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.

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

Texan here: we barely get to vote on shit at all. And they're gerrymandering to make it even harder.

I'd call Texas a clown car but it's too big to qualify.

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.

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

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

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

Seems like the real problem is that companies aren't being charged enough for their excessive water usage.

It's no surprise this is happening in the Land of Useful Idiots and Dipshits, texas.

They deregulated shower heads just in time.

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

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

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.

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/

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.