I've been reading articles about the power needed too keep these massive data centers going. The current administration's promotion and use of coal and other fossil fields for power, can not supply enough power needed for these data centers. China is building up solar and wind energy that can support the power that is needed now and in the future. America will get left behind unless they change their thinking, and policies on how to increase the energy that will be needed. These centers also use a massive amount of water.
On a side note, I also read how utility companies around the country are charging homeowners more to support the data centers in their communities. Those big tech companies worth billions should bring money into a community, not taking it away to make them even richer.
It’s weird how the US is the most anxious country about AI where everywhere else people realize it’s pretty amazing. New tech always makes people nervous - because change - but this feels more extreme to me. The water thing is bogus; the electricity thing legit. IF you’re curious to learn more, this is a well balanced and comprehensive view, check out this article (dude is an economist): https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/i-love-ai-why-doesnt-everyone
I enjoyed the surprise closed loop at the end! I've also been deeply immersed in thinking about my own great-great grandparents, who were the same (rough) generation as Shi Qiang, and I can see a little of how I became myself when I learn those stories. Now his descendent is building that modern railway network, as you point out.
The "taking for granted" phase is already here for me. I complain all the time whenever Jippity screws up, and I'm having it do more and more complex things- and expecting/demanding precision more often.
I might suggest the telecom boom as a really good next area of focus.. I think there are loads of parallels with today's AI boom there as well, and we may have spent even more (over time) on that than on the railroads, although measuring that can be really tricky.
Thanks for reading it! I was excited when I figured out that close because I often start strong and then taper off. The railroads are personal as I’ve walked those tunnels and gone out looking for the snow train and personal stuff is where the best writing comes from don’t you think?
Telecom - hell yes and there are strong parallels with overcapacity leading to the next generation, but I spent a lot of time in telecom in my ‘real’ career so it doesn’t feel as much fun as learning something new like Iron Horses.
Wirepine is actually a play on the telco term ‘landline’ aka POTS with a nod towards tech (wire) meeting nature (pine - as in cones). I know it’s a stretch but hey I got wirepine.com
I like the name. It's like German, where you just slap two words together and make a new, unique descriptor.
The personal stuff absolutely makes it way more interesting for me to read, and it certainly inspires me to want to learn more about how I'm connected to my past. The more I learn, the more I want to learn, and it's turtles all the way down!
I think the telecom revolution might even be bigger than the railroad revolution, depending on how you measure the cost and impact... but of course, the rails had to be laid down first, and one thing leads to another. Once again, turtles upon turtles.
Tx Tom! Sam Kriss wrote an article about burning man with historical framing and that inspired me. My frst try at historical fiction. Sam’s piece is some real writing but also his take hit for me because I’ve heard way to much from burners and I think the whole thing is silly (sorry not sorry if you’re a burner). Second inspiration was a book of Harlan Ellison’s best that I’m working my way through and I really like the way his writing hits hard and fast and so I tried to incorporate a bit of that too.
Wait, what’s a burner? Someone who’s into burning man? Some who thinks AI is going to burn down our society? I’m definitely not the first and though I do have my concerns about the latter, I’m not a doomer. Hits hard and fast—good characterization.
You should be writing books while you're out there on those van trips, or whenevr/wherever suits you. I am fully in the "take my money" zone when you start
People already trust computers too much. They argue the answer must be correct without realizing they might have miskeyed and the answer can't possibly be correct. AI is already making this worse, maybe because a lot of people don't understand it's an LLM based on statistics. It learns how to give you the answers you want to hear.
One person used ChatGPT to critique one of my articles and replies. It said I was being defensive and I said no shit, you're attacking, I'm defending. I told him ChatGPT had the biases of its creators and was just getting better at spitting out whatever supported his position. He looked this up, found it was true, so came back and tried to dox me. So on top of all of the other problems you mentioned, it's already having a detrimental effect on people's minds. Thinking for ourselves is all we really have left, and some people don't want to do it.
I looked at an application for a job answering math questions and explaining how step-by-step to improve AI. There were 60 questions, so I didn't bother. That's free labor. I looked up the company and they were notorious for underpaying if paying anything and there was no way to reach anyone. There were threads from disgruntled former employees, and I could see them deliberately answering incorrectly, or even if it was accidental, who's going to check? About 10% of the high school level math questions I ask AI, it gets incorrect.
Google has also gotten much worse because it's beta-testing its AI on all of us, and it isn't very good. It will improve, and if that gets us out of mundane jobs, great, but if it leaves us unemployed and uncompensated for the data we're constantly feeding it, not so great.
Legit rant. In my mind, computers are still geeky XL calculators for nerds. I think that's why I write stuff like this to reinforce how ubiquitous they are now. Peak irony is the run-up of social media for the masses - where we put our entire lives online - is what trained AI, created AI.
People fear what they don't understand- the 19th century Chinese, homosexuality, AI. Too much Terminator
I've been reading articles about the power needed too keep these massive data centers going. The current administration's promotion and use of coal and other fossil fields for power, can not supply enough power needed for these data centers. China is building up solar and wind energy that can support the power that is needed now and in the future. America will get left behind unless they change their thinking, and policies on how to increase the energy that will be needed. These centers also use a massive amount of water.
On a side note, I also read how utility companies around the country are charging homeowners more to support the data centers in their communities. Those big tech companies worth billions should bring money into a community, not taking it away to make them even richer.
That's my old man rant for the day.
It’s weird how the US is the most anxious country about AI where everywhere else people realize it’s pretty amazing. New tech always makes people nervous - because change - but this feels more extreme to me. The water thing is bogus; the electricity thing legit. IF you’re curious to learn more, this is a well balanced and comprehensive view, check out this article (dude is an economist): https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/i-love-ai-why-doesnt-everyone
I enjoyed the surprise closed loop at the end! I've also been deeply immersed in thinking about my own great-great grandparents, who were the same (rough) generation as Shi Qiang, and I can see a little of how I became myself when I learn those stories. Now his descendent is building that modern railway network, as you point out.
The "taking for granted" phase is already here for me. I complain all the time whenever Jippity screws up, and I'm having it do more and more complex things- and expecting/demanding precision more often.
I might suggest the telecom boom as a really good next area of focus.. I think there are loads of parallels with today's AI boom there as well, and we may have spent even more (over time) on that than on the railroads, although measuring that can be really tricky.
Nice work!
Thanks for reading it! I was excited when I figured out that close because I often start strong and then taper off. The railroads are personal as I’ve walked those tunnels and gone out looking for the snow train and personal stuff is where the best writing comes from don’t you think?
Telecom - hell yes and there are strong parallels with overcapacity leading to the next generation, but I spent a lot of time in telecom in my ‘real’ career so it doesn’t feel as much fun as learning something new like Iron Horses.
Wirepine is actually a play on the telco term ‘landline’ aka POTS with a nod towards tech (wire) meeting nature (pine - as in cones). I know it’s a stretch but hey I got wirepine.com
I like the name. It's like German, where you just slap two words together and make a new, unique descriptor.
The personal stuff absolutely makes it way more interesting for me to read, and it certainly inspires me to want to learn more about how I'm connected to my past. The more I learn, the more I want to learn, and it's turtles all the way down!
I think the telecom revolution might even be bigger than the railroad revolution, depending on how you measure the cost and impact... but of course, the rails had to be laid down first, and one thing leads to another. Once again, turtles upon turtles.
Schmetterling! Ok not two words but still my favorite German word
This is a really strong article Andrew.
Tx Tom! Sam Kriss wrote an article about burning man with historical framing and that inspired me. My frst try at historical fiction. Sam’s piece is some real writing but also his take hit for me because I’ve heard way to much from burners and I think the whole thing is silly (sorry not sorry if you’re a burner). Second inspiration was a book of Harlan Ellison’s best that I’m working my way through and I really like the way his writing hits hard and fast and so I tried to incorporate a bit of that too.
Wait, what’s a burner? Someone who’s into burning man? Some who thinks AI is going to burn down our society? I’m definitely not the first and though I do have my concerns about the latter, I’m not a doomer. Hits hard and fast—good characterization.
Yeah, people who’ve been to burning man and can’t shut up about it. AI - well - that’s an ongoing fascination that I can’t shut up about.
Ha ha, you can tell I’m not a Californian. I’m way too averse to crowds of people, especially intoxicate people, to enjoy burning man.
You should be writing books while you're out there on those van trips, or whenevr/wherever suits you. I am fully in the "take my money" zone when you start
That will never happen (the money part). But this one was fun to write and I appreciate you reading and commenting!
So you're saying my money is not good enough for you. Well then - guess I'm stuck with admire the writer, not the person.
People already trust computers too much. They argue the answer must be correct without realizing they might have miskeyed and the answer can't possibly be correct. AI is already making this worse, maybe because a lot of people don't understand it's an LLM based on statistics. It learns how to give you the answers you want to hear.
One person used ChatGPT to critique one of my articles and replies. It said I was being defensive and I said no shit, you're attacking, I'm defending. I told him ChatGPT had the biases of its creators and was just getting better at spitting out whatever supported his position. He looked this up, found it was true, so came back and tried to dox me. So on top of all of the other problems you mentioned, it's already having a detrimental effect on people's minds. Thinking for ourselves is all we really have left, and some people don't want to do it.
I looked at an application for a job answering math questions and explaining how step-by-step to improve AI. There were 60 questions, so I didn't bother. That's free labor. I looked up the company and they were notorious for underpaying if paying anything and there was no way to reach anyone. There were threads from disgruntled former employees, and I could see them deliberately answering incorrectly, or even if it was accidental, who's going to check? About 10% of the high school level math questions I ask AI, it gets incorrect.
Google has also gotten much worse because it's beta-testing its AI on all of us, and it isn't very good. It will improve, and if that gets us out of mundane jobs, great, but if it leaves us unemployed and uncompensated for the data we're constantly feeding it, not so great.
Rant over. Great article.
Legit rant. In my mind, computers are still geeky XL calculators for nerds. I think that's why I write stuff like this to reinforce how ubiquitous they are now. Peak irony is the run-up of social media for the masses - where we put our entire lives online - is what trained AI, created AI.