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We should be building Fabs in California, Cars in California, getting the smartest people in the world here, in solid numbers. Perhaps we’re in a global competi
by ibains 5y ago
We should be building Fabs in California, Cars in California, getting the smartest people in the world here, in solid numbers. Perhaps we’re in a global competition and we’ll not be the largest economy soon, perhaps we’re too busy with pronouns to notice.
People pattern-matched that the house prices always went up, assumed it was an axiom, and that drove us into a recession. Gavin Newsom will observe that California always grows and people have been talking of leaving the state for years, they never do - axiom. Basically, physics (cause-effect) stops mattering if you pattern match history.
Biggest threat to California is being taken over by the employee-bureaucracy class - that never has built anything. It is in their nature to pattern match so de effects of actions and treat them as axioms, and they miss the big picture, and they’re consistent as hell in it. And they vote very left.
- CameronNemo 5y agoDon't fabs require tons of water?
- markdown 5y agoBarely any compared to an orchard.
- ericbarrett 5y ago1.1 gallons (~4 L) per almond.
- WarOnPrivacy 5y agoCould be worse. Could be cows. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2015-04-13/cows-suck-up-more-of-california-s-water-than-almonds https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2015-04-13/cows-s...
- bcrosby95 5y agoYeah, I've always loved how almonds get a bad deal on the news, but they rarely mention meat.
- TeeMassive 5y ago90% of cattle water consumption comes directly from feed and feed is often made of leftover vegetable matter that would have been wasted otherwise or land that can't be harvested anyway: https://youtu.be/sGG-A80Tl5g?list=FLdQM1Kvo9co3TogR2c-WAPw&t=176 https://youtu.be/sGG-A80Tl5g?list=FLdQM1Kvo9co3TogR2c-WAPw&t...
- CameronNemo 5y agoThat sounds like a deflection. Besides, orchards can't grow in just any soil. What about fabs? Why is California an ideal location?
- epistasis 5y agoThe funny thing is that Silicon Valley was literally built on top of orchards, and in the process created several Superfund sites that have made the soil unsuitable for orchards. And then paved it all over with the awful suburban sprawl of 1970s planning that has created little opportunity for more environmentally friendly non-car-based development, despite being one of the best places in the world to not be in a car and instead be out walking or biking. I can't come to any conclusions, I'm just struck by the irony of it all.
- aspaceman 5y agoWhy does California have to be ideal to build a fab? A fab in California seems like one of the most worthwhile public works projects I’ve heard of in awhile.
- CameronNemo 5y agoMore worthwhile than an expanded subway system in LA? Or a light rail in San Diego? Or an offshore wind farm? Or desalination plants? Or energy storage for the electric grid?
- manigandham 5y agoCA is next to the ocean with plenty of solar power potential. Fab water can also be recycled with some effort.
- CameronNemo 5y agoWhen we have >90% renewable energy, or maybe lots of peaking solar that goes unused, and desal plants driven by that renewable energy, I will happily support incentivizing chip fabrication. But until then I have other priorities.
- JPKab 5y agoIt seems like Silicon Valley, as it's increasingly moved towards being dominated by a few giants, has increasingly been dominated by the employee bureaucracy class that you describe. Instead of companies filled with risk takers working for crazy founders, now it's just the path followers playing it safe, checking off the boxes to go get the guaranteed money and not that much work at the FAANGS.