this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2024
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Big brain tech dude got yet another clueless take over at HackerNews etc? Here's the place to vent. Orange site, VC foolishness, all welcome.

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"The Obscene Energy Demands of A.I." - hackernews discussion (news.ycombinator.com)
submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by gerikson@awful.systems to c/techtakes@awful.systems
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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.

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[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 15 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Amazing how they just assume that this new future AI will actually work. Like there were not several AI winters.

[–] dgerard@awful.systems 17 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

or that the existing AI works. Some of the worst social damage is from AI systems deployed in the wild that don't even do their fucking job properly in the first place, let alone doing it evilly. (Many deployments are both evil and incompetent.)

[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 9 points 8 months ago

Yeah and this damage keeps happening, see just how much damage faulty IT does when we could fully understand the code and processes behind it. For example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Post_Office_scandal (at least 4 suicides!). AI is only going to make it worse.