis (and towards a massive food shortage and global famine!) and the water tables, to which they have access and first-tap rights, gets lower every year. 🕙

So I suspect that the Texas AI centers are getting water at a cheaper rate than private homes. Maybe it's something to get active about.

This but just the Microsoft logo lol

Yes, Texas did vote for that. Haha, Red states suffering is funny.

its funny how these AI centers are mostly if not all in red states only, simply because they know the legislation wont do anything, and encourage them anyways, plus the resident that leans right are less likely to make a big fuss over it.

Well, I mean...Not for nothing, but Texas being one of the reddest states there is, and even being willing to double it down by heavily gerrymandering themselves for Trump worship, means that they did vote to serve their deep state and oligarch overlords. Which is quite ironic for the small government party. And that's coming from me, who believes in the potential of AI for humanity in the long-term, but only if used responsibly and not at the cost of people's quality of life to satisfy the corrupt elite.

But then again, irony is in their DNA, starting with all their preaching about "keeping kids safe". Speaking of which, Trump files where? I need to check if Epstein's name comes up in those.

elon is currrently using the aquifer drinking water under memphis to cool grok. he’s also powering it with generators and smogging out the city.

please do not use grok.

Why the fuck do they alway pick the driest places to use the most water. Fucking morons

I don't understand why AI data centers would CONSUME water. Once they fill up their chiller loops, then... that's it, right?

It's hard for me to imagine them relying on the temperature of the incoming water, and dumping all the warm water as discharge.

Stoopid Texans. You've got the guns, start using the things. If they need cooling, maybe aerate a few blocks of servers for them.

The priorities are completly screwd up. If they found a way to power the AI datacenters with humans, Matrix style, would they ask Texans to sacrifice their first borns to do so?

So not only are Corporations... People

Now they are more important people than regular citizens?

Imagine not having obese AI fart videos because you want a shower?

You should complain whenever million gallons of water are wasted by corporations seeking profits or by governments for their shady operations. Not just when it's about AI.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Data_Center

Nice to see humanity has its priorities straight as usual... :)

LOL! The Red Run Deregulated Texas Oblast does not surprise me with this kind of shit. If it dries up, the fucking red voters can stay and find the fuck out.

don't be selfishn, Microsoft AI will be used by the whole world and only few people will need this water to shower.

S/ hahahha

They deregulated shower heads just in time.

Talk about dystopian headlines

Hilarious, hilarious. Hilarious.

Here's the report this came from https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2025-07-25/texas-is-still-in-drought-and-ai-data-centers-are-quietly-guzzling-up-water/

Sorry, but a vibe coder just told Chat GPT to fully implement their code. Now you can't shower. Suck it!

I'm not joking when i say that not using ai is mostly improving my reasoning. Probably, each time I used it, i had to subconsciously offset some thinking to that brainless machine. I'm fine the way I am, i know it's being propped up as some ultimate solution but my creative output improved too.

We're probably offsetting some thinking and memorisation to a computer with a complete lack of experience of the real world, and it's somehow being presented as acceptable. I do n't think it's fine.

WTF don't they just use a closed geothermal loop?