A SPECTRE IS haunting America—the spectre(幽灵，萦绕心头的恐惧) of data centres. The computer-filled warehouses powering America’s boom in artificial intelligence have become less popular than almost every other kind of infrastructure—even nuclear-power plants. Counties and states are rushing to wrap them in red tape(繁文缛节，官僚作风) or ban them altogether. In July the Ratepayer Protection Act(纳税人保护法案，针对电价的立法), designed to limit their impact on electricity prices, sailed through the committee stage in the House of Representatives.
一个幽灵正在困扰美国——数据中心的幽灵。这些装满计算机的仓库支撑着美国人工智能的繁荣，如今却几乎比任何其他基础设施都更不受欢迎，甚至不如核电站。各州县正争相为它们设置繁文缛节，或干脆全面禁止。今年7月，旨在限制数据中心对电价影响的《纳税人保护法案》在众议院委员会阶段顺利通过。
On August 31st Donald Trump weighed into(介入，参与（争论）) the fractious(暴躁的，难以驾驭的) debate, alarming Republicans facing tight midterm races. Local opponents of data centres would “end up being backwards and poor”, he warned, if they killed the “Golden Goose(金鹅，摇钱树)”. The backlash against data centres is scrambling traditional political alignments, reshaping the coming elections and unnerving tech firms and investors.(对数据中心的抵制正在打乱传统政治联盟，重塑选举，并让科技公司和投资者不安。) It is less clear whether it will slow down the ai juggernaut(不可阻挡的强大力量).
8月31日，唐纳德·特朗普介入了这场激烈的辩论，令面临激烈中期选举的共和党人感到不安。他警告说，如果当地反对者扼杀了“金鹅”，他们“最终会变得落后和贫穷”。对数据中心的抵制正在打乱传统的政治联盟，重塑即将到来的选举，并让科技公司和投资者感到不安。目前尚不清楚这是否会减缓人工智能巨头的步伐。
For a sense of how quickly the politics of data centres has changed, consider three very different states: Illinois, Texas and Pennsylvania. In 2019 J.B. Pritzker(J.B.普利兹克，伊利诺伊州州长), the governor of Illinois, signed a bipartisan(两党的，跨党派的) law creating incentives for their construction. “In today’s world,” he declared, “data centres are as critical a part of our infrastructure as our roads, trains and schools.” In Texas, Greg Abbott boasted as recently as last year that the state was “the epicentre(中心，震中) of AI development” while welcoming new Google data centres. Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s governor, was similarly enthusiastic: “We are already all in on(全力投入，完全支持) AI.”
要了解数据中心政治变化之快，不妨看看三个截然不同的州：伊利诺伊州、得克萨斯州和宾夕法尼亚州。2019年，伊利诺伊州州长J.B.普利兹克签署了一项两党法案，为数据中心建设提供激励措施。“在当今世界，”他宣称，“数据中心是我们基础设施中与公路、火车和学校同等关键的部分。”在得克萨斯州，格雷格·阿博特直到去年还在吹嘘该州是“人工智能发展的中心”，同时欢迎谷歌新建数据中心。宾夕法尼亚州州长乔什·夏皮罗同样热情：“我们已经全力投入人工智能。”
Too close to home
离家太近
The path of least resistance
阻力最小的路径
