• Switorik@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    Do you understand how much water and energy is used in data centers that are required to run AI? It’s absolutely asinine to support them at this unsustainable rate that they’re being built.

    • xep@discuss.online
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      2 days ago

      If it wasn’t obvious after Enron and cryptocurrency the market doesn’t care about sensible use of resources. Line go up!

    • schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de
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      2 days ago

      Hard to miss the articles about that. I realize that and don’t think it’s an actively good thing, but ultimately this is a matter of market forces. I don’t find that an especially good argument, they’re buying water and energy like all other participants on the market.

      • whats_a_lemmy@midwest.social
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        1 day ago

        “Market forces” gave us:

        • chattel slavery
        • runaway climate change
        • water scarcity
        • widespread poverty
        • Superfund sites

        Like, cmon. Who still believes that markets are self-regulating?

      • scytale@piefed.zip
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        2 days ago

        I dunno, it seems in a lot of places, regular people in the communities where the data centers are being built are footing a significant part of the water and energy bills even though they consume way less.

      • ParlimentOfDoom@piefed.zip
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        2 days ago

        They’re draining all the water out of communities where people live. Because they bribed politicians to allow them to do so.

      • Switorik@sh.itjust.works
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        2 days ago

        I suppose as long as they pay their bills, they can do anything they want. Let’s not care about how it affects the general population or the planet.

      • zurohki@aussie.zone
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        2 days ago

        It’s not even really market forces, because they’re using investor money to push AI for free or way below what it costs. We have a ton more AI than market demand for it.

      • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 day ago

        The real reason it’s not the best argument is the exaggerated relative scale of those issues and plausible fixes. Water use in particular is orders of magnitude lower than other industry, only a serious issue if building it in a really bad location. The electricity use is enough to raise prices for people nearby which could be a good reason to oppose local government allowing them to be built, but they can get around that by expanding grid capacity themselves to make up for it, and even better if they did it with renewables.

        It’s a good argument for holding datacenter builders accountable for doing it responsibly, but a flawed one for unconditionally opposing AI.