Post B0ZFimy5nFqbwtbh0C by w0bb1t@tldr.nettime.org
 (DIR) More posts by w0bb1t@tldr.nettime.org
 (DIR) Post #B0ZFimy5nFqbwtbh0C by w0bb1t@tldr.nettime.org
       2025-11-24T10:19:11Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       Why does #AI devour so much water? 'Millions can be dying of thirst outside the data center but the AI must drink its fill.' @gerrymcgovern 👉🏻 https://gerrymcgovern.com/why-does-ai-devour-so-much-water/
       
 (DIR) Post #B0ZJOBp2aizCleo2pE by nanook@friendica.eskimo.com
       2025-11-24T11:04:55Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @w0bb1t @gerrymcgovern This isn't really about water.  It's about change, people don't like it, even when it's positive.  The steam engine was meant with the same opposition even though it meant New York streets would no longer be covered with horse shit.  There is no water shortage, there is a shortage of clean water.  3/4's of the Earth's surface is covered with water, one only needs energy to remove the salt, and so really what you have is an energy shortage, not a water shortage, and some of the most promising approaches to hydrogen fusion which could potentially provide all the energy we need, involve using AI to adjust the magnetic fields in real time to prevent loss of containment.  Many promising drugs come from complex protein folding prediction that AI can provide. And the big drive right now is towards making the necessary compute less power hungry, which will in turn make it less in need of cooling and thus water. And it's not like water used in cooling is just continuously used and then discarded, it runs through a cycle. We do need more efficient compute, that is for certain, but we do need to adopt new technologies.  If we fail to do so and just minimize our use of fossil fuels, they still will run out, and then we will have nothing to grow and transport our food with and we will starve in mass.