this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2026
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That's one way to compare it.
Now, take your privileged writer status human brain and factor in all the other power required to keep it comfy in an air conditioned room, the labor required to put a roof over your head, keep your home plumbing working, make your food, deliver you pen and paper to write with - or are you using an electrically powered appliance to record and later communicate your thoughts? Oh, did you need to go to sleep for a while?
Do I get to include the gargantuan cooling system for the data centre and all the infastructure required to keep that going?
Total impact is the only fair comparison. Pollution from the power plants included, sewage treatment from the houses too.
Agreed, and therefore an AI will always use more. As they required all of us, doing shit this big, for this long, to function. So, since each of us required a whole civilization to get to this moment, we're back to where we started, crossing off every externality and only counting direct power usage for the task at hand.