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by matheusmoreira 40 days ago
Current prices are insane but at this point I'm starting to feel like it's an existential issue. I'm not a US citizen. At any point the USA could come up with some arbitrary export controls. Not having a computer capable of running at least Qwen is starting to actually seem risky to me.

At least it's going to be usable as a very high end gaming PC.
2 comments
alfiedotwtf 40 days ago
> At any point the USA could come up with some arbitrary export controls

lol his already happened with Fable!

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awakeasleep 40 days ago
Why would you buy and build everything before the low probability catastrophe strikes, though? You don’t get any benefit from switching early and you pay a big opportunity cost.
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Lapel2742 40 days ago
> low probability catastrophe

There is also a low probability that someone enters peace negotiations solely to threaten the negotiators with death, yet here we are. With these guys it is: Better safe than sorry.

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inigyou 40 days ago
because as soon as it strikes computer hardware will be completely unavailable to buy?
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CamperBob2 40 days ago
Also, there's a nontrivial learning curve involved in running your own inference server, once you move past the casual-goofing-around-with-llama-server stage. If you care about not being a sharecropper on Sam's or Dario's plantation, you should consider learning the ropes. Even if you don't put these skills to immediate use in your day job.

I didn't appreciate this until I started down that road myself.

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matheusmoreira 40 days ago
> If you care about not being a sharecropper on Sam's or Dario's plantation

Couldn't have put it better myself. That's what all this comes down to. Owning the hardware, owning the inference. Not perpetually renting them out on a meter like in the dystopian future they're envisioning.

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inigyou 40 days ago
You also have the option to not use AI
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matheusmoreira 40 days ago
Yeah but the truth is I don't want to go back to the pre-LLM world. I've been programming alone for over ten years. Having a coding buddy to talk to, collaborate with or just bounce ideas off of quite literally changed my life. I don't want to go back to solo programming, and my projects aren't exactly swimming in a sea of active contributors.
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CamperBob2 40 days ago
Not in the future, not if you want to get paid.
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OtomotO 40 days ago
Because you will not be the only one struggling to get the hardware in the "unlikely" case the POTUS blurts out another fart.
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