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

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.

  • deafboy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    312·
    1 month ago

    rest of it reads like a copy-paste about the dangers of 5G cell towers

    I was just about to say boo-hoo, a dog gone bald, but 85 decibels measured from outside your window is brutal. There’s a reason these farms are mostly built in the middle of the desert, on the oil fields, or near a dam, with no residential housing nearby.

    Yeah, every medical emergency in town will be blamed on Mara from now on, but I’m not even mad. They’ve got themselves into this mess. For those who don’t know, they’ve built their entire marketing on being compliant with regulations :D

    The whole thing is awfully similar to the wind turbine controversy. The reasonable people spend years assuring the public that the windmills are not going to kill them, and then somebody comes up and says “Great! We’re gonna build our windfarm right next to these houses”.

    • Cleverdawny@lemm.ee
      6·
      1 month ago

      Except wind farms don’t emit noise. I work around them. You can just go into a field right under a huge windmill and take a nap, they’re fully silent within our hearing range

      • deafboy@lemmy.world
        4·
        1 month ago

        It’s not about what they do, it’s about what people think they do! :D

        go into a field right under a huge windmill

        Must be nice to see them go up-close. I must add that to my bucket list.

        • Cleverdawny@lemm.ee
          5·
          1 month ago

          They’re super cool! You have no idea how big they really are. The blades are the length of perhaps four or five semi trucks. Absolutely massive.