cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/65410582
Canals were at least solving a problem that actually existed and needed solving at the time when they were started. AI data centres are being built in anticipation of future demand, for use cases that haven't been developed yet.
At least canals are still useful to have around for recreational watersports.
The canal in my uni town was immediately replaced by the railways pretty much the instant it was completed. They’re pretty cool though - you can walk along it, go on a narrowboat, canoe, fish out shopping trolleys, hide bodies, catch dysentery, or get attacked by Canada Geese.
Over 3,000 data centers are planned in the U.S., and I am not imagining they’re being built so everyone can generate slop to their heart’s content. Recent events like OpenAI becoming an official member of the military industrial complex and the F.B.I.’s deal with Flock make me think they’re largely being built as infrastructure for the digital cage.
Fun Fact: the Panic of 1837 was caused by Andrew Jackson's idiotic idea to pay off the national debt by stealing land and selling it, which crashed the real estate market. Jackson had also refused to continue the American central banking charter so there were basically no tools to fight it.
He is literally Trump's favorite president. You know, the real estate guy fighting with the Fed.
The US profits a lot from having so many waterways. When they are usable, they literally are the cheapest and most efficient mode of transportation.
Railroads replaced canals in the Midwest because the canals weren't large enough to handle a lot of cargo, unlike the Suez or Panama canals. The canals here are maybe 20ft wide, and locks were maybe 50ft long. Trying to modify them to handle more cargo would have cost tremendous amounts of money and also disable the canals while they were being worked on.
Trains were simply able to carry significantly more cargo to their destination in less time
Pretty terrible metaphor as realistically even without AI we will never need less compute. Compute is awesome, it's a good thing to have more. The problem is the environmental damage not anything else.
The choice to compare data centers to canals rather than to railroads seems rather arbitrary.
Just think, after the systems-manufactured destitute addicts clean out the rare metals from those industrial pustules, the whole country's houseless will have homes, right?
Right?
Differencr that railway is still the absolute best and most efficient way
top 50 comments