Politico reports their recurrent poll finds in the past 6 months public opinion on AI data centers has shifted dramatically in a negative direction. In January it was 37% for, and 28% against, today the results are 24% for and 41% against. Interestingly, the same 35% were unsure or had no opinion both times.
The shift was especially pronounced among people who said they had voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race.
Republicans also shifted in a negative direction but by a much smaller margin.
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Looking back on these opinion shifts, historians may perceive the beginnings of what the Arabist novelist Frank Herbert called “the Butlerian jihad.” He predicted that mankind would be swept by a movement that opposed “thinking machines,” eventually abolishing them.
A product of his era, Herbert explored what would arise to replace AI - drugs and mysticism - in his novels beginning in 1965 with Dune.
The spice must flow.
