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<p><i>Heat Death by Computation</i><br>
</p>
<p>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).</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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? </p>
<p>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? <br>
</p>
<p>This might be the inflection point in the <a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation">Drake
Equation</a>: <em
style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: "Google Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"><em>N = R</em> x fp x ne x fl x fi x fc x L </em><span
style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: "Google Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">(Sagan and others have suggested additional factors to describe humanity's propensity for self-destruction).</span></p>
<p><span
style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: "Google Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">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?</span></p>
<p><span
style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: "Google Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Mumble,</span></p>
<p><span
style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: "Google Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"> - Steve
</span></p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 3/28/24 11:17 AM, Marcus Daniels
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:MN0PR11MB5985772A9D0A1B4C56C8B1F4C53B2@MN0PR11MB5985.namprd11.prod.outlook.com">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">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..
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/china-deploys-1400-ton-commercial-underwater-data-center/">https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/china-deploys-1400-ton-commercial-underwater-data-center/</a>
I suppose there are some that would say gentrification is genocide -- a slow coerced displacement.
-----Original Message-----
From: Friam <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:friam-bounces@redfish.com"><friam-bounces@redfish.com></a> On Behalf Of glen
Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2024 9:49 AM
To: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:friam@redfish.com">friam@redfish.com</a>
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": <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall</a> 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:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">It will force innovation on energy-efficient microarchitecture (e.g. Groq) and on renewable power generation near data centers.
-----Original Message-----
From: Friam <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:friam-bounces@redfish.com"><friam-bounces@redfish.com></a> On Behalf Of glen
Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2024 7:09 AM
To: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:friam@redfish.com">friam@redfish.com</a>
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 airlines <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/05/30/silicon-valley-data-giants-net-zero-sustainability-risk/">https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/05/30/silicon-valley-data-giants-net-zero-sustainability-risk/</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="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">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</a>
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<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">-. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. .
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