3 ms·
Right, I think a data center produces a heck of a lot more economic and human value in a year - for a lot more people - than the same amount of water used for f
by simonw 1y ago
Right, I think a data center produces a heck of a lot more economic and human value in a year - for a lot more people - than the same amount of water used for farming or golf.
- notahacker 1y agoyou can make a strong argument for the greater necessity of farming for survival, but not for golf...
- kjkjadksj 1y agoGod forbid the public has an amenity.
- idiotsecant 1y agoI mean... Food is pretty important ...
- simonw 1y agoWhich is why the comparison in the amount of water usage matters. Data centers in the USA use less than a fraction of a percent of the water that's used for agriculture. I'll start worrying about competition with water for food production when that value goes up by a multiple of about 1000.
- wongarsu 1y agoCorn, potatoes and wheat are important maybe even oranges, but we could live with a lot less alfalfa and almonds. Also a lot less meat in general. A huge part of our agriculture is feed to feed our food. We need some meat, but the current amount is excessive
- plufz 1y ago> Corn, potatoes and wheat are important maybe even oranges, but we could live with a lot less alfalfa and almonds. Both alfalfa and almonds contain a lot of nutrients you dont find in large enough amounts (or at all) in corn and potatoes though. And alfalfa improves the soil but fixating nitrogen. Sure almonds require large amounts of water. Maybe alfalfa does as well? And of course it depends on if they are grown for human consumption or animal.
- roywiggins 1y agoThe water intensity of American food production would be substantially less if we gave up on frivolous things like beef, which requires water vastly out of proportion to its utility. If the water numbers for datacenters seem scary then the water use numbers for the average American's beef consumption is apocalyptic.
- gishh 1y agoI appreciate that you feel this way, it’ll never happen. The US will never give up on eating meat. Full stop. For every vegan/vegetarian in the US there are probably 25 people that feed beef products to their pets on a daily basis.
- lynndotpy 1y agoWhile I agree, the "meat is not sustainable" argument is literal, and evidenced in beef prices rising as beef consumption lowers over the past years. Beef is moving along the spectrum from having had been a "staple" to increasingly being a luxury. The US never gave up eating lobster either, but many here have never had lobster and almost nobody has lobster even once a week. It's a luxury which used to be a staple.
- ben_w 1y agoBeef is not the only meat. Chicken is much less water intensive.
- BeFlatXIII 1y agoFrom the animal welfare perspective, there's much more suffering involved in producing a pound of chicken than a pound of beef.
- ben_w 1y agoThat depends how sentient a chicken is: their brains are of similar complexity to the larger of these models, counting params as synapses. Also, while I'm vegetarian going on vegan, welfare arguments are obviously not relevant in response to an assertation that Americans aren't going to give up meat, because if animal welfare was relevant then Americans would give up meat.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]