the TLDR is that the current historic peak supply of the texas grid is around 100gw. The queue of datacenter demand is 460gw.
If the new capacity uses gas to deliver the power it will consume more gas than the USA exported last year.
So basically it will drive up costs _globally_ to a comic scale, for limited return (its already expensive to train new models, this will make it ruinously expensive to both train _and_ run)
The power has been great since the freeze. Market forces fixed the problems. People were making $9,000/kwh at times. That's never going to happen again.
Do you live there? I do. Do you get the texts from ERCOT saying "if you don't turn off some shit the grid will fail due to the weather" several times a year. I do.
> "Great since the freeze"
I take it you know nothing about the back story and didn't listen to the podcast. Prior to this "great freeze" there was another "great freeze" and thing went well for a long time between them until they didn't. Virtually nothing structural that caused the conditions of the failure have changed.
Seems so. AI is unlikely to make A16Z cheaper, if anything, we might see the first 4-and-40 fund from them next year. As long as the Senate is controlled by Republicans and the Fed is led by Warsh.
Why would putting data center in space solve these problems? I feel like this is a total non sequitur. The solution is pay for more substations and power generation. This problem exists there regardless of space based compute and let me tell you the space based compute would 1000000x more expensive because you still need to build everything required in the current solution except in space! Its just not a real response to a lack of investment into infrastructure. And that means asking business to pay for the infrastrure they need as a collective industry.
I think they are thinking of something of a poorly designed Dyson Swarm, the plebs who came up with it think that with "cheap" launches, no permits really, and free* power, it might really come out in the wash and be easier to scale.
Is it a good idea? Most likely not, the amount of issues they are going to have is going to be amazing.
Maybe if HN's favorite bad guy said the quiet part out loud about exploring space compute to avoid regulation...instead of making bombastic claims about possible technical efficacy. I'm not really interested in giving credit to leaders that lie about their motives. Note the blog you linked doesn't mention this either.
Not really, no. It still look absurd and a way to lobby local governments. Nothing has changed. It’s really just a way to say „let us do whatever we want, how we want, or we go to space“.
Texas rolled out the red carpet to corporate interests --- and then discovered that their electrical grid operation is totally inadequate to deal with the impact.
This is just one isolated example of a much larger issue related to the "AI race".
AI is power intensive and the "winner" of the "AI race" is likely be whoever can produce lower cost power and lots of it.
>The upcoming election is part of it, but the underlying issues are worth digging into.
Well we will know for sure on Nov 4 :) But I expect 99.999% of the reason is Midterms, that way politicians can say "We are stopping Data Centers". I expect that will change once they have to account for their bribes, known as political contributions in the US.
There are a few dipshit NY pols playing this game right now. They have their signs and literature out touting their "votes to (temporarily) stop data centers".
And they want to mostly power it with on site GAS?!
What is even happening.
If the new capacity uses gas to deliver the power it will consume more gas than the USA exported last year.
So basically it will drive up costs _globally_ to a comic scale, for limited return (its already expensive to train new models, this will make it ruinously expensive to both train _and_ run)
Oh, and the energy market that underpins the Texas grid was designed by Enron, literally.
https://www.npr.org/podcasts/1004840920/the-disconnect-power...
> "Great since the freeze"
I take it you know nothing about the back story and didn't listen to the podcast. Prior to this "great freeze" there was another "great freeze" and thing went well for a long time between them until they didn't. Virtually nothing structural that caused the conditions of the failure have changed.
With zero threats from government?
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
This is not just a wild-eyed thing invented by HN's favorite bad guy.
https://research.google/blog/exploring-a-space-based-scalabl...
Is it a good idea? Most likely not, the amount of issues they are going to have is going to be amazing.
Texas rolled out the red carpet to corporate interests --- and then discovered that their electrical grid operation is totally inadequate to deal with the impact.
This is just one isolated example of a much larger issue related to the "AI race".
AI is power intensive and the "winner" of the "AI race" is likely be whoever can produce lower cost power and lots of it.
Well we will know for sure on Nov 4 :) But I expect 99.999% of the reason is Midterms, that way politicians can say "We are stopping Data Centers". I expect that will change once they have to account for their bribes, known as political contributions in the US.
Normally that would earn you a 2AM all caps tweet labeling you a RINO or worse, and getting primaried. Instead, not a peep.
Which tells you its a ruse and he's in on it.