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by chriswarbo 1424 days ago
> So perhaps we also should look at stopping running broken machine learning / deep learning models continuously on many data centers for 10+ years which that is also incinerating the planet.

That's Whataboutism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

2 comments

That's a Nonargument https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nonargument .

Giving examples of technologies that can also be considered "a waste of energy" is a valid argument. Why is using energy playing graphics intensive games with high-end graphics cards not considered a "waste of energy"? It's a value judgment that lacks perspective. Dismissing some technology for its energy usage without providing a better alternative with similar or better properties is nescient.

Some people at least try to provide "alternatives", but they don't have better properties or completely ignore what the technology was even trying to accomplish.

Just tax everything the amount it costs to clean up the pollution it causes, then you can do whatever you want without a problem
How do you calculate that price? How would you enforce it globally?
No it isn't. I already agreed that PoW is burning up the planet especially with the uselessness of blockchains like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Dogecoin, that don't improve on the current system when used and thus have no use case. So that isn't 'whataboutism'.

Nice try though.