John Carmack warns anti-datacenter backlash risks strangling AI, comparing the opposition to historical anti-nuclear movements

just one week ago I was on @mtslive saying that scaling a large number of large ap1000 plants was the way to go for increasing primary nuclear baseload.

life comes at you fast.

but note that i said WE SHOULD DO HUNDREDS

@ID_AA_Carmack @AlmostMedia @notch My team and I helped change the narrative on nuclear working inside the government over the last year. We’d love to connect with you!

loved getting a chance to talk @lightcellenergy and dyson spheres with @MTSlive today! thanks for having me on. i dropped some secret sauce

@ID_AA_Carmack @notch Carmack is an OG but nuclear reactors don't store my private information harvested by tech oligarchs. More data centers along with things like Palantir etc make this a non-starter. People wouldn't even be concerned if not for these over-steppers.

@ID_AA_Carmack @notch I think it'd be helpful in both cases to rebrand.

Data Center -> Supercomputer Nuclear -> Astral Energy or Atomic Power or something

Living in countries that lost all tech races is worse than living in a winning country with just a slightly higher electricity bill. And guess what? People living in losing countries will pay a higher portion of their income toward electricity bills anyway (also, it costs way more than just the electricity bill to live in one of the losing countries).

"Millions of people and organizations are getting great returns from using it"

Where is this information coming from? Even if it was 3 million Americans getting "great returns from using it" - what are great returns? Their work is 5-20% easier/more productive? Who benefits then, them or their bosses? And that's still less than 1% of the nation.

I'm trying to avoid nitpicking. But what does this mean? And how does that really compare to nuclear power - which is a way to produce electricity, something we all need, and benefit from, not just the owners of companies were those 3 million people work.

@ID_AA_Carmack @notch But what about the pollution? The costs passed down to the local neighborhood?

@deeplore5 @ID_AA_Carmack @notch Your concerns are based on nonsense. Palantir doesn’t have your private info but if they did it would be better protected than it is at the IRS.

@ID_AA_Carmack @notch I am anti big dataceter until certain grievances are met, then I will be pro big datacenter. 1) They have to invest in grid or bring own infrastructure, day 1 2) Soundproofing 3) No evap towers 4) The industry should focus on mid-size models which are more efficient to host

@ID_AA_Carmack @redbullfuturist @notch I’m constantly seeing foreigners portray themselves as Americans offended by data centers.

I’m also seeing left wing NGOs making fake right wing groups against data centers.

@RyanClark194438 @ID_AA_Carmack @notch What pollution? They're predominantly either powered by the grid or natural gas turbines located on-site. Neither is really "local neighborhood" pollution unless you're meaning increased carbon dioxide or thinking that these are run off of Diesel generators, which is uneconomic.

@Stretchedwiener @ID_AA_Carmack @notch 1.https://pure.johnshopkins.edu/en/publications/prospective-multi-site-study-of-patient-outcomes-after-implementa/ 2.https://www.dbmi.columbia.edu/nurses-and-ai-collaborate-to-save-lives-reduce-hospital-stays/

@ID_AA_Carmack @notch Bad take. AI is being used to replace people in the labor force already. Nuclear power provides an essential resource to everyone near enough to benefit. I sincerely do not care if you think it's "more vibrant" or some other abstract bullshit John, AI will take you job too.

@ID_AA_Carmack @elonmusk @notch As a local policy guy and former local official, I am shocked at how ignorant most tech leaders are when it comes to the danger of these efforts

This is sweeping up people on the populist left and right

@ID_AA_Carmack @notch It's also very meaningful to demoralize the communists from ever entertaining their dumb anti-civilizational whims going forward.

The nuclear power analogy is thankfully inexact. Power plants are heavily regulated and pseudo monopolies. They were expensive to get approved, slow to build, and energy rates government controlled. So there was little incentive for existing power companies to buck the public trends or politicians.

Way too much profit potential in data centers for them to really be stopped. Way too much profit in correcting the current issues like water consumption and power. They are finally motivating nuclear power again. Capitalism usually works.

@ID_AA_Carmack @notch AI Datacenters are noisy so i understand why putting it near residential areas makes no sense. But people should not be trying to stop Datacenters from being built if its benefits everyone, but i hope this datacenter build out ends since AI should be ran locally.

@gatomoinhos @ID_AA_Carmack @notch So I'm supposed to let it take my job and livelihood from me with no resistance? Fuck that. If the AI revolution will destroy the middle class, I'd rather destroy AI. We're better off without it. What benefit will come to me? Who will pay my bills when the jobs are gone?