The data center backlash is not really about resources. It is about fear of AI and fear of the unknown. I spent four days in rural Colorado shadowing a data center startup's 'listening tour.' This story is about what ordinary Americans think about AI and their desire to have a stake in the boom. David Meyer (@thedmeyer) is the founder of (@DeployStrata), which is trying to build a tiny 12-shipping container data center on a sand lot in the middle of nowhere. During a community meeting, he answered every practical question: Noise, water, power, cleanup. It didn't move the skeptics: — “I’m willing to bet 90% of this group will raise their hands saying innately I’m against AI and I’m scared to death of AI. I don’t think any of us in this room have any clue how bad this could go.” — Trump "wants to use China as the blueprint. Have we ever asked the Chinese what life is like over there? Digital ID. It sucks.” — “Our collective concerns regarding AI, data centers and Flock cameras come down to one primary concern. I address these concerns in one statement: WE DO NOT WANT TO LIVE IN A SURVEILLANCE STATE!!!” — “What do we need it for? That’s the big question.” And above all else: what's in it for the community? To be clear, the resources do matter. But they are often a front for these larger fears over technology, which this specific project exposes by solving all of the resource concerns. My full dispatch in @PirateWires (with photography by yours truly):