I believe we have it in us but this Democratic Party is a finely oiled machine designed to blunt our progress, not lead it. Goddamn Biden said in the beginning that he wouldn’t seek reelection and he should have stuck to that. Now he’s in danger of actually losing to Shitstain L’Orange.

What you said is true and in addition to that we should consider that the responsible thing to do in the face of fascism is raise the alarm. Not crying panic over far right politicians and their nightmare policy fantasies would just normalize them and help bring those nightmares about.

So while there is a fairly typical “follow the money” argument to be made here, alarmism over fascist ideologies is also just good activism and responsible citizenry.

No, you’re reaching for that word to try to categorically dismiss an argument you have no response to.

Good point. This is often true. I was thinking of early computers with the big tape reels, which definitely didn’t look interesting, but there are other examples like the one you showed.

I believe you may have misread your own source.

For example, the world’s fastest supercomputer, Frontier, draws 8 megawatts when it idles — a quantity that could simultaneously power thousands of homes

If this was the basis for your saying this…

several hundred supercomputer megaclusters and sucks more power than a thousand suburbs.

… then you misread AND misstated.

Misread: this “thousands of homes” energy use was in reference to Frontier, which is not a quantum computer but based on more conventional architecture, the kind the article goes on to say might eventually be improved upon by quantum computing. Eg:

Consequently, experts are looking to new strategies that can rein in energy use while continuing to improve computing performance. One proposed solution: quantum computing.

Misstated: “thousands of homes” != “thousands of suburbs.”

A suburb is not a home but a a collection of homes, a region of a city even. See definition:

an outlying part of a city or town. b. : a smaller community adjacent to or within commuting distance of a city. c. suburbs plural : the residential area on the outskirts of a city or large town.

So in your zeal to make your point you demonized quantum computers, which could be a solution to the problem you’re ostensibly so concerned about, and in the process you misstated a metric by at least one order of magnitude.

So yeah… I don’t know what to tell you. You really messed up here. Your problem is with LLMs and big compute, not necessarily quantum computers.

Yeah that sounds about right.

I don’t believe fireworks should be retailed to the public in any form. They’re a very different story from an aeriel display put on by professionals.

We can come up with that laundry list of environmental impacts for a lot of things. Should we start with the electronic device you used to type your comment?

If you’re thinking to argue that your phone is essential while fireworks are mere entertainment, all I can say to you is “bread and roses.”

Fireworks are a celebration of peace. They’re made from the same ingredients as bullets but they make something beautiful instead of death. I’ve always found this a profoundly meaningful thing.

All job posting overstate the requirements somewhat. It makes sense to start with the ideal vision of what you want and then work backwards from the applicants you get. I know a big puffed up job description is daunting and we think they won’t talk to anyone who is not perfect. But they will talk to lots of people. They will let go of some requirements they thought they cared about, and find some new qualities in someone that they didn’t think to ask for. This is how it works 100% of the time.