deliriousdreams

My question was based on the amount of water used by a data center (closed loop) that is used in the closed loop vs used to run the rest of the data center.

In my little bit of searching, I got some stats that suggest that in a closed loop system the closed loop cooling only uses about 25% of the data center’s total usage.

But either way, the take away that some people will take from the article’s title and contents is that these data centers are AI data centers. But non-AI data centers are still being built as more and more people gain Internet access.

This assumption colors how people will take this news and whether it’s “good or bad”.

Just out of curiosity, do you think all non-AI data centers provide a benefit to the public?

I wonder if this is newly built/to be built data centers for AI, or ones that previously existed/ are being built for general web infrastructure. The article doesn’t say.

I have one question. Where exactly are you expecting them to get that amount of gray water?

A data center uses approximately 600,000 gallons of water annually. Of that, it looks like the closed loop cooling system uses 25% of that (150,000 gallons).

Where are they slurping up 150,000 gallons of gray water from? They aren’t keeping rain tanks on the premises to feed into the system when they start the whole thing up. Are they just slurping it up from a lake? Why is that preferable? And let’s say they do that? Algae bloom in the cooling system causing them to gobble up 150,000 gallons more water is better?

Even construction sites (who are used this water in the article by the way) use potable water because not doing so effects how much time it takes for concrete to set.

What I’m saying is, yeah, data centers as a whole for AI are bullshit. By the same token, the internet you use everyday (without any AI use at all) also uses data centers and they also use the same kinds of resources (because the majority of water used in AI that effects the environment detrimentally comes from training models, not from AI use from the general public).

So are you also mad at all the other data centers or just the AI ones?

The cost isn’t just in the actual fiber cable here but in the connection end points and their termination, plus the device you’d be hooking it up to and the size of said device to decode whatever you needed decoded into actual sound you can hear. The optics device adds cost (which I probably should have mentioned). Repair is also more expensive which is why generally we cap and install along side instead of attempting repair. When you add in the cost of manufacturing or installing it, comparitively copper isn’t just cheaper by raw material (that cheapness depends on the scale), but also because of everything that goes into installing and using it.

This is why there is a cost trade off where you get benefits: Less Weight, Immunity to Electronic Noise, Stronger Signal, Electrical Isolation, Environmental Protection, Improved Safety, Overall System Economy, Long Term Cost Benefits.

But a device the size of a regular covert microphone would still need other components. I may have made the mistake of comparing this to like a button hole mic or something similar rather than a professional microphone (which is also expensive as hell).

Besides, how much more copper do you think you’d be using in a traditional mic than in a fiber optic equivalent?

There are problems with the material components used. Fiber optics are used in places where they will be stationary for a long time, not have excessive bends that exceed their bend radius, and where there is a requirement for environmental/weather proofing. Drops, bumps, or other stressors that a regular microphone would survive don’t necessarily work for fiber optics because when you get right down to it they’re fragile.

They’re also more expensive than regular copper or aluminum wiring, and in this case I suspect that their required proximity would be a downside.

Absolutely agree. The corruption is the problem, but is that an age based thing?

The people in charge don’t actually need to understand technology. This is what subject matter experts are for. You hire subject matter experts to research the technology in question and collaborate with them to come to a decisions about how regulations should be enacted. I don’t know where we got this idea that someone who’s job is legislation should be a subject matter expert on technology (or aerospace, or I dunno, fucking education, engineering or whatever), but it’s actually a bad precedent we’re setting because that’s not what a legislator is supposed to be doing. Lawyers don’t have to understand technology or medicine or fluid dynamics in order to practice law. They hire and utilize people who specialize in those fields.

It’s definitely not just boomers who don’t understand technology. I’d wager there’s more Boomers who understand tech than there are Gen Z who understand tech.

I also actually think the story goes more like “if we regulate AI we can’t take kickbacks, use the unregulated AI market to enrich ourselves, or use the tech for our techno-facist nanny state big brother dreams”.

Because while the general red tape does take a little while, they aren’t even trying to regulate AI on a large scale. Smaller governments are making a tacit effort but by and large most of them see this as a way to enact mass surveillance policy.

They shouldn’t be allowed to track critics at all. No biometric data, no PII, no web monitoring etc. Unless the court decides there’s a credible threat.

I believe it is on pixel unless you completely opt out when you set up the device but don’t quote me on that.

They don’t have to implement this through chrome if you have a device that runs the Gemini app. I saw a comment on another thread that said the AI Core app for Gemini will take up like 4-12GB of storage or something like that.

Yeah, but he did that so he could look cool in front of his crush, Netanyahu.

Don’t disrespect Don Quixote that way.

It was last year. /s

Utah is trying. They claim they want to hold websites liable for Utahians who use VPNs to bypass ID checks. I don’t think that’s going to work, mostly because I have a lot of questions about how that could possible be enforced. But it’s funny to think about.

I wouldn’t answer the kind of questions someone would likely ask if they wanted to know what my neighbor does for a living.

But either way there are several echelons of “undercover”. Not every cop who is under cover is in deep covers for years on a RICO case.

And while it’s unlikely they’d be wearing a body cam home, its more likely they might have a police issued taser stashed somewhere. Cops aren’t smarter than your average individual and they absolutely will do things that aren’t in keeping with SOP.

One of my friends works for a police department as a mechanic and their chief literally shot up her own police car by accident. Loaded service pistol in her purse. She was riffling through it and the gun went off (she claims). It’s definitely not outside the realm of possibility especially if they didn’t know.

Depends on the situation. They might not carry it into undercover situations but may have one sitting at home or in their take home vehicle. That’s just as dangerous if a criminal follows them and has the app.

They definitely knew because later on in the article the writer acknowledges that in the fine print of their TOS or EULA or whatever they mention that the fact that you can’t turn off the broadcasting is a “security consideration”.

I agree with you that adults having smart phones is a different problem than children having smart phones.

Here’s where you lose me. The critique isn’t that adults are distracted. The critique is that being a role model means modeling the same behavior and showing by doing. That is the argument I see disengenuously misrepresented in this comment section again and again. That is a separate argument from adults have a problem with using their phones at inappropriate times during the work day/adults are addicted to their phones.

I can also unilaterally state that smart phones are also addictive for adults and are also bad for our mental health and well being.

The fact is, adults absolutely do have problems with staying on task and avoiding their phones during the work day. I see this in the field I work in and in other fields. This is so prevalent there are whole industries where its common to see “no mobile devices allowed in vehicles” stickers and decals on work trucks.