Submission statement: this isn’t to try to prove any side right or wrong in the AI/data center debate. I just think it’s interesting that the same types of concerns aren’t brand new, and that in the moment it’s extremely difficult to predict how things will shake out. Looking back on articles like this help reinforce a sense of epistemic humility.
Posted by cdstephens
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>An IntelliQuest study reports that the average Internet user is on-line 12 hours a week.
Last year an Optimum survey said Americans spend 10 hours online a day. It’s strange to be confronted like this with just how gargantuan of a cultural and social shift the internet was.
China is increasing electricity consumption much more than the US, both on a per capita and absolute basis, but they do it with solar and wind
Their new datacentres are driving GREEN demand, not because of enviromental reasons, but because more batteries, solar and wind are cheap, fast to deploy and promote growth in the nation’s hottest set of industries
Powering datacentres with more coal, oil and gas is admitting defeat