3 ms·

I remember this comic about Energy Slaves: https://www.stuartmcmillen.com/comic/energy-slaves/ https://www.stuartmcmillen.com/comic/energy-slaves/ https://en.w

I remember this comic about Energy Slaves: https://www.stuartmcmillen.com/comic/energy-slaves/ https://www.stuartmcmillen.com/comic/energy-slaves/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_slave https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_slave

andai 3mo ago
It's funny, I had a similar experience taking a nap in the office. I listen to the home of the spinny hard drives all around me, and suddenly my mind zoomed out, and I became aware of how many computers there were around me, and try to imagine how many there were in a 10-mile radius. That radius kept expanding and I became painfully aware that most of them were just sitting there, not doing anything useful at all. Not a very original idea — I was familiar with SETI@Home — but it was weird to me how little it had caught on. Most computers are just spinning their wheels most of the time. That's a lot of power just sitting there.
- dmd 3mo ago
  Most of them these days are smart enough to NOT spin their wheels when idle.
  - schiffern 3mo ago
    It's still a big waste of compute power. Most of the lifecycle emissions come from manufacturing, not electricity.
  - andai 3mo ago
    Well I was thinking mostly of the CPUs. They're just sitting there. It's a waste of power sure, but more importantly it's a waste of a massive amount of useful computation that could have been happening.
    - dmd 3mo ago
      That's what the AIs are going to say when they harvest the whole world to make more AIs.
CGMthrowaway 3mo ago
The comic doesn't answer the question "how many energy slaves is 100 horsepower?" but based on the assumptions therein, the answer is 4,706 energy slaves.
stephen_cagle 3mo ago
The book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Windup_Girl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Windup_Girl was partially about the idea of a post oil world. I remember there being mastodons they were using to wind springs and guns that had no explosive charge but instead had kinetic stored energy. Kind of like the energy slave idea.

andai 3mo ago

It's funny, I had a similar experience taking a nap in the office. I listen to the home of the spinny hard drives all around me, and suddenly my mind zoomed out, and I became aware of how many computers there were around me, and try to imagine how many there were in a 10-mile radius. That radius kept expanding and I became painfully aware that most of them were just sitting there, not doing anything useful at all. Not a very original idea — I was familiar with SETI@Home — but it was weird to me how little it had caught on. Most computers are just spinning their wheels most of the time. That's a lot of power just sitting there.

dmd 3mo ago
Most of them these days are smart enough to NOT spin their wheels when idle.
- schiffern 3mo ago
  It's still a big waste of compute power. Most of the lifecycle emissions come from manufacturing, not electricity.
- andai 3mo ago
  Well I was thinking mostly of the CPUs. They're just sitting there. It's a waste of power sure, but more importantly it's a waste of a massive amount of useful computation that could have been happening.
  - dmd 3mo ago
    That's what the AIs are going to say when they harvest the whole world to make more AIs.

CGMthrowaway 3mo ago

The comic doesn't answer the question "how many energy slaves is 100 horsepower?" but based on the assumptions therein, the answer is 4,706 energy slaves.

stephen_cagle 3mo ago

The book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Windup_Girl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Windup_Girl was partially about the idea of a post oil world. I remember there being mastodons they were using to wind springs and guns that had no explosive charge but instead had kinetic stored energy. Kind of like the energy slave idea.