A Bitcoin mine moved to a small town in Texas. One by one, the residents fell ill.

cross-posted from: https://midwest.social/post/14304762

Over the course of several months in 2024, TIME spoke to more than 40 people in the Granbury area who reported a medical ailment that they believe is connected to the arrival of the Bitcoin mine: hypertension, heart palpitations, chest pain, vertigo, tinnitus, migraines, panic attacks. At least 10 people went to urgent care or the emergency room with these symptoms. The development of large-scale Bitcoin mines and data centers is quite new, and most of them are housed in extremely remote places. There have been no major medical studies on the impacts of living near one. But there is an increasing body of scientific studies linking prolonged exposure to noise pollution with cardiovascular damage.

  • CaptainBasculin@lemmy.mlEnglish
    615·
    4 months ago

    The root cause issue could be power plants used to supply energy to the datacenters running the computers (there are many things a power plant can do to harm its environment), or if we consider electromagnetic hypersensitivity not being a pseudoscientific term but an actual thing; electromagnetic waves coming from all the computers at the same time in a concentrated space could have triggered this whole ordeal.

    I can’t really think of any other possibilities, and I highly believe first one is the case.

    Edit: appearently if was noise whoops

    • Zarxrax@lemmy.worldEnglish
      191·
      4 months ago

      Well there is not really any reason to speculate if you read the article. They say it’s the sound. It reaches 90 decibels right outside of people’s homes. Some people are literally losing their hearing, and doctors in the article say that exposure to loud sounds can cause all of these heart issues.

      • NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.worldEnglish
        71·
        4 months ago

        90 decibels right outside of people’s homes

        This is torture. No wonder people get sick and die every day there.

        Don’t they have any laws to protect people’s homes?

        • dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
          8·
          4 months ago

          The article says that in Texas, only a city government can enact an enforceable noise ordinance. Since this thing is nowhere near any city, all the local sheriff can do is write tickets, he can’t force them to turn it off.

          • NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.worldEnglish
            35·
            4 months ago

            OK but noise ordinances are just a small detail here!

            This “mine” makes people suffer physical and psychological damage every minute of every day. Imagine a machine gun rattling day and night into all directions, eventually killing some people accidentially…

            Police should therefore shut this thing down immediately without any questions. And then they can ask all questions and discuss all details afterwards.

            • dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
              51·
              4 months ago

              No, noise ordinances are the entire point, because the excessive noise is the only thing that can be causing these problems in the community. There are thousands of data centers all over the world, with fans running 24/7, and staff on hand 24/7 to tend to them. They don’t cause these problems in the community, but they also have actual walls. And I bet their employers mandate good hearing protection so their staff doesn’t have these problems.

              There is no statute local police can use to shut it down, because Texans love their freedom so much, and elect freedom-loving politicians who abhor any regulations at all. Maybe if they paint the trailers black, the cops will think they are a threat and shoot them or something.

              • NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.worldEnglish
                3·
                4 months ago

                There is no statute local police can use to shut it down, because Texans love their freedom so much

                When lives are in immediate danger, police must act immediately. Isn’t that a general principle, independent of small details?

                What you are saying comes down to “murder is allowed unless there is a specific law against your specific method of murdering” and this appears still quite unbelievable to me.