Hello. In about 3 hours, at 3pm ET, we're going to get together and talk about Hyperscale.

This week I read the introduction and chapter 1 ("Buildout"). I'm really interested in the shift in gears we're doing with this book where it sounds like we're going to be talking much more concretely (no pun intended) about the physical infrastructure that makes AI happen, rather than the disembodied, conceptual, dialectic project of AI (where I admittedly spend a lot of my time). It sounds like Marx literally want up to the chain link fence perimeter of at least one data center, and possibly managed to wrangle an actual tour of a data center, and how these facilities are the critical pieces of infrastructure - and to use his language and some others who have been thinking about this lately, logistics - of AI.

I'm really curious what you're all thinking about when you're thinking about data centers in or near your communities, and the physical projects that make generative AI possible (namely, hyperscale data centers). We've talked about it before, but very much in passing. If you want to frame it in terms of what you're hoping to get from this book, or what you're looking forward to, this might be a good week to reflect on the introduction and the roadmap of the book from the table of contents, and discuss that too.

I've been thinking a lot about data centers over the past few weeks in particular due to some work I'm currently engaged in, but can't share in writing right now (but maybe soon!).

In the meantime, I can share some immediate thoughts:

• Marx's observation of abatements as something that data center developers and operators prey upon has been on my mind over the past few weeks, and I'd be really interested in hearing from folks (especially in the United States) who have any knowledge about the abatements and other tax incentives data centers in your area have gotten to lure them to build these behemoth facilities in your communities.
• I'm really, really hoping Marx will tell us more about Virginia and what people are doing there after years of buildout; after having moved to Texas, I've been talking with lots of Texans across the state about hyperscale data center projects in their communities, and (admittedly selfishly) I'd like to reflect on the contrasts and parallels I can draw between Virginia and where I now live. I think Marx mentioned that VA is home to more data centers than anywhere else on earth, and Beijing is in second place if I remember correctly; but Texas is putting up its own numbers to catch up.
• an aside: Caterpillar (the construction and industrial materials company) comes up in this chapter briefly on page 8-9 and recurs a bit later in the chapter for providing some of the noxious diesel generators as backup energy for many of these data centers; the main association I draw to them is that they've been the target of boycott, divest, and sanction campaigns for their work in providing Israel armored D9 bulldozers, which settlers use to destroy Palestinians' homes.

When you're ready to join at 3p ET, you can click on this link or you can go here:

https://al2.in/ReadingGroupRoom

See you then.