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I really doubt your veracity about this. It’s literally illegal for billionaires to geoengineer the Earth to stop global warming (at least in several states). D
by Robotbeat 5mo ago
I really doubt your veracity about this. It’s literally illegal for billionaires to geoengineer the Earth to stop global warming (at least in several states). Doubtless you would also object to that as well. In which case it’s not actually about solving Earth’s problems but about not liking those who are doing it.
- dboreham 5mo agoBut it is legal for them to fund politicians who believe greenhouse gasses should be limited. Strangely they don't do that, mostly.
- teachrdan 5mo agoBillionaires could trivially fund uncontroversial projects like planting trees or solar electrification, especially in the developing world, both of which would help stop global warming. But I'm not holding my breath waiting for Elon or Larry to start doing either of those things, or anything else that would actually help mitigate or reverse climate change.
- WalterBright 5mo agoThere are a lot of complaints about the environmental consequences of data centers. Musk is investing heavily in putting data centers in space.
- brendoelfrendo 5mo agoWhich is, it should be said, also a dumb idea and a waste of money.
- WalterBright 5mo agoWhich has also been said for every one of his enormously successful businesses.
- teachrdan 5mo agoMusk could spend 10 or even 100 billion on more down to Earth efforts without affecting his quality of life in the slightest. Instead he's promoting a self-serving idea, one that relies entirely on his own rocket-company infrastructure. Putting data centers in space is also a dumb idea due to the difficulty of dissipating heat, solar radiation, maintenance challenges and more.
- Robotbeat 5mo agoI don’t understand this. Elon thought of a way to virtually eliminate the land, heat, water, and energy impacts of datacenters, and because it makes his companies money instead of being non-profit, this is bad? Maybe I do get it. It’s not about the actual impact. It’s entirely about performing. Profit (which is literally just a measure of whether the return on something is greater than the inputs) is somehow evil, but losing money on something (ie it costs more in inputs than its outputs) is good.
- brendoelfrendo 5mo ago> Elon thought of a way to virtually eliminate the land, heat, water, and energy impacts of datacenters He has yet to do any of this. He had an idea that plenty of others have had, and have mostly dismissed due to concerns with feasibility. Granted, orbital DCs could one day be feasible with enough investment; I will not pretend that it is impossible. But for him to pretend that it is a solution for today's problems is at best the folly of a wealthy idiot and at worst a cynical attempt to juice the value of SpaceX before its IPO.
- WalterBright 5mo agoElon has been called an idiot for every single one of his ventures. Again and again and again. Maybe he'll fail this time. Maybe he'll figure it out. But I like the fact that he is trying rather than spending his money on mansions and yachts.
- brendoelfrendo 5mo ago
- Robotbeat 5mo agoYes, Elon Musk, famous for not being interested in solar electrification projects.
- rapnie 5mo agoYes, I don't care about these selfish sociopath billionaires, and certainly wouldn't want them to geoengineer Earth. Perhaps pay their due tax to society would be a better idea. Fixing Earth might include having a system where people don't get to be billionaires and soon trillionaires that dominate the planet.