dr_analog
top 1% of underdog fetishists
No bio...
User ID: 583
A lot of them are too stupid to declare bankruptcy and just make the minimum payments for life, and divert whatever cash windfalls they get towards it. Only to then continue spending into their temporarily freed up credit.
I'm not saying a business that boosts utility today for people with high future discounting rates is inherently bad, but to the degree banks exploit this it borders into illegitimacy, IMO.
And this extends to the right as well! Most populists-right movements have been exerting more, not less, command upon the economy; even Mottizens veer into this, seeing working in finance as parasitising upon society rather than allocating where goods and services ought to go.
As someone whose wealth comes from quant finance, I would say this is correct. A core part of quant finance is critical to the global economy. But a ton of other stuff is unproductive competition or outright gambling-enabling. Separating the two out is fierce debate but each end of the axis is real.
But you don't even have to talk about complicated financial instruments to see financial parasitism. A lot of people are genuinely too dumb or of poor impulse control to handle credit cards and banks quickly lock up all of their future disposable income. They would 100% have been better off without credit cards since they would simply be broke instead of six figures in debt.
Haha yes! Aside from those techs, my datacenter in London had a revolving door for life safety system specialists doing periodic inspections and recharges or call-outs to tinker with sensitivity on systems false alarming every Saturday morning during my hangovers.
The fire department got to take a trip over a few times to confirm our VESDA was false alarming.
If I had credits I would make a heart warming promotional video for datacenters and how they give opportunity to so many noble professionals who work with more than just keyboard muscles.
dr_analog
top 1% of underdog fetishists
1d ago
I feel like my experience having been inside of datacenters, having been in charge of datacenters and being in planning meetings for new datacenters should give me some kind of edge in discussions about datacenters but I am mostly as hapless as everyone else.
They do create jobs, actually more skilled blue collar jobs than you might appreciate, but not like thousands of them. There's a ton of work to get them built but ongoing maintenance is probably tens of people employed permanently.
The water claims are mostly fake. Towns may sign bad deals on hooking them up with power instead of making them improve infrastructure.
What else is there to say.
dr_analog
top 1% of underdog fetishists
1d ago
No sarcasm! It makes sense. Just noticing women don't do that with me unless we're in bed together.
dr_analog
top 1% of underdog fetishists
1d ago
The Anttichrist says "the seams are load-bearing" and the audience nods in unison.
I'm amused that two three different women who you are not in a current intimate relationship with get you in a 1:1 and dump a bunch of their emotional shit on you.
They must feel so safe talking to you.
dr_analog
top 1% of underdog fetishists
1d ago
A rounding error compared to the 55 million Americans with IQs 85
I don't know why I've never thought of this in absolute numbers before but 55 million people at 85 IQ (or lower!) is frightening.
Thanks!
dr_analog
top 1% of underdog fetishists
4d ago
No, I mean the opposite of that. Like locating near grid connected hydro-electric power instead of wheeling gas generators on site, and doing capital development to exploit natural cooling instead of just installing more CRAC units. Shit that takes a lot of engineering effort and time. The classical hyperscalers took this extremely seriously in the 2010s. This used to be a point of real pride at Google, and having come from working on finance datacenters before that it seemed like beaming up to the Enterprise.
In the AI lab era they're in too much of a rush to care anymore. Which is what the grandparent comment was asking about.
dr_analog
top 1% of underdog fetishists
4d ago
I moved into a new house. The previous owner left me a Memphis wood fired grill on a very tricked out outdoor kitchen. It's ridiculous.
What should I grill?
I'm thinking I need to host a steak and eggs brunch for my run club. And maybe do something with brisket or ribs on an evening.
Is this just how the median affluent Texan lives? Have I been a fool for thinking we blue state coastal elites knew how to live?
dr_analog
top 1% of underdog fetishists
4d ago
Regardless of how many black neighbors, towing a bunch of portable gas generators on site to get your GPU farm up and running in months is still a huge difference from how hyperscalers used to try to build out near hydro dams and negotiate decades long power purchase agreements, with credible attempts at carbon neutrality.
dr_analog
top 1% of underdog fetishists
4d ago
Are these new datacenters really that different from the ones we've been building for literally decades?
A bit different. They use significantly more power and they're being built in such a hurry that the classical hyperscaler commitments to doing it carbon neutrally or with highly sophisticated cooling that leverages natural advantages and keeps power draw down are being dispensed with.
A famous example is the one Elon built in a hurry where they placed a ton of natural gas generators on site because the local grid couldn't supply them, possibly in violation of environmental impact rules.
I think data centers have the potential to benefit the municipalities that they build in. Some jobs, upgraded infrastructure, lower prices. But do I trust every municipality in the US, great and small, to competently and non-corruptibly negotiate with sharks from trillion dollar companies? Haha no, I'm sure some municipalities will get fleeced or sold out.
That's probably the biggest source of anxiety even though on net they should be a benefit.
Do you think this concern is silly? I'm not sure what your opinion actually is?
Curious. How do you actually get AIs that will process porn? It seems like you need to grab open weight models and fine tune them? And the fine tunings themselves are valuable enough that you don't just post them? Definitely doesn't seem as easy as grabbing a Claude API key and writing a Python script.
More options
Context Copy link