Bernie Sanders: "I think we need to be thinking seriously about a moratorium on these data centers. Frankly, I think you gotta slow this process down. It's not good enough for the oligarchs to tell us, 'It's coming, you adapt.' What are they talking about? Are they gonna guarantee... healthcare to all people? What are they gonna do when people have no jobs? Make housing free?"show more

That’s the endgame. They have to increase profits every year, except there’s no way to do that now except cut labor costs. AI = layoffs and layoffs mean not having to pay for health care. Capitalism will kill off its own workforce to keep profits growing for one more quarter.

Peter Thiel couldn't answer a basic question of if humanity should survive the AI boom. The Techbros are a d*ath cult. They want to reduce the population, where only a few humans serve them for the jobs robots can't do. These people are psychopaths.

He’s voicing what a lot of people feel: “move fast and adapt” is easy to say when you’re not the one eating the downside. If the buildout is going to reshape jobs, power grids, water use, and local costs, then communities deserve enforceable terms—not vibes. A moratorium doesn’t have to mean “no innovation.” It can mean “prove the plan”: grid upgrades paid for, water impacts measured, local tax benefits locked in, worker transition funded, and accountability when promises aren’t met. If the future is coming, the social contract has to come with it.

Honestly, this is one of the few times Bernie is asking the question a lot of people quietly worry about. Everyone keeps saying ‘progress is coming, deal with it,’ but nobody explains what happens to regular people caught in the middle. If massive data centers and automation wipe out jobs, who’s responsible for the fallout workers, or the companies making billions off it? At the same time, slowing innovation isn’t simple either. Technology isn’t going to wait. The real debate shouldn’t be stop everything vs let it rip, but whether government and corporations have any real plan for jobs, healthcare, and housing when disruption hits. If they don’t, then people are right to be skeptical.

You think? China has 10% of what the US has in data centers..China is building and creating killer infrastructure technologies that consumers use..and we, in the US get another fucking data center to spy on us and score all the data consumed..US had data center addiction for profit

This is the divine right of stagnation dressed up as compassion. Fear of progress, luddism, envy, and raw power-lust. New technology has always benefited the poor far more than the rich by lowering costs, expanding access, and creating new opportunities. The rich adapt either way. The poor are the ones hurt when progress is frozen. Bernie’s answer is always the same: slow it down, control it, centralize it, and keep people dependent. He doesn’t want a world where people no longer need him to fight “oppression.” If they were truly empowered, his entire political identity would collapse.

Bernie’s moratorium is a classic D.C. overreach play—freeze progress, strangle innovation, and let bureaucrats dictate the future. Slowing AI development cedes global leadership to China while ignoring the real issue: government’s failure to modernize energy grids and cut red tape. Data centers aren’t the problem—decades of regulatory bloat and NIMBYism blocking nuclear, geothermal, and transmission upgrades are. The private sector’s delivering breakthroughs; D.C. should focus on enabling infrastructure, not hamstringing tech that’s creating high-paying jobs and keeping America dominant. If Sanders wants to talk healthcare and housing, start by auditing the $1.7T in Medicare fraud and HUD waste instead of blaming innovators.

No, Bernie, they're going to let us starve and die, because they believe the world is overpopulated and us "lesser people" need to be k*lled off so the elites can have more

Nobody cares what this socialist thinks. He flip-flops every few years and is a hypocrite to the core.

If Bernie was a member of Congress a few decades ago, he would have said the exact same thing about computers or the internet.

Why aren't the TechoBros using the heat the data centers create in a useful manner like they are in Finland ⁉️ It should be mandatory.

Bernie going full Luddite.

@VeronikaSain If Republicans are pro-data center, Dems are against them. If Republicans become anti-data center Dems would be for them. Welcome to politics.

Exactly You adapt’ isn’t a policy it’s a dodge. If AI and data centers erase jobs, then healthcare, housing, and dignity aren’t optional. They’re the bare minimum.

It’s a thin red line overall

We must thoughtfully and carefully assess the subject of AI... MAGA lawmakers frequently mention the recent decline in gasoline prices... however, one only needs to observe the significant number of job layoff announcements in recent months... being unemployed will lead to decreased demand for gasoline and other consumer goods... -DW

Let’s put a moratorium on cars, these horses will be better off working.

Republicans f everything with idiocy and hate, continued They love the dark ages, gd bubonic republicans

@BernieSanders

Elon said is going to be universal basic income! But with Palantir in the government, surveillance every movement, some aren't going to get paid. Control that's what the technocrats wants!

"Godfather of AI" (resigned from Google b/c of "deep concerns + regret" for direction AI's going in), was at symposium Bernie attended. I'm glad ppl urging caution abt AI. Fools cheer AI: "Smarter than man! Will run the world!" Um, didn't our farmers vote for their own demise?

Given his record, I will take the opposite position of sanders.

Nothing says “I’m an AI expert” like an octogenarian Vermonter who never met a billionaire whose neck he didn’t want to put in a yoke.

Most people have no idea of what this means for them, what is coming. The next grand experiment. We are all the guinea pigs. The fact that these corporations are being allowed to do this without funding the power infrastructure to support it borders on criminal.

He’s not wrong, but the toothpaste is out of the tube, so to speak, with no planning. It will result in economic crisis and then a period of desperate policy-making to try to correct course.

Communist Degrowth.

I think we need a moratorium on octogenarian commies serving in the Senate.

We need a moratorium on feeble old minds playing political games! AI build is mandatory & existential. It is the arms race of the next 25 years. What we need are #termlimits to protect from embedded imbeciles like Bernie from perpetually running the country into the ground

Maybe Vermont Jesus could try passing some legislation that doesn't just rename post offices.

Reel these AI companies in

Amd its all just to replace jobs and make wage earners lives even worse. It isnt even to improve the lives of anyone but themselves. We dont even have the infastructure for it because none of tax money is spent on that, its given to billionaires to build data centers and then the local politicians get paid off to crowd source the electric costs. What a crock of sheet.

It's precisely what Madison is attempting to do here in Wisconsin with good reason: these corporations are exploiting our government, our communities, and our land with grand promises but few tangible returns beyond their ever-increasing profits.