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this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2026
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TechTakes
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Big brain tech dude got yet another clueless take over at HackerNews etc? Here's the place to vent. Orange site, VC foolishness, all welcome.
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As reported by local Wyoming paper Cowboy State Daily, Meta's closed-loop water-cooling system bred a metal-resistant bacterium and now the municipal wastewater system has refused to accept Meta's wastewater. To be crisp, Cupriavidis, which literally means ~~"loves to eat copper"~~ "lives on copper", already was metal-resistant; this wasn't a de novo adaptation. Edit: used wrong root for translation, whoops.
Yet another point in favor of evaporative cooling. Standing water, recycled water, and grey water are too complex to treat as recyclable. Also another point against cheaply-designed rush-built datacenters.
What's the significance of bacteria being metal-resistant?
copper surfaces tend to discourage bacterial growth, which is an important feature for pipes that supply potable water where there isn't a constant moving water supply. Having bacteria that thrive instead of die in the presence of copper means that your whole water supply can get a bacterial infection it cannot shake.
How do we know this isn't the AI god creating the first diamondoid bacteria?
Easy, we are all still non-paperclip like.