Everybody says AI lives in "the cloud." But the cloud is not weightless. In this episode of The Bigfoot Manifesto, Dave talks with Danny Caine of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance about the data center boom…
This episode features Danny Caine, and the conversation keeps circling one question: who benefits when the official story sounds clean but ordinary people are left holding the bill?
The Official Story Leaves Something Out
Everybody says AI lives in "the cloud." But the cloud is not weightless.
In this episode of The Bigfoot Manifesto, Dave talks with Danny Caine of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance about the data center boom powering AI, Big Tech, and the next major infrastructure fight.
Follow The Money, Follow The Footprints
These massive server farms need land, water, electricity, tax breaks, zoning approvals, and public tolerance — but too often, communities are the last to know what is being negotiated in their own backyard.
That is where The Bigfoot Manifesto tends to plant its oversized boot: in the gap between what institutions say is inevitable and what people can see happening right in front of them.
Why It Matters
Dave and Danny dig into why AI is driving a rapid data center buildout, how shell companies and secrecy keep showing up in these deals, why local residents are pushing back, and whether ordinary ratepayers could end up subsidizing Big Tech's power needs.
The point is not to make everything sound like a conspiracy board in a damp basement. The point is simpler: capitalism & inequality, tech & surveillance is not background noise. It shapes who gets power, who gets protected, and who gets told to adapt.
Listen To The Full Episode
This field note comes from EP28: Bigfoot vs. the Server Farm: Who Pays for the AI Boom?.
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