What do the atomic bomb, the moon mission, fracking and data centers have in common?
They all had the probability factor going for them. Around each of these projects there was a strong field of probability that they were going to become manifest. It is uncanny how quickly something that is an idea becomes a reality when "the system" wants it or backs it. And it is disturbing how easily the public is swayed to go along with what the system wants.
In all three of these projects, the public was fed lies as to why these projects were needed, and the public swallowed the reasons hook line and sinker. As if . . . as if they were in on something, as if the system that needed a bomb, a man on the moon, fracked gas and mega data had their / our interest in mind.
The reasons were, in chronological order, 1) to end the war, 2) to beat the Russians, 3) so we would not dependent on foreign oil, 4) to run AI and to beat the Chinese (our current nemesis). All of those reasons were either completely bogus or carried a temporary shine of validity, but the real reasons why there was a green light for all four of these colossal undertakings were never discussed with the public or tax-payers.
Let's look at each one of these nightmarish runaway trains:
The bomb: The Manhattan Project was funded through a covert "black budget," with expenses concealed inside routine military appropriations bills to bypass the standard congressional budgeting process. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the funding mechanism to protect the project's absolute secrecy, ultimately spending approximately ($2) billion (30 billion today). The rationale, back then: If we have the bomb, no one will mess with us. The bomb stood for the elusive end to all wars. (That was complete science fiction. As we now see, nuclear technology was a Pandora's Box.)
Fracking: In 2010, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated the 70 to 140 billion gallons of water are used to fracture 35,000 wells in the United States each year. This is approximately the annual water consumption of 40 to 80 cities with populations of 50,000.
Improper Abandonment: If the operating company goes bankrupt or illegally walks away, the well is left unplugged or inadequately sealed. These abandoned well sites are often littered with rusting equipment, polluted soil, and toxic waste. How many wells are abandoned? There is no single percentage for "abandoned" fracking wells, as well status is broken down into active, idle/inactive, and orphaned (unplugged and abandoned). Estimates suggest that up to 69% of all historical abandoned wells in the U.S. are left unplugged, but modern fracking wells have much lower, though still significant, abandonment rates.
Man on the moon: Why was it important to put a man on the moon? To win the cold war. How did Kennedy sell the idea to the public while the War in Vietnam was raging: "We're not going to the moon because it's easy but because it's hard." Now in 2026, why do we want a moon station? Establishing a permanent presence on the moon offers massive logistical and scientific advantages over traveling directly from Earth. Right now "the next hard thing" is the colonization of Mars. Why would we want to colonize Mars? No answer.
Data centers: Data centers are the physical backbone of our digital world. They safely store, process, and deliver massive amounts of information. Virtually every daily digital convenience-- from streaming media and mobile banking to GPS navigation and cloud backups-- relies on the centralized computing power, security, and high-speed networks that these facilities provide.
Extreme Energy Consumption: AI-focused data centers require massive computing power, with some facilities drawing as much electricity as 100,000 to 2 million households. This surge in demand drives up electricity bills for local residents and forces the grid to rely heavily on fossil fuels.
For people who strive to wean themselves off the internet and the power grid and conserve resources, and worry about Climate Change, data centers rank as an almost alien extravagance and hopeless waste of resources.
Conclusion:
The Department of Defense (DoD) requires its own dedicated data centers to maintain operational security, process classified intelligence, and run real-time artificial intelligence (AI) for the warfighter. While the DoD uses commercial cloud platforms, it also maintains dedicated physical infrastructure for workloads that cannot be outsourced.
What nobody is talking enough about, in any communal or organized fashion, is their fear of artificial intelligence becoming autonomous, i.e., thinking for itself. What we always whispered about during my life time was how when Artificial Intelligence (AI) is used to automate, analyze, and generate information across every industry, and begins talking to itself, we will be stepping into the Apocalypse.
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