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quixoticgeek

@quixoticgeek@v.st

Geek, Dyke, Brewer, Rider of Bikes, Archer, Quixotic, Generally Curious, Mostly Harmless, she/her

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quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

We need to talk about data centres.

For the 2nd or 3rd time this week I've seen someone comment on a new data centre build with a stat about how 80% of data is never accessed. Then they talk about the energy and cooling used in modern DCs.

The reality is that data storage is actually incredibly efficient, and uses fuck all power. A hard disk is less than 10w and stores multiple users data.

Storing data, our photos, our memories, our history. Is not the problem.

What is? 1/n

quixoticgeek,
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

Garbage in. Garbage out.

And what makes this even more terrifying is that when you look at a webpage, it's often hard to tell if it's been generated with sparkling autocarrot, or written by a human. If we can't tell, then what hope does the LLM? And so we're gonna end up with the next generation models being fed on the output of the previous. This is going to create feedback loops. Reinforcing the worst the model has to offer. Strengthening the hate. The prejudice.

6/n

quixoticgeek,
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

And because we don't know what has been created how. There's no way to control what feeds the models. It's just gonna enshitify. And fast.

AI has all the hallmarks of a bubble. Like crypto before it, and half a dozen other bubbles before that, that all share their heritage right back to the south sea bubble (no, not tulip mania, but that's something for a different thread).

Except this bubble has gone more mainstream. It's consuming way more resources. Than any before it.

7/n

quixoticgeek,
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

These large language models are being fed on the combined mass of the world's online content. Your tweets, Facebook posts, forum posts, that blog you forgot you started. All of it is being fed into the black box of the LLM. The internet provides us unprecedented access to the world's information. But it is also an unprecedented collection of hate. We've seen this time and time again. From chat bots that start shouting nazi propaganda, to CV vetting systems that won't hire women.

5/n

quixoticgeek,
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

There are certainly some areas where machine learning (note, I'm not calling it AI) has it's uses. Medical research springs to mind. But a ubiquitous AI assistance rolled into all our products? Why? It's just using too much power, too many resources, and for what ? Sparkling autocarrot.

Encoding the worst of our society in a bit stream. Exacerbating inequality, prejudice, and hate.

In comp sci there's a term. GIGO. Garbage in. Garbage out.

4/n

quixoticgeek,
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

Water is going to become the next big inequality front. As the climate changes. Clean fresh water is going to become harder to come by. More expensive, and more unequal. That same water is being poured over panels I'm data centres to cool the servers. To cool the AI accelerators, generating content noone asked for. Enshitifying the knowledge base of humanity. Just so a few people can make some money.

8/n

quixoticgeek,
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

I've worked in this industry for over a quarter of a century.

At no point have I found myself thinking "I wish I could just ask the computer to write this email for me" "I wish the computer could write my code for me". MS is adding co pilot function to lots of products. Not as opt in. But opt out. And it's a right hassle to turn it off? Why? So someone can ask it to right a longer email from a prompt that the recipient can then ask the AI to summarise for them ?

3/n

quixoticgeek,
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

Storing our data, our memories, our photos, on servers in data centres that are built in sensible places isn't inherently a bad thing. And we shouldn't allow ourselves to fall for the trope of 80% of it is never accessed. But building datacentres that use ten times the energy, and need even more water, in deserts, and water stressed areas, to drive sparkling autocarrot that noone asked for. That we should be more vocal about.

9/9.

quixoticgeek,
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

The thing driving the need for the bigger more power and water hungry data centres is AI. Sparkling autocarrot. Where as a machine in a rack full of hard disks might consume a couple of hundred watts. A machine loaded up with a typical load of 8 "AI accelerators" can be pulling in the region of 5kw. Over an order of magnitude more power than the energy needed to store the lifes photos of hundreds of people.

And why ? To what end?

2/n

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

Well fuck.

Just did a Google image search as part of some research into something in the medieval era. Well over half of the results are from some kind of ai image generation site. Argh. Totally useless for research purposes.

Search engines need an "exclude AI content" option.

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

Once again for the people at the back. The purpose of public transport is to transport the public. Making money from doing so is a secondary purpose at best.

Noone talks about the profitability of the motorway network. So why do we do the same for public transport?

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

We have an utterly fucked up idea of what counts as technology. Something that projects many of our biases including gender, and race.

To many these days it's only technology if it's electronic, and used by western men. But to take such a narrow definition is to ignore the amazing technology that surrounds us, and upon which our society is built. As such. It's time for a thread. I'm gonna talk about two different items you use every day, and the technology that goes into them.

1/n

quixoticgeek,
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

Unless you happen to be sat naked on a warm beach somewhere, you're probably wearing clothes as you read this. Have you ever stopped to think about how we got to the very probably woven cotton clothing you're wearing right now ?

Archimedes said there are three basic machines, the lever, pulley, and screw. In the renaissance the wheel and axle, the wedge and the inclined plane were added to the list. But I think something else should be added, a discovery that changed humanity.

String.

2/n

quixoticgeek, (edited )
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

Why then does weaving move from women's work to men's work? Because now with a two bar loom fabric can be made a lot faster, and it can be made wider. This allows for it to be made at a larger scale, & crucially, for it to be something one can do professionally. As soon as a technology can be used to provide an income to support a family, it moves from women's work, to men's work. We see this throughout history. See also computer programming. Once we valued it more, the white men took over

11/n

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

There is a special place in hell for web designers who actively block zooming on webpages in mobile. Utter arseholes every single one of them.

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

When it rains after a prolonged period of dry weather, there is a smell created. It's called Petrichor. A wonderful word, and utterly useless trivia item. The smell is caused by something call Geosmin, which is produced by bacteria in the soil. Humans can smell it at 5 parts per TRILLION. In contrast Sharks can detect blood at concentrations of 1 part per million. On this one substance, we have a better sense of smell than sharks do for blood. Humans are amazing!

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

Move carefully, and fix things.

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

Oh fuck it, thread time.

Inspired in a way by a certain long discussion by a well known Sci-fi author about the announcement of a Nuclear powered container ship from China. I wanna talk about "technology won't save us" When it comes to climate change.

"Technology won't save us" is the usual refrain when someone mentions Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). CCS is often touted by the fossil fuel industry as a way of us being able to keep burning dinosaurs. Continue our lives unchanged...

1/n

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

Ok. Now do cars. Go on.

I wonder how those accident stats look if we take out everything where a car is involved.

Our blindness to the harm of cars, while happily targeting any and all micromobility devices is disgusting.

https://nltimes.nl/2024/03/12/amsterdam-testing-system-can-remotely-slow-e-bikes

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

Is there a hashtag like bloomscrolling, lichensubscribe, or mosstodon, but for photos of leaves, of trees, or fungi?

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

Yesterday I had a bit of an explore of some of the Barcelona superblocks and pedestrian areas.

One of the things I really liked was just how well provided with seating they are. In many places I've visited the only seating is either in commercial places, or it was just rare. Here it was numerous, and varied.

Something else that comes up a lot when we talk about this sort of infra is "what about deliveries?"

No problem. The street is open for delivery traffic. At 10kph. 1/n

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

The postoffice horizon scandal in the UK has put the spotlight on the coding practices of Fujitsu.

With the publishing of some code snippets, several people who have looked at it have replied "Wow, are they paid by the line of code?"

Which, while often meant as a joke, has some basis in history, and it opens up the discussion, of how do you incentivise programmers and how do you judge their achievements for the basis of bonues?

It's thread time.

1/n

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

"my computer isn't working properly"
"Have you tried turning it off?"
"And back in again?"
"No".

quixoticgeek, (edited ) to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

Ok now I'm kinda curious. when you started at your current job. How long from when you arrived, did it take for you to be fully onboarded to the IT systems Enough to do your job?

Please boost for better data.

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

Overhearing my housemate's phone call with their employers IT support. Knowing how to fix, it, but also refusing to do free support for a multi billion dollar company.

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