Who Decided This Is The Way We Should Be Living?

This article is going to be very different from what I normally present here & fair warning – it will likely be a good amount longer than normal as well.  I’m going to jump into some deep water this week and share some personal opinions with you on a topic I’m very concerned about.  I’m also going to share an article I read this morning written by someone with a lot more smarts than me on the topic.

There is a whole lot of information out there these days about AI Data Centers.  I’ve entered into “discussions” online with people that told me because I’m not a fan of AI data centers that I’m a hypocrite. They point out that because “the research you’re doing & the words you’re typing right now on your computer and/or your phone are going through a data center.”  (I’m paraphrasing the comments that have been thrown at me.)

I cannot disagree with them – yes, my research and my use of a computer & phone does use data centers – likely AI data centers these days.  However, you need to know that there is a difference between regular data centers and the AI data centers that are being promoted so heavily right now.  Regular data centers have been around for decades – about 80 years from the onset of them.  Businesses have functioned well & I personally  have been perfectly happy with how those centers allowed me to do what I wanted to do on my computer & phone for years.  But suddenly, that’s not sufficient – they want bigger, better, faster, much more intrusive ways to draw us in.  AI is being pushed on us, like it or not.  

I suddenly discovered an AI data center being built about 6 blocks from my home (it’s a smaller one – about 12,000 sq. ft.)  But, I wondered, how did that happen?  It turns out because of the zoning in the area where they’re building it, they were able to skirt approval from our Planning & Zoning Commission and our City Council.  Okay – too late, nothing can be done – it’s under construction – totally legit.  However, it turns out it’s VERY near a residential area of new homes & is surrounded by existing businesses.  Those nearby neighbors are not happy.    

Then our community discovered that a developer was coming before our Planning & Zoning Commission then City Council, wanting permission to tear down a 200,000+ sq. ft. building to construct a 330,000 sq. ft. AI data center – the outrage began.  (This location is 2 blocks from the center already under construction, is 4 blocks from my home, is surrounded by existing small businesses & is about 200’, at most, from a large apartment complex & still relatively near the same neighborhood affected by the other one.)  It was time to arm ourselves with the knowledge necessary to fight this intrusion into our lives.  Many of us started educating ourselves and showing up at the P/Z & Council meetings expressing our opposition.  Now there’s another plan to develop one immediately in front of our city’s animal shelter & one of our fire stations, across the street from a well established housing development, blocks from 3 new housing developments, near 2 churches & a building used for some of our high school students, and less than 1 ½ miles from my home.  

You may be wondering – what’s the big deal?  It’s just buildings to house computers that process all the information we want.  We need them, businesses need them.  What’s the harm?  If I was to try to share with you all of the information that I’ve gathered, it would take way too long in this setting.   

Remember I mentioned that there’s a difference between the regular data centers we’ve been using for decades and the AI data centers?  I won’t try to make you believe that there aren’t some issues with the regular data centers because there are – but, the issues with AI centers are amplified by a tremendous amount, plus there are additional considerations.  For the sake of time I’m just going to give you an abbreviated version of the primary issues:

• They use tremendous amounts of electricity.  This will put a huge strain on our electric grids, with the potential for decisions having to be made at some point as to who gets that electricity – you & me?  Or the data centers?  It also will likely mean an increase in our electric bills because of supply/demand issues, not to mention the money needed to support expansions & improvements to the grids.
• Depending on the way they are constructed, they can use massive amounts of water.  Do we want our precious water supplies drained so that we might not have what we need in our homes to survive?  What about necessary water for farmers & ranchers to provide our food?  Even with the “closed loop cooling” systems that some are using now that don’t require constant water, they have to have a huge amount to start the process.  Then over time it will have to be drained & replaced.  That water they’ll be draining will be highly polluted with additives they treat it with – where will they dispose of that?  
• There’s potential for light pollution – some of them require significant exterior lighting that operates all night.  If you live near one, this could impact your life by possibly disrupting your sleep. 
• Air quality issues – depending on how the center is powered & what type of backup generators are used, there can be concerns about emissions into the surrounding areas.
• These data centers generate substantial amounts of waste heat creating “heat islands”.  They increase the temperature around them by an average of 3.6 degrees with possible increases up to 16.4 degrees – radiating out up to 6.2 miles away.  
• Noise pollution – be aware that these AI centers run 24/7.  They have large cooling systems & other equipment that can produce continuous noise affecting surrounding areas.  Emergency generators are also tested regularly and will create a lot of noise.
• Impact on animals & humans.  These AI centers emit continuous low-frequency noise & vibration that can travel a long distance and will penetrate walls & windows.  This is a sound that humans cannot hear, but animals can.  Constant exposure can create stress, anxiety & behavioral changes in pets & wildlife.  Just because we don’t hear the sound doesn’t mean it can’t have negative effects on us though.  According to the Environmental & Energy Study Institute, residents living near some data centers have reported concerns including:  Sleep disruption/chronic insomnia; headaches, migraines & ear pressure; vertigo, nausea & sensation of internal vibration; and, elevated stress, anxiety, depression & cognitive fatigue.
• Some people will try to convince you that these centers are job creators – not really true.  Once the influx of construction workers leave, it takes very few people to run the center.  (Example:  AI data center in Abilene, TX – 1,100 acres, 8 buildings totalling about 4 million sq. ft. will only employ 57 to 100 full-time employees once fully completed.)  Also, these machines are being trained to do the work of humans, thereby displacing human workers.

I now want to share with you the article I read this morning.  

“A world-renowned Harvard University historian has issued one of the most serious warnings yet about the trajectory of artificial intelligence and the ambitions of powerful technology corporations.

Jill Lepore cautions that an emerging system she calls the artificial state is already taking shape, one in which ordinary people are steadily stripped of autonomy while unelected tech elites consolidate control over the most fundamental aspects of public life.

In this vision of the future, critical decisions that once belonged to citizens and accountable democratic governments are increasingly handed over to machines owned and operated by private corporations.

Lepore describes the process in stark terms as the factory farming of public life.

She points to the systematic sorting and segmenting of populations, the isolation and alienation of individuals from one another, and the gradual destruction of genuine human community.

Where people once interacted directly with neighbors, officials, experts, or fellow citizens, they now more frequently encounter chatbots and automated systems.

Political information, news coverage, election materials, and even advice on whom to support in elections increasingly reach voters through privately controlled digital platforms.

AI is accelerating every part of this shift.

Government officials are already using the technology to assist in decision-making, political communications are being generated with AI tools, and mass surveillance grows dramatically easier as algorithms process enormous quantities of personal data collected about everyday citizens.

Speaking on the New York Times podcast Hard Fork, Lepore explained that the traditional nation-state and constitutional democracy are being displaced by technology that removes human beings from the decision-making process.

Government under such a system would operate not by the consent of the people but by machines making the decisions, and those machines belong to corporations.

She emphasizes that the artificial state has not fully arrived, yet its infrastructure is being constructed around the public right now.

Influential elites openly envision a future in which their technological systems wield powers traditionally reserved for governments that answer to voters.

The rhetoric of this moment, she observes, centers on the evanescence of modern liberal democracy and constitutional democracy.

Lepore is blunt about the motives involved.

The people driving this transformation are not interested in what the public actually wants.

What the people want, she notes, is not more AI systems and not more data centers.

That disconnect, she argues, is the heart of the crisis.

Her investigation into these developments began with a deceptively simple question that continues to resonate: Who decided this is a way we should be living?

She expands on the warning in her upcoming book, The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State.

Silicon Valley repeatedly frames the AI revolution as inevitable and insists that governments must step aside or risk falling behind.

Lepore rejects that fatalism as a bogus premise.

The same promises, she reminds us, accompanied earlier technological waves including the personal computer, the internet, and social media.

Claims that regulation destroys innovation or that technological advancement automatically strengthens democracy should not be accepted without scrutiny.

The stakes are higher this time because AI is not merely another communications tool.

The machines are being inserted directly into decisions that once required human judgment, influencing what people read, what information they encounter, how institutions communicate with them, and how vast stores of personal data are processed by both corporations and governments.

Under constitutional government, political power is theoretically derived from citizens who can hold elected officials accountable.

Under the artificial state Lepore describes, that relationship begins to break down as algorithms controlled by enormously powerful corporations assume functions once exercised by people and public institutions.

The result is a society in which citizens are sorted, segmented, surveilled, and increasingly isolated while machines quietly assume greater control over their lives.

Lepore’s most disturbing question remains unanswered and grows more urgent with every new AI deployment: Who decided this is a way we should be living?

The infrastructure of this new order is already rising around us.

The transfer of power from democratic accountability to corporate-controlled machines continues to advance.

Citizens who value autonomy and self-government would do well to pay close attention before the systems decide the matter for them.”

With the information I’ve shared above, as well as the warnings from Ms. Lepore, I believe we should take a very hard look at what is happening in our world with these advancements & make it a serious matter of prayer.  I’m certain that AI could have many positive uses for our society.  But the concern should be the potential for evil when in the hands of the wrong people & the enemy of our souls.

I want to share one personal experience with you to give you an idea of how AI should be used with a great deal of caution, if truth is important to you.  A few days ago a friend posted a meme on Facebook about a political candidate here in Texas.  It stated he’d voted for a particular bill that for me was troubling.  I didn’t want to share it unless I knew it to be factual.  So I did a search asking if he had indeed voted for that issue.  Of course, AI did the search & came back telling me that no – he had not voted for that.  So, I alerted my friend to the discrepancy.  He replied asking me what I used to do that search?  That raised some alarms, so I started digging.  I went to our state legislative site, searched for the specific bill in question, then went to the roll call vote records.  There it was!  He had indeed voted for that bill.  So the AI response was a blatant lie!  I will never again take the answers given to me by AI & believe them carte blanche.  I will dig around at reliable sources until I know the truth.

Honesty/truthfulness is a core moral requirement.  Truth breaks the power of sin and lies.  In Ephesians 6:10-17 we read about the armor of God that we need to take up as our protection.  Verse 14a specifically says:  “So stand firm and hold your ground, having tightened the wide band of truth (personal integrity, moral courage) around your waist…” (AMP)       

I pray that if you weren’t informed about this topic that you have found this information helpful; and, that you’ll use caution, be proactive & dig for the truth when it comes to using AI.  We can’t afford to allow our enemy (Satan) to utilize this tool to deceive us.

Written by Karran Martin – August 28, 2026

[All bold emphasis is mine]