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I never saw anyone on HN bemoan the “environmental damage” of data centers until LLMs started popping up. As if all other software and internet tech is necessar

I never saw anyone on HN bemoan the “environmental damage” of data centers until LLMs started popping up. As if all other software and internet tech is necessary and “worth it”?

consteval 2y ago
They did, with crypto. The environmental cost of, like, a website is minuscule in comparison.
- brulard 2y ago
  Yes, and they found ways to avoid 99.99% of power consumptions by moving away from proof of work, which most of the blockchains use today. But the hate remained.
  - consteval 2y ago
    Well the hate is now mostly because it’s used as a speculative security to run scams.
myaccountonhn 2y ago
The energy usage is massive though, and we definitely should be asking ourselves if other solutions from cloud, crypto, streaming etc are worth expanding. The industry’s environmental footprint is on par with aviation, and with AI we’re set to increase our emissions massively when we should be decreasing them.