"The Obscene Energy Demands of A.I." - hackernews discussion
"The Obscene Energy Demands of A.I." - hackernews discussion
HN reacts to a New Yorker piece on the "obscene energy demands of AI" with exactly the same arguments coiners use when confronted with the energy cost of blockchain - the product is valuable in of itself, demands for more energy will spur investment in energy generation, and what about the energy costs of painting oil on canvas, hmmmmmm??????
Maybe it's just my newness antennae needing calibrating, but I do feel the extreme energy requirements for what's arguably just a frivolous toy is gonna cause AI boosters big problems, especially as energy demands ramp up in the US in the warmer months. Expect the narrative to adjust to counter it.
The pro-AI comments here remind me of possibly the worst opinion I’ve heard about fossil fuels, which was that we should burn them all now as fast as possible to develop newer technologies to magically solve all the problems generated from burning all the fossil fuels.
There are a few bitcoiners out there who try to claim, with a straight face, that more bitcoin mining = more greener.
As far as I can tell the argument basically boils down to "we'll just use SO MUCH electricity that the utility will have no choice but to invest in green energy just to keep up" -- but honestly I can't make heads or tails of it.
That’s it. That’s the argument.
As far as I can tell the argument basically boils down to “we’ll just use SO MUCH electricity that the utility will have no choice but to invest in green energy just to keep up”
yep. and I like using the rule 34 defense on them: "if that were desired, someone already would've made it"
these fucking clowns permanently don't want to acknowledge (or just stay willfully ignorant about?) the fact that it's easier to do cost and regulatory arbitrage by hunting for presently-favourable miner locations from which to burn electricity than it is to invest into (and possibly, likely even, invent!) whole-ass new green tech with sufficient output for their preferred ourobouros
Oh that’s accelerationist drivel if I’ve ever seen it.
Also, this has been bouncing around in my head ever since I’d learned of the term: “e/acc? More like, “Eek! Ack!”
Yea kinda like during a famine the best course of action is for everyone to hoard and binge on as much food as possible. That will force the crops to become more bountiful.
Exchange presented without comment:
My prediction: the advance of tech by AI will far surpasse what it consume in energy.
To look at the energy consumption of current model is extremely short sighted. If AI create a new material, a new solar cell, advance fusion reactor is all of humanity that jump forward.
Furthermore new generation of AI accelerators and new algorithms will improve efficiency by order of magnitute, it's still early days.
For every good thing, come up with a bad.
The material created will be a better poison/virus. The algorithm to keep the fusion tokamak from going boom will be at best 99% correct. The new solar cell? More exotic materials required than the current.
Blind optimism is a vice we cannot afford.
The post you're responding to doesn't argue from blind optimism, it argued a reasonably-expected gain in net beneficial effects.
Amazing how they just assume that this new future AI will actually work. Like there were not several AI winters.
Jesus fucking christ, if COLD FUSION is a REASONABLY EXPECTED GAIN then what on earth would an UNREASONABLE gain be? Infinite blowjobs? Quality discourse on HN?
Your "frivolous toy" argument interested me, apparently video games use 34 TWh a year
If the random dude on HN is to be believed chatGPT uses 182M kWh or 0.182TWh a year.
Not sure what to make of that.
christmas lights bring people actual joy
again, this is literally a reskinned bitcoiner argument
More👏power👏for👏vibrators👏