cross-posted from: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/33936586
this post was submitted on 08 Apr 2025
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Fuck AI
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If society isn't built around competition and exploitation, the usage of AI can be limited to renewable energy. Whereas now, every gram of hydrocarbon and uranium will be burned to win the race for global domination.
Great you ignored my other issues with that, but also you don't think people would collectively be using those resources? Also the water used for those ai servers isn't great.
I agree with your other points.
It depends on the type of society if people use all those resources. With AI they will use them much, much faster.
Water doesn't have to be a problem in places where there is enough water.
sadly there isn't enough.
Can you tell me the time of the relevant argument, please.
Otherwise I would think that global warming leads to warmer oceans which should cause more evaporation and rain.
Ok, let me explain it simply then.
You remember the water cycle from elementary school? You just described it. Well, there isn't an infinite amount of water on earth. So when you take water out of the water cycle and lock it away, like in jugs of water or in cooling systems for massive computers, it doesn't get evaporated and return to the environment. It stays in its jug.
So the more people store water away, the less water we have to use elsewhere.
As for the timeline, this is already happening now.
They go into more detail in the video. It's long but it is funny.
Sorry but that humor is not my style. I would be glad if you could tell me the relevant moments.
Locking all water away, how is that possible? Have you seen the size of the Pacific?
I'd suggest watching the video if you want more details, but the amount of freshwater we can use is much smaller than the oceans.
Of course, but with more rain there must be more freshwater.
If there's 20% less water in the ecosystem that means 20% less freshwater. This can also cascade because if a pond or something loses too much it might not recover. So taking a lot of water out of the ecosystem is really bad for us.
I mean building out renewable energy still has a negative impact on the environment, whether it be silicon for solar panels or concrete for hydro electric dams. Not to mention all the water that gets used to cool the massive data centers or the materials needed to create the computer components used in the data center. So sure you could lessen the environmental impact by shifting to renewables but it would definitely still be there. Reducing usage will always be the best way to help the environment, there's a reason it comes first in Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.