/Heat Death by Computation/
Geoffrey Hinton (who left Google in May 2023 so he could speak more
freely/agenda-less-ish?) gives good lecture on the topic of the
differences between wetware/analog (i.e. Human Cortex) computation (for
intelligence/consciousness) and silicon/digital and why human brains can
do what they do with ~20-30W compared to digital computer's attempting
to do even a fraction of the same tasks require thousands of Watts (or
much more since none have uniquivocally achieved AGI). He attributes
it (roughly) to the differences in "style" of computation and how
analog computing without overly strict concerns about reproduceability
and zero error rates can outperform on the tasks they do (and conversely
why a simple calculator, even a mechanical one, can often outperform all
but the most savant-like humans easily on a tiny amount of power (think
70's solar-cell handhelds).
While I think that our voracious computational/informational
appliances/infrastructure/habits (see my own fascination with
GPT/DALL-E) are like (maybe?) everything we do, unbounded by anything
but pushback from the environment. The evolutionary push/pull that
made us into the versatile creatures we are set us up to take/use until
there is nothing left. We have millenia of history trying to build
self-regulating systems/principles (sacred rites to nature,
personification of nature as-gods with rewards/wrath for not respecting
them, rules about "commons", the EPA, etc. adn.) and yet the more
aggressive or clever (sometimes both-ish... Musk...) always stay ahead
of the rules... sometimes by being scoff-laws, but always (at least)
ignoring the spirit while following or gaming the letter of it.
To the extent that our extant attempts to rein in our (un)enlightened
(overly tightly scoped) self-interest) in is something of an Artificial
Intelligence (I claim all bureaucracies are AI's, oft very inefficient,
cumbersome, narrowly focused and/or mal-formed) then we might expect
that is the *best* our incipient massive AI systems will be?
Or perhaps this is our greatest challenge/opportunity to recognize the
leverage they will be giving "us" over "ourselves" (one-another) and
seek to transcend or previous (and current and foreseeable) worst
habits/instincts/practices?
This might be the inflection point in the Drake Equation
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation>: //N = R/ x fp x ne x fl
x fi x fc x L /(Sagan and others have suggested additional factors to
describe humanity's propensity for self-destruction).
As a hard SF enthusiast, I'm always a little fascinated by the idea of
every star (single or binary) system hosting technological
civilization(s) hitting a singularity where they essentially become a
Dyson Sphere very quickly once a certain level of technical capability
is achieved. A nanotech (or better) sphere of "computronium) collecting
the power-flux from the star/system and transforming it into
computation/information and low-grade heat.... I'm sure someone (Niven,
Vinge, Clarke, Asimov, Dyson, Sagan/SETI ???) has done the calculations
to guess what spectrum to be looking in for such signatures?
Mumble,
- Steve
On 3/28/24 11:17 AM, Marcus Daniels wrote:
It's not really my thing, but I noticed there were several very large exhibits
at Supercomputing 23 for cooling technology. Even immersive cooling
solutions. I think that could be improved a lot. Without superconducting
processors, I don't see how energy use can be dramatically reduced though. For
that there will just need to be new generation. Could put these near large
off short windfarms..
https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/china-deploys-1400-ton-commercial-underwater-data-center/
I suppose there are some that would say gentrification is genocide -- a slow
coerced displacement.
-----Original Message-----
From: Friam<friam-boun...@redfish.com> On Behalf Of glen
Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2024 9:49 AM
To:friam@redfish.com
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] death by ubiquity
Maybe. But way before that happens, it will(has) force(d) the disaffected
(people, animals, plants) of any such region to die, move, or adapt.
In the Gaza kerfuffle, I've heard some describe coerced displacement as "genocide". I guess the
more reasonble term is ethnic cleansing. The settlers seem mostly fine with their ethnic cleansing agenda.
But, by analogy, how would we describe the coercive adaptation put upon a region by a massive water-sucking
data center? Biology cleansing? If there really were an AI, would they worry about the forced displacement
caused by their silicon incubators? ... or maybe "incubator" isn't a good word. How about
"galls":https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall Yeah, that might be a good analogy. The machines are
parasitic. They hijack the iDNA (information generators) of the local biology to form galls within which they
grow and thrive.
On 3/28/24 07:51, Marcus Daniels wrote:
It will force innovation on energy-efficient microarchitecture (e.g. Groq) and
on renewable power generation near data centers.
-----Original Message-----
From: Friam<friam-boun...@redfish.com> On Behalf Of glen
Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2024 7:09 AM
To:friam@redfish.com
Subject: [FRIAM] death by ubiquity
As we frivolously replace meatspace conversation with obsequious chatbots, the
world burns.
The industry more damaging to the environment than
airlineshttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/05/30/silicon-valley-data-giants-net-zero-sustainability-risk/
https://www.asce.org/publications-and-news/civil-engineering-source/civil-engineering-magazine/issues/magazine-issue/article/2024/03/engineers-often-need-a-lot-of-water-to-keep-data-centers-cool
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