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This article in EETimes may be of interest, at least to some.

https://www.eetimes.com/how-much-power-will-ai-computing-actually-require/


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Ehh, electricity is something we can make more of.
Many other things ARE of a fixed amount that we rely on and we should probably worry more about those (to keep it in perspective).

Anyone with a little knowledge & effort can make *some electricity with very little requirements.
Making more Helium (as the article mentions) or oil or gas is quite a bit more problematic, especially if we keep using those items to make electricity.
Just a thought.
I have a saying a lot of people don't get when I first say it
There is electricity and then there is electrocity.
Kind of combining electricity and atrocity; why make electricity using stuff we need for other purposes when electricity is the one we can make other ways?
Try making more oil, gas or helium (etc).
Seems like we're unnecessarily throwing A at B when B is renewable and fleeting and can be accomplished in other ways.

/another weird rharv moment brought to you in the moment


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Why worry about how much electricity AI will use? We should be worrying about how much electricity we will use as we are forced to buy electric cars, lawn mowers, power tools, stoves, cloth dryers, hot water heaters, etc.


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I think you missed part of my point.
The less we burn oil/coal/gas to get electricity, the longer it will last.
We have other ways to make electricity but nobody wants to.

/I admit I have a gas generator for when the power goes out smile
// just suggesting we could conserve some oil etc if we we made electricity in other ways, we know how

Last edited by rharv; 09/10/24 03:16 PM.

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I haven't read (or thought about)) EETimes in over a decade. Thanks for sharing. I had the big newspaper print version delivered to my office mailbox for many years along with the glossy Machine Design and 4 or 5 other industry trade journals. They kept me abreast of what industry was doing and even helped me in my career from time to time; those were the days.

Personally I'm not that concerned about how much energy AI consumes. Financial considerations will limit any sector from consuming too much of the pie. Plus renewables are coming online at ever faster rates and I'm expecting the "fusion nut" to be cracked by some research team within the lifetime of many of us.

That said, most people have a laundry list of concerns; here are a few of mine in no particular order:

1. Climate change and it's ramifications
2. The fall of democracies around the world
3. WW3 (One observer has pontificated that WW4 will be fought with stones and spears; I disagree)
4. Should I buy EZKeys? laugh


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There are all sorts of co9nflicts and contradictions in the whole business our impact on the planet.

I certainly agree with rharv's view that we should try to reserve what we can of oil and similar resources, and also that there are other materials that are every bit as concerning as the his example of the loss of helium. Unfortunately many of those materials are vital for present day batteries, which are one of the few effective ways we have to store energy. Pumped storage and its relatives are the most obvious exception.

For me, the root of the problem is the rather relentless increase in the population of the planet and the consequential increase in demand for those few resources. Collectively we seem to have no idea how we might relieve that pressure or deal with the consequences of not relieving it. Back in the 70s my wife and I decided we'd not have a family as part of our own responsibility. I've also tried to be resource efficient in just about everything I've designed throughout my life. It seems to have been to no avail.

Like just about everyone, I hope we finally get fusion generation to work. We're closer than ever before! But that won't solve the long-term problems if we continue to demand ever more from our planet.


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Originally Posted by rharv
/I admit I have a gas generator for when the power goes out smile
Ah ... the perils of different languages with a common root ... American and English.

When I first read that I took it to mean that you had a means to generate a flammable gas when there was no electricity. E.g., methane or hydrogen or something. Over here we call the liquid fuel petrol, not gas.


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Quote
For me, the root of the problem is the rather relentless increase in the population of the planet and the consequential increase in demand for those few resources

Yes, this has concerned me too for a long time. There has to be a limit.


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Gas generators?

Yep, I had to read it twice to understand that it meant 'gasoline' powered generator, and not something that created hydrogen. crazy

BTW, Cows are also gas generators grin


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Originally Posted by AudioTrack
BTW, Cows are also gas generators grin
I think that's another of those words that differ, though I may be wrong. I think cattle is the better term for the US.
Much of it is methane, which is a far worse greenhouse gas than CO2. frown

At least these word differences are confusing/amusing, rather than potentially offensive as are some.


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yeah, sometimes I forget about the other languages when I type

that said ..
"I have a gasoline fueled electric generator for when the power goes out" takes a whole lot more of those precious ASCII characters .. especially all those 'E's, those are getting hard to come by 'round here
smile


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Originally Posted by rharv
yeah, sometimes I forget about the other languages when I type
I think we probably all do. Sometimes we don't know or remember that there are differences.
I wrote several times a while back about using "curtains" to help control sound, before remembering that in the US they're called "drapes".

I posted about the "gas generator" because I thought my misreading of it was funny. I hope others do too.


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FWIW my wife thinks I am the gas generator


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Originally Posted by rharv
FWIW my wife thinks I am the gas generator

grin grin grin grin grin grin

I think I married her sister!


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Interesting article but my AI energy concern is more elemental: Will AI suck the imaginative energy and cognitive development out of future generations by making the hard mental investments unnecessary? On the other hand, maybe this is like moving from the slide rule to the pocket calculator (I was there), and not a problem at all. Or like the evolution of public libraries from hard copy repositories to internet cafes? AI is definitely a disruptive technology but...is it helpful? The answer might be YES, but...I don't know. Electricity consumption seems like a minor issue, at least to me, at this time...


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Originally Posted by Bass Thumper
4. Should I buy EZKeys? laugh
I just bought the upgrade to EZMix3, and noticed I have a whole bunch of EZKeys things.

I never use them.

Then again, I buy lots of other stuff I never seem to use, so... wink


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Originally Posted by dcuny
I just bought the upgrade to EZMix3, and noticed I have a whole bunch of EZKeys things.

I never use them.

Then again, I buy lots of other stuff I never seem to use, so... wink
I'm sure you know that putting the purchase of EZKeys in a list with WW3 was tounge-in-cheek.
But regarding EZAnything, I've resisted the temptation in favor of physical instruments, but I'll probably cave-in at some point crazy


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AI does require a lot of electricity, however more concerning is that AI currently requires theft of creative content and provides zero credit or compensation to those that it profits from. Even worse, AI has resulted in tens or hundreds of thousands of layoffs, particularly in the graphic design and video game industries.


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Originally Posted by Simon - PG Music
Even worse, AI has resulted in tens or hundreds of thousands of layoffs, particularly in the graphic design and video game industries.
Indeed, AI has resulted in many job losses and this will accelerate as companies large and small invest in AI technologies. In many cases these investments must be offset by workforce cuts not to mention certain jobs being entirely replaced by AI bots.

My heart goes out to the young folks that today, need a Plan B, C and maybe D to sustain their career goals. Interestingly enough, I could see AI negatively impacting the very high-tech worker that created it in the first place!

In the past, when new technologies came on the scene, many jobs were eliminated but new ones were created. The laid-off buggy whip worker may have found a new assembly line job at Ford. But, at this point anyway, I find it hard to think of large numbers of good-paying new jobs being created due to AI. The only such jobs that come to mind are in the AI sector itself which most likely won't produce longterm much less permenant career paths.

People way smarter than us must be thinking about this problem.

Those directly affected by this or have children that may be affected might read this article from Jan of this year.

Tech Companies Pivot to AI


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Funny thought
A few of those video game companies have had big flops recently. Released, then recalled/cancelled.
Wonder how long it takes them to make the correlation and have to ask themselves about that, at least once ... eventually


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