Ohio: A New Gulag for Bits? ⛏️

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They announce it with trumpets, don’t they? Cipher – a name that hints at secrets, at codes – has seized a parcel of American soil in Ohio. Two hundred megawatts of power, they boast. A titan’s share. But what is this power for? For the betterment of mankind, do you think? 🧐

It has come to pass that Cipher Mining, that diligent burrower in the digital earth, has cast its net wider, acquiring a power site in Ohio. A grand gesture, certainly. A “strategic move,” they call it. As if strategy were not merely a gilded cage for necessity. This Ohio land, you see, is meant to feed the insatiable hunger of their machines – for Bitcoin, yes, but also for “high-performance computing.” HPC. A cold, efficient phrase. Another way to say ‘endless calculation.’ One wonders what calculations these are, and to what end. Is it not enough that the world toils? Must we now have machines to toil for us, even as we wander aimlessly? 🤔

Ulysses and the Electricity Market

They have named this facility “Ulysses.” An apt name, perhaps. Like Odysseus, Cipher is venturing forth from its familiar shores (Texas, naturally), into uncharted waters – the PJM wholesale electricity market. The largest, they tell us, as if size alone validates the endeavor. Two hundred acres dedicated to… what? The silent, feverish activity of servers blinking in the darkness. 195 acres secured, they say. Secured from whom? From the wind? The rain? Or perhaps from the growing suspicion of a populace that has grown accustomed to darkness? 💡

This “Ulysses” will not breathe life into its metal lungs until the fourth quarter of 2027. A long wait for a dubious salvation. Three years to prepare for an era where the world’s problems are solved by increasingly complex algorithms, while the human spirit atrophies.

is pleased to announce the acquisition of a 200 MW site in Ohio. The site, named Ulysses, is Cipher’s first outside of Texas.

195 acres with secured interconnection approvals to participate in the PJM marketExpected to energize in Q4 2027*Well-suited for HPC given…

– Cipher Mining (@CipherInc)

Access to power, of course, is the key. To control the flow of energy is to control the flow of… everything. A truth as old as Prometheus. This site will give them resources, they claim. Resources for expansion, for a “stronger presence.” But does a stronger presence always equate to a better world? 🤨

The Thirst for More

The demand for these caverns of computation grows, driven by the insatiable appetites of the so-called “hyperscalers” – Amazon, Google. Their names echo with a cold, impersonal power. These giants require… what? More data. More speed. More control. And Cipher, like any eager supplicant, offers them its services. It’s HPC, you see, it’s what everyone needs. Or so they tell us. 🙄

Tyler Page, Cipher’s CEO, speaks of “expanding their HPC hosting business.” Expansion. The word hangs in the air like a pall. Expanding into what? Into the lives of others? Into the very fabric of our reality? The Ulysses site will “meet the increasing need”. The need for what, exactly? A world where thought has become obsolete, where emotions are reduced to data points?

Related Reading: Google Partners with Hut 8 in $7B Deal Driving HUT Stock Up 22% – Another chimera of prosperity, a fleeting flicker of hope in a darkening landscape. 💸

A Plague of Infrastructure

Cipher’s acquisition is not an isolated incident. It is a symptom, a spreading infection. Other miners – Hut 8, Bitdeer – are following suit, investing in power, in land, in data centers. They speak of “securing long-term infrastructure”. Long-term? For what sort of future are they securing this infrastructure? One where human ingenuity is subservient to the demands of the machine?🤔

Hut 8, leasing land in Louisiana for… AI capacity. Bitdeer, building manufacturing facilities in Nevada. Each investment a brick in a growing fortress, a monument to our collective folly. They diversify, they tell us, to achieve “sustainable growth.” Such euphemisms. Growth for whom? At whose expense? 💸

Faced with the inevitable decline of the market, they seek refuge in diversification. They attempt to convince us that this is progress. But I see only a flight from responsibility, a desperate scramble for relevance. Cipher’s entry into Ohio… it’s not about progress. It’s about survival. It’s about clinging to whatever remains of power in a crumbling world.

And so, Cipher enters Ohio. A new command center, a new source of power. And the machines… they hum on. 🤖

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2025-12-24 09:56