Don\u2019t look now, but we seem to have a moral panic on our hands.<\/p>\n
The term moral panic, at least as a social science concept, is relatively modern. It was coined by Stanley Cohen in the 1972 book \u201cFolk Devils and Moral Panics.\u201d Moral panics emerge when large numbers of people start to freak out about something that doesn\u2019t warrant the freak-out.<\/p>\n
When I was kid, there was a moral panic over \u201cDungeons & Dragons,\u201d the role-playing game. It was sparked by the tragic suicide of a gamer and quickly led to various Christian groups insisting, in the words of one Georgia pastor<\/a>, that \u201cthe game is an occult tool that opens up young people to influence or possession by demons.\u201d<\/p>\n Moral panics are seductive to journalists. CBS News\u2019 \u201c60 Minutes\u201d host Ed Bradley interviewed Gary Gygax, the creator of the game, in 1985<\/a>, asking, \u201cIf you found 12 kids in murder suicide with one connecting factor in each of them, wouldn\u2019t you question it?\u201d<\/p>\n Gygax responded, \u201cI would certainly do it in a scientific manner, and this is as unscientific as you can get. It\u2019s nothing but a witch hunt!\u201d<\/p>\n Gygax was right, but it took a while for people to realize it.<\/p>\n History is full of similar episodes. Some were entirely silly \u2014 like the 1950s hysteria about comic books corrupting the youth. But often they take real concerns and legitimate issues and turbocharge them. The child-abduction panic of the late 1970s and early 1980s was sparked by some actual, horrific child abductions. The understandable fear among parents led to a kind of mass hysteria.<\/p>\n Moral panics form a bit like \u201cperfect storms\u201d with just the right conditions. But they differ in three ways. First, storms are easy to predict. Second, when you\u2019re in a deluge, no one disputes that you\u2019re in one. But when you\u2019re in a moral panic, the people panicking can\u2019t recognize it until it\u2019s over \u2014 sort of like when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the other week \u201cWoke 1 was crazy.\u201d She didn\u2019t think so when she was fomenting Woke 1.<\/p>\n Which brings us to the third difference: Humans don\u2019t know how to create hurricanes, but they do know how to create moral panics.<\/p>\n Consider the freak-out over AI data centers, which are proliferating across the country. A recent poll<\/a> found that more people would rather have a nuclear power plant or steel factory in their community than a data center. That\u2019s bonkers.<\/p>\n Panic-peddlers are pushing even crazier stuff. Steve Bannon\u2019s \u201cWar Room\u201d is describing AI data centers as \u201cweapons labs\u201d to be used on Americans. His \u201ctech correspondent\u201d claims that data centers are like the embryonic \u201cneurons of the Antichrist, that\u2019s what we\u2019re witnessing. The false messiah.\u201d A Kentucky farmer who turned down a $26-million offer for her property explained<\/a> to CNN that part of her reasoning is that the vibrations from data centers \u201cvibrate at a low frequency that can bring up cortisol levels.\u201d<\/p>\n We shouldn\u2019t rule out the possibility that this moral panic isn\u2019t entirely homegrown. Fracking induced a similar freakout 15 years ago, and foreign governments played<\/a> a role<\/a> in fomenting<\/a> it, hoping a moral panic would block the practice the way a similar one killed the nuclear industry for a generation. It would not shock me if we\u2019re seeing something similar today.<\/p>\n Not all concerns about data centers are so crazy or even unreasonable. They do use a lot of water, though not nearly as much as some claim. They can cause electricity rates to go up. They\u2019re ugly. And, if you\u2019re freaking out about what AI will do to your job or to American society, taking it out on data centers makes a certain amount of sense.<\/p>\n Politicians, as a class, tend to indulge moral panics. Which is why it\u2019s no surprise that Republicans and Democrats alike are racing to get on the \u201cright\u201d side of the issue.<\/p>\n Consider Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott, up for reelection this year. Texas has prided itself in being the most business-friendly environment possible, enticing Big Tech to flee California for the accommodating Lone Star State. Just last November, Abbot boasted<\/a> that a $40-billion investment by Google proved that \u201cTexas is the epicenter of AI development, where companies can pair innovation with expanding energy.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, Abbott is throwing Google and Big Tech under the bus. By failing to win over local communities, he told ABC\u2019s Jonathan Karl, \u201cThey basically dug their own grave for the problem that\u2019s been caused for them.\u201d He added, \u201cthat\u2019s why they got the backlash they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n AI is coming. The only question is whether America should take the lead or let China. If your answer is \u201cAmerica,\u201d then data centers are the price. If your answer is \u201cChina\u201d then by all means keep freaking out.<\/p>\n