Sep16

Nothing Is Free

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“Save it on the cloud… access it from anywhere, anytime… we’ll secure it for you”… we all have been exposed to this technology and more or less it has been a part of our current reality. Along with the lightning-fast speed of AI development/use.
At first glance these “commodities” appear to be free of charge; you can use the free cloud storage of your choosing or you can ask ChatGPT a question from your mobile phone without even buying a subscription.
But… is it free?

What’s the saying: If it’s free, then you are the product.
From Shoshana Zuboff’s  Surveillance Capitalism, where our personal data are being used not only to predict our behavior but to influence it, we are currently facing a new, largely unseen, challenge: data centers.

Data centers are the infrastructure that is needed not only for cloud storage but absolutely crucial for AI, “providing the massive computational power, high-speed networking, extensive storage, and specialized hardware needed to train, deploy, and operate complex AI models and applications at scale. AI workloads demand significant resources, including energy-efficient, scalable, and secure infrastructure, which data centers offer through high-performance computing (HPC), GPUs, and specialized architecture to handle the immense datasets and processing required for AI development and real-time decision-making”.

Ask yourselves: if everything is done properly, transparently, then why do mega corporations go to such lengths to hide the true ownership of data centers or the deals struck with local authorities? Only public point of discussion made is that research from that growth will benefit us all in crucial sectors.

What follows is an exceptional piece of investigative journalism by Business Insider.
One that reveals the true cost of what we think is free.

From Virginia, USA (one-third of the world’s internet traffic flows through its data centers) where the journalists investigate, we can all use their findings to draw our own conclusions for what is next for our (extended) neighborhood.

 

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better”
Dr. Maya Angelou

 

Spira / Nick © September 2025

25 responses »

  2. Yes, Nick, that’s right, and it’s just the beginning. It’s always the same kind of puppeteers with slightly different stories and techniques, and they work time and time again. As the ancient Romans said, “there is nothing new under the sun.”

    Unfortunately, for most of us, life without the internet is barely possible anymore, and it’s difficult to escape these machinations.

    Liked by 3 people

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    • Aye, Friedrich… no turning back.
      Only how we face the future.
      Impossible task? Maybe.
      But then again… Magnus Carlsen ( arguably the best chess player in history) won a game against ChatGPT without loosing a piece (ChatGPT resigned after 53 moves).

      Liked by 1 person

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      • Ha, that gives hope! I’m (unfortunately) one of those people who’ve sold their soul to AI (at least if I had one). It simplifies my workday so much, gives me the right answers to my many crazy questions, and creates wonderful recipes based on what’s in my fridge or my taste…

        Liked by 1 person

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        • Don’t get me wrong: I am not against AI. As I have said in the past, synthesis between two species may be the new way forward. But the corporations arms race for AI and the way they want to insert it in societies… that is a whole different issue.

          Liked by 3 people

        • I know that, Nick! AI has a lot of positive potential (e.g., medicine) and even more negative (weapons, mass stupidity). What we’re experiencing right now is hype, divorced from reality. And not just in terms of the corresponding stock prices. Our economy is on the verge of collapse and is just clinging to a glimmer of hope. When the AI ​​bubble bursts, and that could happen quite quickly, we’ll regain clarity.

          Liked by 2 people

      • That’s exactly the problem! I have two friends who live practically without internet, but they’re no happier for it, and I often find it difficult to discuss things with them because they live in a different, outdated “bubble”.

        Liked by 2 people

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        • Yes, “a different outdated ‘bubble'” describes my life often…even with Internet. I don’t spend my days scrolling through all the nonsense and bad news, hoping for a glimmer of Good. But blogging does keep me up to date on most of what’s relevant to all of us, so I’m very grateful for blog friends! Have a blessed day!

          Liked by 1 person

  3. You’re probably not going to like my take but here it is. If they should ever come for me based on information they stole online my answer to that is S*****e by cop because I my friend have already decided that is the last straw-time to bow out.

    Liked by 3 people

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  5. Living in Northern VA, the development is nonstop and has been going strong since I first moved here ’95. Not that the DC Metro area wasn’t populous in the 1970’s when I first starting visiting but with the advent of technology and its subsequent advancements, well, the Business Insider video gives us a good look at what’s happening here and across this country.

    Thank you for your post today, Nick. It’s important to be aware of the impact and costs to states and communities in support of our technological conveniences. Sad part about it, there’s no turning back. No getting back the land and animals who lived there.

    Liked by 2 people

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    • I admit that when I first saw VA at the video I had a pause thinking Let it not be at Denise’s neighborhood. It was, though, at somebody’s else. And the cost of it on everyone.
      Same thing happening overseas: under the necessity to localize data hubs, data centers are appearing like mushrooms.
      What and how much regulation can/ will be applied is the issue.
      Because, as you and the rest of our friends here remarked, there is no turning back.

      No easy hill to climb. As Shoshana Zuboff says in her book “What is abrogated here is our right to the future tense, which is the essence of free will, the idea that I can project myself into the future and thus make it a meaningful aspect of my present. This is the essence of autonomy and human agency. Surveillance capitalism’s “means of behavioral modification” at scale erodes democracy from within because, without autonomy in action and in thought, we have little capacity for the moral judgment and critical thinking necessary for a democratic society. Democracy is also eroded from without, as surveillance capitalism represents an unprecedented concentration of knowledge and the power that accrues to such knowledge. They know everything about us, but we know little about them.” 

      Thank you for diving in the totality of this post, Denise.

      Liked by 2 people

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  6. The scale of growth is staggering, along with the implications of physical and mental health, and eco-sustainability. In my opinion, the corporate argument that it’s a better use of (out-dated) infrastructure doesn’t stack up — efficiency gains aren’t keeping pace with demand. Amazon, Microsoft, and Google claim “offsetting” (imo, offsetting is the biggest marketing scam ever) through use of wind and solar power — the reality varies as fossil fuels are still for generating power.
    Should I be worried? Yes, in the sense of being aware and adding my voice for more regulation and transparency (with the caveat that national security requires secrecy). Data centres should be built away from residential areas and where there’s ample renewable energy and sustainable water supplies — not in already strained ecosystems.

    But I am realistic. I use AI every day and all of us in one way or another are so deeply ingrained in our online use — it is impossible to walk this backwards. The burden should fall on governments to manage this ‘wisely’ because obviously big corporations cannot, although governments are more apt to turn a blind-eye so they can claim jobs and national income; government are, after all, big corporations.

    I would like to say that personal searches and interactions with AI are feathers on the wind compared to the servers which are mountains and must be cooled with rivers. The feathers aren’t to blame for the rivers running dry — the mountains are. And “corporations” now own the rivers.

    Liked by 3 people

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    • Very well said, M.
      Oh, the renewable energy joker card… who are they kidding? Current infrastructure is unable to store renewable energy… they prefer saying “Stop producing electricity” to wind and solar panel farms when there is surplus. And they will cope with the gigantic demands on water and energy of DC?

      Informed citizens can apply political pressure which might lead to regulations.
      I think Angelou’s quote sums it up.
      Problem is that in such a fragmented and tribal societies finding common ground for action has become a Unicorn: many believe it exists but no one has seen it.

      Thank you, M, for your comprehensive thoughts.
      And… good luck today at the University (not that you need any.)

      Liked by 2 people

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