Introducing How We Got Here -- NLW's new podcast — 文稿

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到2026年2月，情况已经逆转，51%的人反对。

By February of 2026, things had shifted with 51% opposed.

到今年5月，反对比例上升到70%。到了8月，整整四分之三，也就是75%的受访美国人反对本地数据中心建设，其中超过60%的人强烈反对。

By May of this year, it was up to 70% opposed, and by August, a full 3 quarters, 75% of Americans who were polled were opposed to local data center development, with more than 60% strongly opposed.

记者Robinson Meyer写道，美国人对数据中心的态度惊人地转向了33个百分点。

Wrote journalist Robinson Meyer, Americans have swung a remarkable 33 points against data centers.

美国公众舆论的这次转变，其速度和深度，是我曾经认为在任何议题上都不可能达到的。

It's a faster and deeper shift in American public opinion than I would have once thought possible on any issue.

过去几个月，随着中期选举临近，两党对数据中心广泛且日益增长的不满，使得这个问题成为两派共同的议题。

Over the past few months, as the midterms creep closer, broad bipartisan and growing discontent with data centers has made it an issue on both sides of the aisle.

事实上，在俄亥俄州至少一场关键的参议员竞选中，参议院共和党的竞选机构在一份备忘录中警告说，数据中心问题很可能让他们输掉选举。

In fact, in at least one key senatorial race in Ohio, the Senate GOP's campaign arm warned in a memo that the data center issue was likely to lose them the election.

这份备忘录不仅发给了俄亥俄州的竞选工作人员，也发给了所有关键的科技公司和超大规模云服务商。

The memo was sent out not just to campaign staffers in Ohio, but to all of the key tech companies and hyperscalers as well.

尽管特朗普总统试图反驳，称数据中心对社区有益，并且AI——或者他现在所称的SI，超级智能——对美国国家成功至关重要，但他的信息甚至没有在他的基本盘引起共鸣。

And even as President Trump has tried to push back, arguing that data centers are good for communities, that AI, or as he now calls it, SI, superintelligence, is essential and vital to American national success, his message has not resonated even with his base.

今年8月《经济学人》和YouGov的民调发现，2024年特朗普选民中虽然有35%支持在他们附近建数据中心，但47%的人反对。

An Economist and YouGov poll from August of this year found that while 35% of 2024 Trump voters supported a data center near them, 47% opposed them.

当然，这部分与AI本身有关。

Part of this is, of course, about AI itself.

但有趣的是，当你深入挖掘这些数据时，很明显这不仅仅是AI行业的问题。

What's fascinating, though, is that when you dig into the numbers, it's very clear that this is not the AI industry's problem alone.

事实上，越来越清楚的是，生成式AI进入公众视野时，就带着一种从以往技术平台、运动和领导者那里继承来的不利标签，而这些与AI本身无关。

In fact, what becomes clear is that generative AI came into public consciousness with a handicap handed down from the perceptions of previous technology platforms, movements, and leaders that had nothing to do with AI.

现实就是如此。

Here's the reality.

在大约15年的时间里，科技行业从美国最受尊敬和最受信任的大型行业之一，变成了人们对金钱和权力最深焦虑的化身。

Over roughly 15 years, tech went from one of the most admired and trusted large industries in America to the embodiment of people's deepest anxieties about money and power.

早在2013年，根据爱德曼全球信任度调查，科技是最受信任的行业，信任度为77%。

Back in 2013, technology was, according to Edelman's Global Trust Survey, the most trusted industry at 77%.

前一年它也是排名第一的行业。

It had been the number one industry the year before as well.

2015年，71%的美国人告诉皮尤研究中心，科技公司对国家有正面影响。但到2019年，仅仅四年后，这个数字下降到50%。

In 2015, 71% of Americans told Pew that tech companies had a positive effect on the country, but by 2019, just 4 years later, that number was down to 50%.

这种下滑也不是党派性的，民主党和共和党的态度都出现了崩塌。

This decline was also not partisan, with both Democrat and Republican attitudes cratering.

在盖洛普对不同行业的总体评价中，计算机行业在2017年达到75%的正面评价峰值，而今年一路下降到48%。

In Gallup ratings of people's overall view of different industries, the computer industry peaked at 75% positive in 2017 and has come all the way down to 48% this year.

与此同时，互联网行业从2017年的59%正面评价，到2021年转为净负面，正面评价仅为35%，而负面评价为40%。

The internet industry meanwhile went from 59% positive in 2017 to a net negative by 2021, with just 35% positive ratings compared to 40% who viewed it negatively.

要理解我们如何走到这一步，你必须回到科技行业还只有希望和潜力的时代。

To understand how we got here, you have to go back to when the tech industry was nothing but promise and potential.

好了，朋友们。

All right, friends.

欢迎。

Welcome.

那就是《How Tech Lost America》的开头。

That is the beginning of How Tech Lost America.

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一如既往感谢大家的收听，我们下期AI Daily Brief再见。

Appreciate you guys listening as always, and I'll see you back here on the AI Daily Brief.

已剔除 2 处广告（点击展开查看）

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Hello, AI Daily Brief friends!

Today, I'm launching a new podcast.

It came directly out of making AIDB.

Pretty frequently, there are important topics that just have way too much backstory to fit into a daily episode.

This new show is the place for those stories.

It's called How We Got Here, and it's the deep-dive story of how today's most important trends, events, and phenomena came to be.

The first episode starts with anger over data centers, then goes back 15 years to explain how America fell out of love with the tech industry.

Episode 2 is about how stuff got cheap while life got expensive.

So, it's not just tech— anything in society, culture, or economics is fair game.

The bigger idea behind it is that a lot of modern cynicism comes from feeling like the way things are was inevitable, when really it was the outcome of a set of decisions.

When we understand the decisions that got us here, we realize we have a lot more agency to shape what comes next.

New episodes come out every Monday, run for about 45 minutes to an hour, and each one comes with a fully illustrated companion essay.

So here's what would be so helpful from you.

Go follow How We Got Here wherever you listen and rate and review it.

The link is in the show notes, and launch week is when those things count the most.

In just a second, you'll hear the first 5 minutes of episode 1, How Tech Lost America.

Back in June of 2025, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro made an announcement that had become an increasingly common type of announcement at that time.

Excitedly, he shared that Amazon planned to invest $20 billion into his state, representing the largest capital infrastructure in Pennsylvania Commonwealth history.

That $20 billion, in fact, was of course to build new state-of-the-art data center campuses across the state.

This was, Shapiro made clear, a thing to be excited about.

Governor Shapiro said it would create thousands of good-paying, stable jobs, generate new revenue for Pennsylvania's local communities, and, quote, ensure that the future of AI runs right through Pennsylvania.

Fast forward just 14 months later, and what Governor Shapiro had to say about data centers had changed quite a bit.

On August 18th, 2026, he posted, I just signed an executive order implementing the strictest standards in the nation for AI data centers because I will not allow Pennsylvanians to be bullied by greedy developers and bulldozed by the lawyers working for these big tech companies.

Tech companies, I'm putting these developers on notice and letting them know that we will not let them bully Pennsylvanians, disregard our constitutional right to clean air and pure water, and drive up our utility bills.

So what happened to get this sort of head-spinning shift in just a little more than a year?

Well, what happened is that data centers, which were never particularly popular but also weren't really on most people's radar,

went from benign disinterest to hot-button oppositional political topic du jour.

Right around the same time that Shapiro was signing that first deal, back in August of '25, a pollster asked American voters whether they'd support a data center being built near their home.

It was basically a tie.

In fact, those in favor slightly nudged out those opposed, 43 to 42%.

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The full episode is out right now on the How We Got Here feed.

Again, I would so appreciate it if you would follow the show, rate it, and review it.

The link is in the show notes.