Katerina MarchánRE: https://hachyderm.io/@petrillic/116337502667369228
I can’t have a conversation with any genAI boosters that is remotely productive precisely because of this.
it's B! Cavello 🐝@zkat Genuine Q if you have the spoons for it: how do you navigate feelings about genAI vs other also ethically concerning technologies (like cars, perhaps)?
I personally feel like I have a sort of status quo bias re: things that already existed and were problematic when I came into the world, but see more recent developments as more avoidable or exceptional, even tho maybe they’re not actually that different.
I personally feel like I have a sort of status quo bias re: things that already existed and were problematic when I came into the world, but see more recent developments as more avoidable or exceptional, even tho maybe they’re not actually that different.
Karl Heinz Häsliprinz@b_cavello @zkat Burning fossil fuels for energy is a far, far, far worse tech than genAI could possibly ever be. Tbh. if it wasn't for the burning fossil fuel parts, genAI is just some computer shit that one could easily ignore.
@KarlHeinzHasliP there are more environmental and societal harms from this tech than just the burning of fossil fuels
@zkat well, yes, but they won't cause several billion people to die of hunger, heatwaves and flooding. Burning fossil fuels is really really really bad - far worse than all computer technology combined, including genAI.
@KarlHeinzHasliP there was literally a study that just came out where the microclimates created by the heat from data centers can affect 320mil people so far, and hyperscalers are propagating rapidly
@KarlHeinzHasliP also billions of people losing their jobs will absolutely starve them
@zkat I think you are buying propaganda. LLMs can't actually do peoples jobs.
Job loss is real, but seems to have more to do with fascism and late stage capitalism, and less with the extremely energy inefficient statistical next-word-prediction algorithms.
The heat islands by data centers go away if you switch off the data center.
In contrast, CO2 stays in the atmosphere for 1000s of years and is thermo-dynamically & ecologically near impossible to remove at the scale required.
Job loss is real, but seems to have more to do with fascism and late stage capitalism, and less with the extremely energy inefficient statistical next-word-prediction algorithms.
The heat islands by data centers go away if you switch off the data center.
In contrast, CO2 stays in the atmosphere for 1000s of years and is thermo-dynamically & ecologically near impossible to remove at the scale required.
@KarlHeinzHasliP I have literally seen screenshots of executives ordering layoffs to replace specific positions with agents
@KarlHeinzHasliP @zkat Actually, in the research I shared re: the previous post (sorry for the repeat), the heat islands don’t go away when the data centers are turned off because construction (roofs, parking lots, roads, etc) is a significant driver of heating, unless built with intention (high albedo, green roofs, tree cover)!
https://blog.andymasley.com/p/data-centers-heat-exhaust-is-not
https://blog.andymasley.com/p/data-centers-heat-exhaust-is-not
@zkat @KarlHeinzHasliP I was also surprised by that, tho I’ve also seen some critical reads of that research, and it seems like it would be helpful to have a more robust control group so we can know what the particular increases due to data centers are
https://blog.andymasley.com/p/data-centers-heat-exhaust-is-not
https://blog.andymasley.com/p/data-centers-heat-exhaust-is-not