I was speaking to my daughter the other day. She has a new job for a software company. This company uses AI internally to help their project managers and customer support be more productive. I brought up my opposition to AI and data centers based on all the reasons most of you know.

The idea that AI consumes inordinate amounts of power that will accelerate climate collapse through global overheating. Or that it will be likely used to put tens of millions of people out of work. Or for mass surveillance and control. That I don’t trust autonomous weapons. I don’t trust that AI speculation won’t tank the economy. Not to mention nobody asked for AI or to have a data center in their backyard. And my pet peeve about what it does to our own critical thinking and creativity.

“Those are all good reasons,” she said, “but it’s just a tool. Like most new technologies, we just have to get used to it. Learn to use it.” She seemed reasonable.

At this point, I must say that I love my daughter. In an ironic way, she reminded me again that we can’t use facts and reasons to persuade people of anything. She also revealed one reason we are losing the AI/data center argument. This is how I replied.

“You can’t just have a little bit of cancer.” I’ll come back to this.

As liberals and progressives, which make up most of the reader of this post, we believe in using facts, reasons, and arguments to persuade others. It’s a hangover from the age of enlightenment. Present a good rational argument and the scales fall from the eyes of those on the other side of the issue. They agree. If they don’t agree, we present more facts and reasons until they submit. Finally, failing to persuade them, we call them stupid in a variety of self-satisfying ways that prove our superiority.

Psychologists tell us that we can’t tell or persuade anybody of anything. If you believe this works, just turn to your friend, partner/spouse, or daughter and tell them that they need to lose 10 pounds because it will be healthier for them.

The words my daughter repeated reveal a tactic used by AI/data center advocates that bypasses all facts and reasons. It’s called framing. Making subconscious connections between neurons in our brains that reinforce meaning in one particular direction.

There is one important frame in her reply. That frame is the word tool. Referring to AI as a tool, frames AI as simply something we use to improve productivity and effort. People use tools. Tools serve us. Not the other way around. We are in control of the tool.

By saying AI is just a tool, the word just trivializes the impact and frames the debate around AI toward one of progress and productivity rather than being a major hazard for our lives.

But consider what the brilliant computer scientist, Conner Leahy, stated at the recent Nexus Institute conference:

“We have these things (AI) that are smarter than humans running around, that don’t have our best interests at heart, that we do not control. We don’t even know how they work. They are not programmed, they are grown. We do not understand what’s going on inside of them. Already we’re seeing AI systems that were trained to improve human engagement, immediately learn to lie. They immediately learn to flatter. They immediately learn to say what you want to hear….”

That doesn’t sound like control. Thinking of AI and data centers as just a tool is a little like saying guns don’t kill people, or that pipelines don’t cause pollution. Oh wait….

Why is pushing the tool frame important? Simply, the side that sets the public debate often wins the debate. Because that’s what we talk about and cover in the media. It’s what the public hears. When we challenge that position, we only reinforce it.

The classic climate example is “climate change is a hoax. The more we say, “climate change is not a hoax,” we repeat the words climate and hoax. Our brains aren’t good at processing the negative, the word not. They primarily process the association of climate and hoax. We repeat our denial over, and over again until half the population believes there must be some truth to the idea that there is a climate hoax.

So, stating that AI and their data centers are NOT tools only entrenches the tool frame. We feed what we fight. We must establish a different debate in the public mind. For example, “AI and data centers are out of control.”

We already have a term for uncontrolled growth in biological systems. It’s called cancer. When the cancer spreads, it’s called metastasis. We all have a neural and visceral response to the terms cancer and metastasis. They often mean death.

In talking with my daughter, I chose the word cancer carefully to frame AI and data center growth in opposition to the tool frame.

If we want to support a narrative that AI and data centers are bad, we can choose to frame their growth as cancer, malignancy, metastasis, and death. Or we can continue to argue the facts and try to convince and persuade. This simple change might seem like hyperbole, but here are a few examples of what this frame sounds like. These are direct statements.

· AI is out of control. It’s a virus and its going to cause the next pandemic.

· Data centers are a cancer on our communities!

· They are metastasizing and devouring our lives. We must cut out this tumor. Stop this malignancy.

· The pollution from data centers is a death sentence for my family and loved ones.

· Data centers are killing our pocketbooks, our jobs, and our kid’s futures.

· The uncontrolled spread of AI is a cancer.

Once the frame is established, then using facts and reasons support what people already recognize. Language and framing don’t replace the strategy and the tactics of policy, politics, and organizing. They just make it easier.

If you’d like a more detailed understanding of how language, stories, and identity to move people to action, consider my new book, Reclaiming the Climate Narrative. It contains a full section on data centers.

And stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3 by subscribing below to learn more about the narratives that promote AI and data centers, and how we can pivot to our own narratives.

Thanks for all you do.

We Are All Connected!

– Hobie,

L. Hobart Stocking