gerrymcgovern

gerrymcgovern, 23 days ago to random

Tire toxicity faces fresh scrutiny after salmon die-offs

6PPD is just one of the hundreds of chemicals in a tire. It is particularly toxic to fish, and has been found as a cause for severe death rates for coho salmon on the West Coast of the USA. It has also been found in human urine. 6PPD is one of more than 400 different chemical compounds used to make tires. The vast majority of chemicals have never been properly tested for the damage they do to the environment.

https://phys.org/news/2024-05-toxicity-fresh-scrutiny-salmon-die.html

gerrymcgovern, 23 days ago to random

""It has happened," wrote developer Arian van Putten in a social media post over the weekend. "The number one Google result was an official Pulumi documentation page that was clearly written by an LLM (it had a disclaimer that it was) and hallucinated an AWS feature that didn't exist. This is the beginning of the end.""

"Search quality has declined because search engines index low-quality AI-generated content and present it in search results."

https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/01/pulumi_ai_pollution_of_search/

gerrymcgovern, 23 days ago to random

"A study I carried out took common Footprint and related figures and derived the conclusion that if the world’s 2050 expected population were to share natural resources equally we would all receive about one-ninth of the per capita amount we in rich countries get now, and if economic growth continues at present rates the fraction would more than halve by 2050."

https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/what-is-to-be-done-thoughts-on-degrowth-strategy/

gerrymcgovern, 24 days ago to random

"Rising energy usage from AI data centers could lead to additional demand for natural gas of up to 8.5 billion cubic feet per day, according to an investment bank estimate. Generative AI requires high energy and water demands to power and cool expansive data centers, which climate advocates have warned could exacerbate climate change."
https://www.gzeromedia.com/gzero-ai/hard-numbers-unnatural-gas-needs-googles-data-centers-homeland-securitys-new-board-japans-new-llm

AI and data centers are becoming a key driver of climate catastrophe, while uber-greenwashing about how AI will "solve" energy problems.

gerrymcgovern, 24 days ago to random

Accused: "Your honor, it would be impossible for me the live at the standard I have become accustomed to were I not to rob banks."

Judge: "That sounds like a reasonable defense."

“It would be impossible to train today’s leading AI models without using copyrighted materials.”
OpenAI

What we criminalize in individual behavior, we call "innovation" when it comes to Big Tech. The whole system is bought and owned by Big Tech.

gerrymcgovern, 25 days ago to random

Indigenous communities have been threatened and attacked for protesting mining pollution, water scarcity and land use change in the community collective of Acre Antequera.

While protesting earlier this month against the harmful impacts of mining, several women in the community said dynamite was thrown into their homes and their children weren’t allowed to attend school.

https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/indigenous-bolivians-flee-homes-as-backlash-to-mining-protest-turns-explosive/

gerrymcgovern, 25 days ago to random

The Gigawatt Data Center Campus is Coming
April 29, 2024
Hyperscale tech companies are seeking campuses that can support 1 gigawatt of electric power capacity.

https://www.datacenterfrontier.com/hyperscale/article/55021675/the-gigawatt-data-center-campus-is-coming

Data centers are totally out of control. AI and data centers are causing incredible environmental damage. At what point is Big Tech seen for what it truly is: a wrecker of the environment.

gerrymcgovern, 25 days ago to random

States rethink data centers as ‘electricity hogs’ strain the grid

Worries are rising over what data centers mean for demand, renewable energy goals.

"Compared with other employers that states compete for, such as automotive plants, data centers hire relatively few workers. Still, states have offered massive subsidies to lure data centers."

https://stateline.org/2024/04/30/states-rethink-data-centers-as-electricity-hogs-strain-the-grid/

Data centers are terrible for the environment and terrible for local communities.

gerrymcgovern, 26 days ago to random

“When the screens on my desktop computer go to sleep, why does the GPU keep rendering an image? There needs to be a back feed to say whether data that was being generated is actually being used. So long as the frame buffer is maintained, or can be regenerated in a timely manner, then everything else is waste and the GPU burns through a significant portion of my total computer power.”
https://semiengineering.com/a-highly-wasteful-industry/

gerrymcgovern, 26 days ago to random

"The systems industry as a whole is not concerned about power. I know that is a bold statement, but I believe it to be true. The semiconductor industry is mildly concerned, but only indirectly. They care about power because thermal issues are limiting the functionality they can squeeze onto a chip, or in a package."

https://semiengineering.com/a-highly-wasteful-industry/

The tech industry has a deep culture of absolute contempt for energy and materials, and thus a contempt for the environment.

gerrymcgovern, 26 days ago to random

Former Amazon exec alleges she was told to ignore the law while developing an AI model — 'everyone else is doing it'
https://www.businessinsider.com/ex-amazon-ghaderi-exec-suing-ai-race-copyright-allegations-2024

“It would be impossible to train today’s leading AI models without using copyrighted materials,” OpenAI admitted in its submission to the UK House of Lords.

AI companies openly admit that they steal copyright materials. That's Big Tech for you. Progress. Innovation.

gerrymcgovern, 26 days ago to random

“As a society, we have to admit that, despite 50 years of knowledge about the dynamics of the collapse of our life support systems, we have failed to initiate a systematic change to prevent this collapse. It is becoming increasingly clear that, despite technological advances, the change needed to put us on a different trajectory will also require a change in belief systems, mindsets, and the way we organize our society.”

https://tomdispatch.com/eco-collapse-hasnt-happened-yet-but-you-can-see-it-coming/

gerrymcgovern, 26 days ago to random

“Factual accuracy in large language models remains an area of active research”

In a normal world, with normal people, you'd fall about laughing if you read the above and heard that this is the Great AI everyone is gushing about. But AI is a grift, a con, a giant scam, so it doesn't play by normal rules. It plays by the rules of the grifter and the tech magician.

https://noyb.eu/en/chatgpt-provides-false-information-about-people-and-openai-cant-correct-it

gerrymcgovern, 27 days ago to random

A proposed Google data center in Cedar Rapids could use from 200,000 gallons of water per day to more than 1 million gallons, on average.

Other Iowa cities with data centers are drawing more water from aquifers and rivers to meet demand.

A Cedar Rapids data center likely would use at least 25 megawatts of electricity, equivalent to powering about 12,000 homes.

https://www.thegazette.com/environment-nature/google-data-center-would-be-among-cedar-rapids-largest-water-and-energy-users/

gerrymcgovern, 28 days ago to random

The Tech Baron Seeking to “Ethnically Cleanse” San Francisco

“Balaji has the highest rate of output per minute of good new ideas of anybody I’ve ever met,” wrote Marc Andreessen

https://newrepublic.com/article/180487/balaji-srinivasan-network-state-plutocrat

You need to believe people like Balaji Srinivasan and Marc Andreessen when they tell you loud and clear who they are and what they believe in and what they'll do given the chance. Silicon Valley is a cesspit of the worst of the worst.

gerrymcgovern, 28 days ago to random

Climate change: 'No scientific models included any hypotheses of degrowth until very recently'

For the first time, economists have calculated the precise (positive) effects of a reduction in economic growth on climate change, historian Jean-Baptiste Fressoz writes.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2024/04/26/climate-change-no-scientific-models-included-any-hypotheses-of-degrowth-until-very-recently_6669596_23.html

Imagine that. Why? All these clever scientists and they can't see that capitalist growth is the underlying cause of environmental collapse. Why would that be?

gerrymcgovern, 29 days ago to random

"Amid the race to develop ever-advancing technologies, these artists’ works offer a chance to slow down and reflect. As Sime explained: “We do need technology, but it is also taking away from who we are as humans. Maybe we should stop for a minute and talk and start thinking, ‘Where do we go with this tomorrow?’”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/25/arts/design/frieze-technology.html?unlocked_article_code=1.nU0.qmNt.yusLsxaJMLZM&smid=url-share

gerrymcgovern, 29 days ago to random

What is this thing you call progress?

Is destroying 40% of soils progress?

Is genociding 60% of birds since 1970 progress?

Is the insect apocalypse progress?

Is stealing indigenous land for mining and deforestation progress?

Is making e-waste the fastest growing and most toxic waste stream in the world progress?

Is creating a freshwater crisis progress?

Is massively polluting the air progress?

Is boiling our environment progress?

Please tell me, innovator, what you mean by progress?

gerrymcgovern, 29 days ago to random

Planet of the Vapes

"Disposable vape sales quadrupled in the UK between 2022 and 2023, with consumers now throwing away around 5 million devices each week. In the United States, 4.5 disposable vapes are thrown away each second, and it is fast becoming an issue replicated right across the world."
https://phys.org/news/2024-04-vapes-scientists-global-shift-curb.html

Oh, Indigenous People, we're destroying where you have lived for thousands of years to get lithium to make vapes, scooters, and 2 ton SUVs.

gerrymcgovern, 29 days ago to random

"The capitalist world system will likely confront unprecedented “polycrisis” events by the early 2030s – referring to mutually amplifying shocks across the domains of political economy, climate, energy, food, and geopolitics. If left-green movements remain weak in this conjuncture, then dominant responses like today will continue to prioritise short-termist energy and food security strategies that perpetuate ecologically damaging practices."

https://theecologist.org/2024/apr/25/polycrisis-ecosocialism