[rockskon]

Somehow I don't see arguments comparing powering AI with producing food to go over well with them.

Many opponents to AI do not view the tech as having a net benefit. Comparing it to food production would serve to make you look more the fool to them despite their claims about water consumption frequently being wacky.

[denkmoon]

Like all food production has equal merit. Growing almonds in the desert is national food security obviously.

[phowat]

Since this is HN let's be factually correct. Almond production is irrelevant in water usage. The bulk of it is going to animal agriculture.

[3eb7988a1663]

I am finding that 42% of California water is agriculture and 8% of that is for almonds. 3% of state water usage on a luxury nut might not be moving the needle that much, but it does feel wasteful for a state that is perpetually hovering on drought conditions.

[hvb2]

It's an export product, they produce about 80% of the world almonds.

You grow what fits your climate, almonds grow very well in California.

If you want an egregious example, alfalfa in Arizona, especially when you know it's irrigated by flooding the field

https://apnews.com/article/saudi-arabia-drought-arizona-alfa...

[sitkack]

Much of that water comes out of a collapsing acquifer.

[fakedang]

It's even more wasteful when you realize that the USG is trying to force governments around the world to buy Californian almonds, even in places where almonds are traditionally grown and harvested.

And then there's the matter of Saudis coaxing farmers to grow alfalfa which is then exported to Saudi Arabia to feed cows there (!).

[triceratops]

> even in places where almonds are traditionally grown and harvested.

California grows 80% of the world's almonds. Every other place that grows almonds is practically a rounding error in the number of almonds out there.

[fakedang]

Precisely my point. The US grows an unsustainable amount and then pushes it to places it was grown in traditionally like the Mediterranean, Western Asia and the Middle East.

[recursive]

Plenty of alfalfa and corn aren't going to food production. And much of those the remaining are not efficient.

https://youtu.be/XusyNT_k-1c

[JuniperMesos]

Right; anti-data-center sentiment is really a way of attacking AI as a technology; arguments about the water or power use of data centers are just an excuse.

[rockskon]

Well, to be fair, the public has been going through a multi-year forced beta-test of AI all while CEOs keep going on national television and posting on social media how there will be mass unemployment because of AI. To say nothing of all the companies that have (and soon will) close up shop due to increased prices from the global memory shortage unrelated to the proclaimed job-replacing benefits of AI.

And let's not forget many of the remaining independent websites on the Internet closing up shop due to being unable to afford the substantial increase in hosting costs resulting from aggressive scrapers getting data to keep training AI on.

Or the massive improvement in bots and click-fraud due to AI, pushing an increasing number of companies to embrace heinous practices such as mandatory facial recognition for users to be allowed to engage in socialization.

Or the increased electricity prices already realized around much of the country due to AI both so much of the existing grid's supply and requiring expensive upgrades to the infrastructure - the latter of which is frequently paid for by taxpayers.

All for the wondrous promises of unproven future capabilities.

The real mystery to me is how it's a mystery to so many people why there's a large and enduring anti-AI sentiment.

[analognoise]

Everyone should find a comparison to food - which people need to live - as stupid?