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Ellis-bel Lee 🏰🌊
@ellislee.bsky.social
Vaguely-human cryptid who often feels like existing is some test I’ve forgotten I agreed to participate in. Art, videogames, TTRPG/board games, costuming, collecting hobbies, films (sci-fi, horror, fantasy), and fun 🔞 linktr.ee/sewmuchgeek
744 followers453 following3.6k posts
ELellislee.bsky.social

This makes me want to fucking puke — had a conversation about this yesterday and was met with “AI is here to stay, it’s not going anywhere”. As long as that’s the attitude! 🤬 So frustrating that this is a focus, setting back carbon negative goals, while heat waves are putting people in danger.

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CDcdarklock.bsky.social

I mean, it IS here to stay, and it's NOT going anywhere. But it's also a complete fucking waste of energy to route EVERYTHING through it when most people don't like or want it AND it does a piss-poor job of almost everything.

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Ccamdenmaclaren.bsky.social

AI Bros are a cult

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EHstriderhlc.bsky.social

What’s the X-axis on that first chart look like?

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ELellislee.bsky.social

AI putting strain on power grids, potentially causing cascading outages & increasing electricity cost, puts everyone in danger of being unable to cool themselves during heatwaves. Lower income people will be particularly susceptible if they cannot afford their bills. It is all so irresponsible!

The surge in data center demand, combined with heavy investments from power companies like Dominion on new substations, transmission lines and other infrastructure to support it, are also increasing the likelihood customers will see their energy prices go up,
experts say. The cost of some upgrades are typically allocated among electricity customers in an entire region, showing up as a line item on everyone's monthly utility bill.
Goldman Sachs estimates that US utility companies will have to invest roughly $50 billion in new power generation capacity to support data centers. "That's going to raise energy prices for both wholesale energy and retail rates," said power market analyst Patrick Finn of energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
Costs including grid improvements are divided among each customer class, from residential to industrial, based on how much it actually costs to serve each, according to a Dominion representative. (cont next image)
(previous) As a result, residential customers have seen their share of transmission costs drop in recent years while data centers have seen their portion rise, the representative said. (current) But even markets eager to streamline data center buildout face constraints. What's missing in Johor, especially for an industry like tech that is known for its climate pledges, is renewable energy. The power supply at Sedenak comes from Tenaga Nasional Berhad, which uses coal or gas-fired plants. While Malaysia has ambitious goals to bolster renewables, including plans to build a 500-megawatt solar farm in Johor, today it relies on coal for more than a third of its generation.
Most of Malaysia's data center capacity is not in use yet, but factoring in everything under construction, the amount of electricity used just by data centers would exceed the country's total renewable output in 2022, the latest year for which data is available, a Bloomberg analysis found.
While power in Texas looks plentiful, there are limits. Solar panels and other gear needed for clean power are starting to see some supply constraints, Hollis said. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas also recently cautioned that it has underestimated demand in the San Antonio area, where Microsoft's big data center campus is located, potentially causing cascading outages statewide in the future.
Back in Virginia, opposition to data centers is growing. At a March supervisors meeting in Prince William County, frustrated residents spoke out against a zoning change that would allow data centers on a specific plot of land to be built about twice as tall. One woman told officials that data centers were turning her quiet neighborhood into a "dystopian nightmare."
A 48-year-old homemaker named Rachel Ellis spoke remotely to say the change would mean more demand on a grid that's already strained.
"It's reckless governing to continue to approve data centers without knowing the full impacts of where this electricity will come from," she said.
After hearing a dozen people speak against the zoning change, the supervisors voted. The bigger data centers were approved.
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Rrubberzebra.bsky.social

high taxes on AI power use, that is the only real possibility I can see going forward

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RSravenstromdans.bsky.social

I can't wait until this fucking bubble pops. AI is a fucking grift almost indistinguishable from cryptocurrency and NTF's; all these technorons have convinced themselves it's somehow a "wave of the future" they're getting ahead of while all the evidence shows generative AI is nothing but a dead end.

0

“To what end” is my question for these use cases. I’ve seen maybe 5 uses of generative AI that seemed worth it? Hundreds that are no better than existing tech solutions.

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📌

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DOdrekiormur.bsky.social

Gods below and ever burning, I'm a proponent of nuclear but not like this. Blood and ashes, not like this.

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EL
Ellis-bel Lee 🏰🌊
@ellislee.bsky.social
Vaguely-human cryptid who often feels like existing is some test I’ve forgotten I agreed to participate in. Art, videogames, TTRPG/board games, costuming, collecting hobbies, films (sci-fi, horror, fantasy), and fun 🔞 linktr.ee/sewmuchgeek
744 followers453 following3.6k posts