jimrayMar 21, 2024

Me, an idiot: “So, kids, by setting the thermostat a little lower and eating less meat, we’re doing our part to make the world more sustainable”

VCs, very smart: “We just raised $100 billion dollars from the sovereign wealth funds of three petrostates to build the world’s largest AI supercomputer. It uses as much power and water as Guatemala and the primary use case is for management consultants to autogenerate powerpoints for justifying mass layoffs.”

Show threadjimrayMar 21, 2024

I am in no way clever enough to make up that bit about petrostates funding AI, it’s an actual thing on this, the worst timeline

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/19/business/saudi-arabia-investment-artificial-intelligence.html

Saudi Arabia Plans $40 Billion Push Into Artificial Intelligence

The Middle Eastern country is creating a gigantic fund to invest in A.I. technology, potentially becoming the largest player in the hot market.

The New York Times
Show threadjimrayMar 21, 2024

Marc Andreessen: “And another thing! We would’ve solved climate change in the 70s if the pesky environmentalists hadn’t killed nuclear power!”

Also Marc Andreessen: “I’m proud to announce we’re working with one of the most brutal, repressive, corrupt regimes in history to help them launder their oil money on a computer that uses ⅛ of the global electric supply to generate ransom notes.”

Show threadMisuse CaseMar 22, 2024
@jimray Personally I think if the AI bubble bursts soon but we get a massive nuclear power buildout because of it, that will be a silver lining. As long as the new nuclear generation isn’t as half-baked as the LLMs.
Show threadRandom Damage 🌻May 12, 2024

@MisuseCase @jimray can't happen in the US, the lead time for a nuclear build is too long and the AI hypsters don't have enough pull to shorten it.

They'll end up running on solar+storage...

Show threadfeldMay 13, 2024
@RandomDamage @MisuseCase @jimray looks like nuclear is a total dead end now

Small reactor even more expensive than large, we need to look for something else.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/engineering/small-reactors-dont-add-up/
Small reactors don’t add up as a viable energy source

When evaluated on the basis of cost per unit of power capacity, small modular reactors will actually be more expensive than large reactors. 

Cosmos
Show threadRandom Damage 🌻

@feld @jimray @MisuseCase nuclear power is just fine, it's just buried in fossil fuel powered administratium

Because radiation is scary

May 13, 2024 at 11:32amWeb
Show threadfeldMay 13, 2024
@RandomDamage @jimray @MisuseCase It's all too expensive and too slow to build, we will never succeed. We need to build 52 a year.
Show threadMisuse CaseMay 13, 2024

@feld @RandomDamage @jimray So the thing is, this is basically the position of all the people and institutions who spent years spreading FUD about nuclear so it wouldn’t be built.

“It’s too late to build the nuclear plants we made it difficult to build earlier, we cannot even try to build some of the ones we need, let’s give up on it.”

Not much different from the CEO of Exxon blaming regular folks for climate change.

Show threadfeldMay 13, 2024
@MisuseCase @RandomDamage @jimray It's just math. If we want to get off oil on a 50 year schedule we cannot do it by depending on nuclear to save us
Show threadMisuse CaseMay 13, 2024

@feld @RandomDamage @jimray Whether this is true or not, the reason we haven’t been doing it and can’t do it in time is what I described: people who said “we can’t build nuclear now” for decades, and are now like “it’s too late to build nuclear.”

Like, the people who caused this particular aspect of the problem are talking loudest about the problem.

Show threadfeldMay 13, 2024
@MisuseCase @RandomDamage @jimray There's no time to sit here and bemoan the sins of the oil barons. We need to focus on what we can do today.
Show threadMisuse CaseMay 13, 2024
@feld @RandomDamage @jimray So “let’s change the subject away from this topic now that my argument about it doesn’t look so good?”
Show threadfeldMay 13, 2024
@MisuseCase There was no topic change; you just have such poor reading comprehension skills you shouldn't be allowed on social media without parental supervision
Show threadMisuse CaseMay 13, 2024
@RandomDamage @feld @jimray Now they don’t say that, they say “nuclear is too expensive and slow.” Like we won’t need energy after 2050 or not being able to build 50 plants a year means we can only build 0.