[nosianu]

Incidentally, immediately after reading the comments here I went to Ars and saw this, which when you read it fits perfectly:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/03/these-angry-dutc...

Just one sample quote, but it's worth reading it all:

> The dispute over nitrogen permits has put Microsoft’s data center developments in direct opposition to an increasingly powerful farming community. Earlier this month, a new political force, called the Farmer Citizen Movement (BBB), did so well in provincial elections, it became the joint-largest party in the Dutch Senate. The party, which emerged in response to the nitrogen crisis, also has strong views on data centers. “We think the data center is unnecessary,” says Ingrid de Sain, farmer turned party leader of the BBB in North Holland, referring to the Microsoft complex. “It is a waste of fertile soil to put the data centers boxes here. The BBB is against this.”

And another one because it shows some of the thoughts:

> “Of course, we need some data centers,” he says. But he wants us to talk about restructuring the way the Internet works so they are not so necessary. “We should be having the philosophical debate of what do we do with all our data? I don’t think we need to store everything online in a central place.”

[satvikpendem]

I mean, it's kinda based, as an advocate of local first software. Maybe we should compute as much as we can locally on our client devices and less on the server.

[iso1631]

> “Of course, we need some data centers,” he says. But he wants us to talk about restructuring the way the Internet works so they are not so necessary.

I'm waiting for them to suggest it should be moved to the cloud rather than put in data centres.

This is a symptom of widespread technological illiteracy, globally (at least in the west)

[nosianu]

Ah - now I actually have to come to his defense. Because I only quoted the part immediately after this one and thought it was enough:

> Ruiter says he’s continued to talk about data centers because he wants to remind people that “the cloud” they’ve come to rely on isn’t just an ethereal concept—it’s something that has a physical manifestation, here in the farmland of North Holland. He worries that growing demand for data storage from people, and also, increasingly, AI, will just mean more and more hyperscale facilities.

[iso1631]

In that case he sounds like one of the most technically adept people in government anywhere!

[etiennebausson]

I would very much like politicians that knowledgeable and articulate in my country.