Discussion
Well, I made it through the environmental education guest lecture on the environmental costs of generative AI and the billionaire space race without crying. Though I got real close at the end when a student asked about how long humans can survive with all of these unhinged-from-reality AI data center builds happening.
There is always time to make the future less terrible, and that is the most important thing to focus on.
@sundogplanets is there some hope that in 2-3 years from now when the bubble goes "ka-pop!" all these hyperscalers are effectively being reduced to fucking pawnshops where we can all go and buy super cheap H200 GPUs for our gaming rig upgrades? Asking for a bunch of friends ...
Always?
We do not have always. We have now.
@sundogplanets Well done. Do I have to hand-make my Make the Future Less Terrible tee?
@sundogplanets You get real close to what? Each year when I was concluding the climate chapter in class, I always was on the verge of tears in front of my CEGEP students...
“There is always time to make the future less terrible,” Exactly! C'était mon slogan:
«Il n'est jamais trop tard car ça peut toujours être pire»
@sundogplanets Any thoughts on the current orbital weapons platforms?
@sundogplanets Have you been tracking the rush to build AI data centers in SK?
The huge one just a few sections southeast of U of R has been quadrupled
And if you enjoy cheesy images of people smiling around robots https://www.aisk.ca/
@cogdog Yeah, I posted a big swear-filled rant about this yesterday (and then emailed a bunch of MLAs, without swears) https://mastodon.social/@sundogplanets/117271795161282826
@sundogplanets You might almost see it from the Ring Road, and a short walk from U of R.
@cogdog I drive by it on my way to work most days. I'm painfully aware of it.
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@sundogplanets There is a serious effort to mitigate the problem by developing far more efficient electronics. I've included a link to one example - one of many. Regardless of whether this particular one is successful in reducing energy consumption, a lot of people are trying. With some luck, one of them may be successful.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/01/240112114803.htm