I think that these days centres should absolutely not be built. They are on a scale we can’t justify economically or ecologically and the technology they support are national security threats.

These are not the AWS-like data centres that “host the internet”. These are compute only. They’re for AI and big-data. Centralisation of the world computation into a few locations under the control of a few billionaires.

So point 1. Destroying these does not harm the internet. It preserves it. The 90s internet was one where anyone could put up a web-server and serve whatever they wanted. Sure, it might get given a hug-of-death when a site became popular, but it was only that one site that was affected. The internet was distributed and not centralised.

Then came the cloud.

Point 2. This is centralising information. I suspect we are already past the point where people are asking chatbots “who should I vote for?”. That alone places millions of votes under the control of whoever trains the LLM model they ask.

The owners become the owners of all information. It’s so handy. Why read a book? In fact let’s destroy books to create the machine. Now you can ask it anything. How do I make a cake? How do I fix my car? Is there a war in Palestien Ba-sing-se?

Point 3. The cost is too high. The American stock market is teetering on the edge of a huge crash. Bigger than 2008, it threatens to take out several of the world’s most valuable companies. If the damage was limited to them, I wouldn’t worry. Sadly, the banks and investment funds we all use are invested in them. This is Enron x4 plus the banking failure of 2008 in a dot.com bubble wrapper. All whilst the economy in all other sectors is shrinking.

Wall street knows it’s a bubble, but they all want to ride the upside of the bubble, thinking it won’t be them left holding when the crash comes. They could calmly unwind their positions and avoid the crash, but ego and hubris don’t allow that.

All in pursuit of an impossible goal

Then there’s the ecological cost. Lake Mead, on the Colorado river, is at it’s lowest level since it was created by the Hoover Dam being constructed. Drought and water use in the south-western states have steadily drained it for years …and they want to add a water guzzlers on the scale of an additional cities. Now I know this one is in Texas, and not in the Colorado river basin, but this isn’t the only one and I’m sure Texas rivers have their own issues.

Then you have the power supply. Whilst the rest of us are trying to move away from fossil fuels, these guys run towards them. Natural gas turbines (which can’t be built to schedule) belching out CO2 whilst heatwaves, drought, and wild fires are happening across the globe. I guess it gives the fossil fuel companies a reason to keep going though.

So yes, I’m against building these centres. The benefits are low, the societal dangers are huge and…

You’ve seen where they want to build this, right? Heat is not an issue.

So don’t build it. It needs too much power.

I hear jet fuel melts steal beams.

You sound like you acknowledge it’s going to cause huge amounts of environmental damage, but because there’s no other way of powering it… I guess that’s what we’re going to have to do.

Is that a fair take on your position?

Use AI to add the grim reaper into the background?

I think I’d rather things cost what they need to cost, rather than games being expensive because the console was cheap. That way the manufacturer won’t be so invested in what you do with it after the sale, and you’re not getting scammed on the software pricing.

Oh no. They used something they owned in a different way than the manufacturer foresaw. How evil!

There was one!!!

What was it?

Also the younger generation needs to step up and run for office. The disillusionment with politics runs deep, but just staying out of it isn’t an option.

In that movie where that guy kisses his sister. 👉👈

That’s the sequel.

You can go back further than that.

The 1917 russian revolution kicked it off. The fear of a workers revolution happening in the US started a campaign of labelling everything socialist and communist as anti-american.

It’s the straw that broke the camel’s back.

You’re COUNTING sick days. Sick days are generally not counted elsewhere. There are limitations on the number of consecutive days you can take without getting signed off by a doctor, but that’s it. Had one team member that got frequent migraines, and averaged about 1 sick day every two weeks. Good employee, just took a lot of sick leave. Questions were asked but because it was a valid reason nothing was done.

What you’re describing is 25 days off plus public holidays. Very normal.

…and to bring you in line with the rest of the world.

Yes. You’re being a dick.

Elephants aren’t religious (as far as I know) yet even they will gather to say goodbye to a family member. When the day comes, you’ll want to too.

I’d disagree. It certainly means being against unbounded capitalism. I think you need heavy regulation on companies, but not the elimination of them.

You’re talking about how a particular party or group within a party behaves. Presumably you’re talking about the DSA. That’s fine.

Being socialist just means being an advocate for policies which put society above the individual.

• Public education / healthcare / housing
• A strong welfare system
• Favouring government run services for necessities over corporate solutions. E.g. water / power / transport services.

Being socialist just means that you agree that those a good goals. It doesn’t say anything about how you think they should be achieved.

Can I hope it was cleared so as to financial stretch the Ellisons as much as possible and put them closer to bankruptcy?

No? Damn it!

Presumably she’s not allowed because she should know by that age that the sun is always white. It’s just how it appears filtered through the atmosphere. Until she learns this, the playground is off-limits.