ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Data centers use too much water, make too much noise, and drive up your electric bill. Or do they? David and Dustin spend most of the episode on the fight over data centers, working through Ben Lorica's breakdown of water, noise, and power one at a time and finding that the answer nearly always depends on where you're standing. A national average that looks tiny can hide a single site that's a town's biggest water customer. The noise problem is less about volume than a hum that never stops. And electricity is where the complaints hold up best, especially in places that bill residents for grid capacity before anything gets built. Then: MCW's own AI assistant, Sage, goes live and signs up nearly 800 people in three days, with a quick way to bring what your old chatbot knows about you along for the ride. Plus parting shots on a credit-card-sized recorder that changed how David does conferences, and the morning briefing that's waiting in Dustin's inbox every day at 7 a.m.
Chapters
- 04:22 — The Controversy over Data Centers
- 10:08 — Data Centers: Water Consumption
- 19:28 — Data Centers: Noise Pollution
- 31:34 — Data Centers: Electricity Use
- 45:21 — The Need for Balanced Perspectives
- 49:03 — Introduction to Sage: AI Assistant at MCW
- 01:02:54 — Parting Shots
Email us at decryption@mcw.edu with questions, thoughts, or topic ideas. The Decryption — a Medical College of Wisconsin technology podcast, hosted by David Hotchkiss & Dustin J. Martin.
