I was taken aback recently when a Gen-ish Z person told me AI was 'destroying all the water'. I've done data center work, and while I know it is used for cooling, I don't think I've ever personally destroyed any large bodies of water.
There is a perception out there about GenAI and water that goes surprisingly deep. I was told we are will be living in a drought-stricken hellscape, and AI is to blame.
I'd like to know the equivalent energy consumption of a single TikTok video, but that is probably arguing the wrong thing. My bigger question is ... where do they think that water goes? Steam? The assumption is that it is gone forever, and I can't get over how people could just take that at face value.
People are also more likely to click into web content that helps them learn more — such as an in-depth review, an original post, a unique perspective or a thoughtful first-person analysis
So... not the blog spam that was previously prioritized by Google Search? It's almost as if SEO had some downsides they are only just now discovering.
Even though Varnish may not be in fashion any more, there were many companies happily using it for free and still demanding security updates.
I like their transparency about who actually supports them, and what the whole community gets for it. I wish other projects would do that, if for no other reason than to make it obvious that FOSS isn't just something that happens.
Given that Factorio has logic gates and people have built various programs (including Doom, iirc) how long will it take before someone runs an LLM inside the game?
I once had a (older) Russian colleague tell me about how he learned to program. He would write it out longhand, because access to compilers was limited to certain time slots in University. He know it had to work first time, otherwise he had to wait for the next chance to fix the bug.
I'm sure that was true for everyone back in the punchcard days. It would enforce a kind of rigor that I can blissfully ignore.
edit: I see the exact same story in the linked thread, so clearly a lot of Russians are very proud of that skill
I've always wondered if there is an accounting benefit for them. Can the free tier be charged as 'marketing'? No idea how you would internally break up the costs, but it could make your margins look better.
The tone of this sounds like it was written by non-bureaucrats trying to score political points. I get that it's a press release, but it sounds like a stump speech.
"Today’s plan mainlines AI into the veins of this enterprising nation – revolutionising our public services and putting more money in people’s back pockets."
Is a heroin analogy really what they are going for, and then straight into some imaginary cost savings?
I know it is fashionable to wonder if something was written by AI. I don't think this is, but some human went to great lengths to sound borderline unhinged.
Also worth listening to this excellent podcast about the two competing pizza-animatronic chains. The history is bizarre -- they were meant to make an 'arcade' feel less like a place for delinquents, and give the parents a chance to drink and watch the 'show'.
I like to reread this every year, and every year a different part seems especially prescient.
e.g.
We may hope that machines will eventually compete with men in all purely intellectual fields. But which are the best ones to start with? Even this is a difficult decision. Many people think that a very abstract activity, like the playing of chess, would be best. It can also be maintained that it is best to provide the machine with the best sense organs that money can buy, and then teach it to understand and speak English. This process could follow the normal teaching of a child. Things would be pointed out and named, etc. Again I do not know what the right answer is, but I think both approaches should be tried.
We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.
People make the argument that is a giant datacenter is consuming 50% of some local hydro installation, everyone else is town is buying something else that is less green.
It opens up questions about grids and market efficiency, so your mileage may vary.
Great, they identified differences in gut bacteria. Their control group was usually the spouses, so they were geographically similar. Wonderful.
People with PD are on very different medications, controlled diets (you need to avoid protein at different parts of the cycle), and.... what 'simple treatment'?
The conclusions in that fluff piece are not in the original study. Sure, some bacteria are linked to differences in uptake of some vitamins, but why would adding more vitamins to the diet affect the PD? It isn't like that is the cause of PD, at best a symptom.
The big chains that do this in Europe are very clear that prices never go up during the day, and generally everything bulk updates at night. Baked goods get cheaper towards the end of the day, for example. The linked Planet Money episode in the article covers it nicely.
But sure, once you enable the capability, it won't be long before we are living in the inevitable grim meathook future.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unnecessary_Mountain