this post was submitted on 19 Dec 2025
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Fuck AI
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AI, in this case, refers to LLMs, GPT technology, and anything listed as "AI" meant to increase market valuations.
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Silver lining, the Ai companies stress because they will run out of freshwater and scramble to find a way to manufacture clean water which then benefits the people
No they fucking wont.
Did cigarette companies ever sponsor health initiatives to keep their customers from dying off? Do oil companies do anything to improve the environment? Do large companies polluting waterways do anything to clean them?
What a ridiculous idea.
Calm down, buddy. Exxon's website tells us that they are trying to "achieve [their] 2030 emission-intensity reduction plans." You see, they are so keen to help the planet, they made up their own plans and will try to respect them. If that's not improving our environment, you're lost my dude 😎.
The companies need clean water, thus they need to make clean water if they run out.
They don't need DRINKABLE water.
Has to be free of contaminants else it can mess up the components. Typically it would be distilled water which would meet that criteria, no?
I absolutely would not count on these companies to innovate. They can’t even make a functioning product and they’re supposed to find a new way to make potable water?
I mean, we can and do mass produce potable water from seawater right now, but there is an ugly problem to the distillery method: seawater has a lot of unwanted stuff in it, and if we just dump it back in the ocean, it raises the toxicity locally for that area.
Data centers can also use closed-loop cooling, air cooling, immersion cooling, etc; they're just using potable water because it is the cheapest (for them). But even if they didn't innovate at all, the high end of that estimate is like 0.02% of yearly global freshwater withdrawals. As you say, the devastating part is that location constraints determine who bears the externalities.
Innovation doesn't actually make money. Scams do.
Why capitalism fails in late stages.
Why the fuck do they need to use fresh water in the first place? Isn't it for cooling? Why do they need potable water for that?
My easy guess from working in piping: corrosion of piping/fittings/sensors.
Same reason you cant run hose water in your car radiator. You need to use distilled mixed with coolant.
Sewer pipes also exist
Sewer pipes wouldn't work. Cooling systems use thin veins to exchange heat. Making the veins larger would make it less effective and require epic amounts of water that is wasted to do the job. The blockage and buildup problems will still remain.
I wasn't suggesting they use sewer pipes, I'm just saying that if sewer pipes can exist, then I'm pretty sure they can make pipes that would work for this.
What are you getting at here? You lost me.
I think they are saying use more robust piping