For Whom the Data Center Hums, It Hums For Thee

John Donne’s Meditation XVII, best known for the line “for whom the bell tolls,” argues that no person stands apart from the rest of humanity. What happens to one part of the whole eventually reaches the rest.

I work in software engineering. I am part of the problem. I understand why data centers exist, and I benefit from them like everyone else. The cloud isn’t some kind of metaphysical thing… it sits somewhere, on land, tied to power and water and people.

But I also live in Appalachia, where we’ve spent generations paying the hidden costs of other people’s necessities.

So when I hear that my electric bills, my water supply, and my landscape may be asked to stretch and transform so corporations can scale profits somewhere else... profits that rarely flow back into the community in any meaningful way. It feels familiar. We are left with the long tail: environmental exposure, higher disease rates, and health outcomes we did not choose.

We're all aware of the Cold War–era uranium enrichment plant just a few miles north that shut down many years ago and is currently under remediation; its impact on people’s lives did not end with operations. This is not some abstract history lesson, it is a pattern we’ve lived through before, repeatedly, each time presented as progress.

What follows borrows Donne’s structure and cadence, along with an idea first prompted by a social media post I later tracked down to a Reddit comment by u/jayhock, to make a modern point: “somewhere else” too often means places like ours.

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It Hums For Thee

No place is an island, entire of itself,

Each holler is a piece of the valley,

A part of our heritage.

If a substation be raised in our hills,

Appalachia is less.

As well as if a ridge is leveled,

Or a creek of thine own, or of thy neighbors were drained.

Any community's burden diminishes me

For I am involved in the system.

Therefore, ask not for whom the data center hums,

It hums for thee.

I write this as one who builds systems that live inside those walls.

I know “the cloud” must sit somewhere.

I know packets must flow through fiber and copper,

And the cost of AI is not free,

It runs on steel, silicon, water, and powerplants. 

But necessity does not excuse placement.

A data center is not just compute

It is water taken quietly,

Electricity drawn without rest

Diesel engines waiting for the moment the power grid blinks.

Its hum is constant, and its needs do not sleep.

When it comes to a rural place,

It does not arrive empty handed,

It brings in transmission lines,

Noise floors that never fall to zero,

And needs that burden more than what was given.

We are told it is progress

We are told it is clean

We are told it is good.

Yet Appalachia has heard this before.

From coal seams and timber rights,

From pipelines and landfills,

From uranium enrichment and its remediation

From promises things would be better,

While the damage stays with us.

Hear me out, I do not say build none.

Some must exist.

But not every place must carry the weight,

And not every quiet valley must be offered up

Because the land is cheap

And the people are used to being told it’s for the greater good.

Each megawatt drawn here

Is a choice made elsewhere

Each gallon consumed here

Is a scarcity felt by someone who did not sign the contracts

If a community is diminished by the build

Then we are all diminished

For we are all networked together

Therefore, do not ask for whom the data center hums,

It hums for thee.

Additional Reading

• U.S. Department of Energy — Data Centers and Energy Use

• Ohio Capital Journal — Ohio’s data centers will impact many Ohioans

• Ohio Capital Journal — Data centers need electricity fast, but utilities need years to build power plants – who should pay?

• Reuters — US data center demand raising power risks this winter, regulator says

• Reuters — AI data centers are forcing dirty ‘peaker’ power plants back into service

Lawrence County

Our neighbors in Lawrence County, Ohio are facing this decision now.

The Lawrence County Commissioners and the Ironton City Council will hold a joint meeting on January 8, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. to discuss the proposed Strata Expanse AI data center project planned for Lawrence County. The meeting will take place in the Ironton City Council Chambers, on the third floor of the City Building in Ironton.

Residents and opponents of the project are encouraging people to attend and make their voices heard, urging local officials to stand with the community on this issue. If you live, work, do business in, or want to advocate for the people of Lawrence County, please mark your calendar and consider attending, because these decisions don’t stop at county lines.