Notices by Gerry McGovern (gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green)

"A data center with 15 megawatts of IT capacity is estimated to use about 80-130 million gallons of water each year. That is as much water as three hospitals"

"The majority of the water directly withdrawn and used for cooling is drinkable water from the local water supply."

https://www.asianometry.com/p/the-big-data-center-water-problem?publication_id=38270&post_id=151923390&isFreemail=true&r=3g47a&triedRedirect=true

2022: Microsoft's water consumption leapt 34%

2021: Water consumption jumped by 13%

These are astonishing figures.

Data colonialism: A Microsoft AI Data Center Saps Water From A Small Mexican Town

After decades fighting against water bottling and beer companies, rural communities in Mexico are now also having to compete against Big Tech for water.

Development in the Global North has long come at the expense of the Global South as well as Black and indigenous frontline communities in places like Cancer Alley and Flint, Michigan.

https://inthesetimes.com/article/microsoft-ai-data-center-water-climate

3.5 millions acres of trees lost to mining over 20 years

Whether it's digging for metals and minerals for cellphones and electric vehicles or coal for power generation, mining around the world has skyrocketed since 2000

https://ictnews.org/news/report-3-5-millions-acres-of-trees-lost-to-mining-over-20-years

It's a Growth Death Cult. It's not even a suicide march anymore. It's now a suicide race. And with AI and the Greed Transition, we're only at the beginning of the mining boom for the precious "green" metals.

With Big Tech, the answer is always MORE

Amazon, Google tap into nuclear power to fuel data centers and AI push
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2024-10-16/amazon-google-tap-into-nuclear-power-to-fuel-data-centers-and-ai-push

Sheer greed. Sheer arrogance. Big Tech will burn our environment to the ground, with their execs planning to hide in their luxury bunkers after they've set the last fire.

AI data centers could be responsible for as much as 17% of all U.S. electricity consumption by 2030

One data center can require 50 times the electricity of a typical office building.

Power consumption from data centers is benefiting coal-fired power plants

https://www.powermag.com/power-demand-from-data-centers-keeping-coal-fired-plants-online/

UK government gets taken over by Big Tech. It's said it was a friendly take-over, as all the tech executives and Labour politicians are best pals.

Keir Starmer tells regulators to chill as Microsoft exec takes wheel of advisory council

What could possibly go wrong?

https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/15/uk_prime_minister_regulators/

“There were no Black people — literally no Black people,” says Timnit Gebru, who was born and raised in Ethiopia. “I would go to academic conferences in AI, and I would see four or five Black people out of five, six, seven thousand people internationally.… I saw who was building the AI systems and their attitudes and their points of view. I saw what they were being used for, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, we have a problem.’”
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/women-warnings-ai-danger-risk-before-chatgpt-1234804367/

@aral That is interesting. That journalist might not have a long career with that publication.

AI tools consume up to 4 times more water than estimated

This discovery raises concerns about the sustainability of data centers as AI continues to expand.

Researchers from the University of California, Riverside found that processing 10 to 50 queries on AI chatbots can consume up to 2 liters of water, far exceeding the earlier estimate of half a liter. The increase is attributed to the intense cooling needs of data centers, where the servers generate significant heat.

https://san.com/cc/ai-tools-consume-up-to-4-times-more-water-than-estimated/

“My own opinion is that we’re not going to hit the climate goals anyway because we are not organized to do it and yes the needs in this area [AI] will be a problem. But I’d rather bet on AI solving the problem than constraining it.”
Eric Schmidt
https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/eric-schmidts-risky-bet-on-ai-and?publication_id=888615&post_id=149849619&isFreemail=true&r=3g47a&triedRedirect=true

This is classic: "we've got to destroy the environment to save it." Or perhaps its: "we're all doomed, so let's have fun and make lots of money on the way down".

Paralyzed Man Unable to Walk After Maker of His Powered Exoskeleton Tells Him It's Now Obsolete

"This is the dystopian nightmare that we've kind of entered in."

https://futurism.com/neoscope/paralyzed-man-exoskeleton-too-old

The right to repair is a human, ecological right. At so many levels, technology is building an environmental crushing, spirit crushing dystopia. All for the insatiable greed of a few tech bros.

Time to challenge the very concept of technological progress and innovation.

The largest known population of night parrots, around 50 birds, is believed to live in a remote Indigenous Protected Area in Western Australia.

A new study suggests the rare parrots may be protected by dingoes.

Change is coming to the region with the first piece of industrial development in the area, a potash mine and 350-kilometre sealed haul road, seeking environmental approval.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2024-09-23/desert-dingoes-night-parrot-population-conservation/104170308

Ultimately, mining kills everything.

Using GPT-4 to generate 100 words consumes up to 3 bottles of water — AI data centers also raise power and water bills for nearby residents.

Net-zero emission goals went out the window with AI.

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/using-gpt-4-to-generate-100-words-consumes-up-to-3-bottles-of-water-ai-data-centers-also-raise-power-and-water-bills-for-nearby-residents

AI is an environmental crime of gigantic proportions. Big Tech are environmental criminals.

Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg and X owner Elon Musk are "the worst polluters in human history", Stephen Fry has said.

"You and your children cannot breathe the air or swim in the waters of our culture without breathing in the toxic particulates and stinking effluvia that belch and pour unchecked from their companies into the currents of our world."

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ceq5q3jlnz3o

Why does tech culture have such nauseating leaders? What is it about technology that brings out the very, very worst humans?

"A report from Morgan Stanley suggests the datacenter industry is on track to emit 2.5 billion tons by 2030, which is three times higher than the predictions if generative AI had not come into play. The extra demand from GenAI will reportedly lead to a rise in emissions from 200 million tons this year to 600 million tons by 2030, thanks largely to the construction of more data centers to keep up with the demand for cloud services."

https://www.techradar.com/pro/generative-ai-triples-the-carbon-dioxide-emissions-from-data-centers

Replika CEO Eugenia Kuyda says it’s okay if we end up marrying AI chatbots. "I mean, it's sick," she said. "Sick in a cool way. Think of all the possibilities for marketing and branding. Our advertisers are so super excited. Imagine having someone you love that is totally controlled by us and we get it to "suggest" you go for weekend to Madrid, because it just loves Madrid, and it does all the booking to save you time, and we get a cut off all that. So super exciting."

https://www.theverge.com/24216748/replika-ceo-eugenia-kuyda-ai-companion-chatbots-dating-friendship-decoder-podcast-interview

People: AI is destroying our environment.

Tech bro: This is an incredible opportunity for innovation in green tech energy!

People: There's no such thing as green tech energy. It all pollutes. It's just a matter of scale

Tech bro: The more energy and water AI consumes the greater the opportunities for tech innovation in energy and water conservation

People: You're not making any sense.

Tech bro: AI is the future. You can't stop progress. Innovation is key to everything.

People: Are you AI?

"The drinking water used in data centers is often treated with chemicals to prevent corrosion and bacterial growth, rendering it unsuitable for human consumption or agricultural use. This means that not only are data centers consuming large quantities of drinking water, but they are also effectively removing it from the local water cycle."

https://utulsa.edu/news/data-centers-draining-resources-in-water-stressed-communities/

"Deforestation at one of Indonesia's largest nickel processing hubs is threatening an Indigenous group that is among the country's last uncontacted tribes, rights groups allege. Nickel is a key component in the batteries of electric vehicles, and Indonesia is both the world's largest producer and home to the biggest known reserves globally."

https://www.voanews.com/a/nickel-hub-apocalyptic-for-uncontacted-indonesia-tribe-say-ngos/7699909.html

The cost of the "Green" Transition is the Genocide of the Indigenous. So has Global North always done.

"At the Berkeley County data center, Google uses a process called "evaporative cooling" to prevent the servers from overheating. As water lowers the temperature of the equipment, which can get very hot, it evaporates. The water leftover goes through the process again, each time a little less efficiently. Eventually, it all evaporates, leaving behind only dissolved solids, such as minerals, metals and salt, which is discharged as waste."

https://www.postandcourier.com/rising-waters/google-water-cooling-data-center-servers/article_405cf9ee-e6c6-11ee-9616-bb4073594830.html