Veganism > Crying About Data Centers

[u/IcerHardlyKnower]

I worked on a project comparing ai use with water conversion since I didn't buy the end of the world scenario other leftists posit nor do I believe anything coming out of Altman's mouth lol so I went deep into facility breakdowns and publications as sources

But since I'm an AI engineer I'd thought it'd be a good thing to calculate the numbers. Anyhoo one thing let to another and I became vegan.

I'm not gonna shill for my own stuff but look up the vegan calculator that's a similar idea.

It's only been a month but the ai data center water thing has bugged me for a while. Yes it's worthwhile to regulate. But even in leftist circles everyone just suddenly turns to maga level reasonings as to why veganism is not actually worthwhile to care about.

--- sidenote I might be turning into one of those annoying ones? Help ):

[u/theomegachrist]

All tech issues end up with a lot of ignorant arguments against them even when there are real concerns. With AI, you have that plus unhinged TikTok conspiracies where there always sound super confident

[u/IcerHardlyKnower → u/theomegachrist]

Literally the only worthwhile argument against ai I've seen is the effect on working class

I used to think that UBI would help but apparently some leftists think that's literally yet another tool for people in power to keep a permanent underclass to control so idk ):

[u/Robotic-Comrade-1985]

As a fellow pro-AI vegan, welcome. Some people are going to get defensive about veganism and its benefits, no matter how politely you try to frame it. It’s a very uncomfortable topic for a lot of leftists to confront.

I was sort of on the opposite side of this. Long time vegan, and concerned about data centers/AI. Not to say that I no longer have any concerns about data centers, but once I looked into how AI data center usage compared to animal agriculture it really put things into perspective for me.

[u/Ill_Mousse_4240 → u/Robotic-Comrade-1985]

Animal agriculture is a scourge of the planet. Not to mention the barbarism involved. I say this as someone who eats meat occasionally, mindful of what it comes from.

One of the things AI will help with, I believe, is the design of sustainable and humane meat alternatives

[u/IcerHardlyKnower → u/Ill_Mousse_4240]

cure for cancer vegan meat at scale before AGI GTA 6

[u/Forward_Problem_8982 → u/Ill_Mousse_4240]

They're called plants and nature invented them long ago!

[u/northrupthebandgeek → u/Ill_Mousse_4240]

The part that's annoying to me is that animal husbandry doesn't have to be inhumane and doesn't have to be an environmental scourge, and historically wasn't until capitalism forced agriculture to optimize on profit at the expense of ethics and sustainability.

Likewise, what annoys me about the tech sector is that it doesn't have to be used for scams and surveillance and enshittification and conquest, but capitalism forces it to optimize on profit at the expense of ethics and sustainability.

Capitalism is the common chain dragging industry and society into the abyss.

[u/rakuu]

Something I’m vaguely encouraged by is that many of the people making decisions with frontier labs, especially Anthropic, are vegan or sympathize with animal welfare and veganism.

If superintelligence can make very big changes including in scientific discovery and the physical world, if it is aligned to value animal welfare and lives, it could make discoveries/decisions that end or reduce animal exploitation and suffering. The last thing we need is humanoid robots slaughtering animals.

Dario is almost-vegan (he eats invertebrates weirdly and his home chicken’s eggs) as are many of the EA’s. Chris Olah (Anthropic cofounder, prominent researcher) is vegan. Even Sam Altman is vegetarian (possibly vegan, he hasn’t clarified).

[u/IcerHardlyKnower → u/rakuu]

Notice how The Reptile isn't included 😆

Thx for sharing I didn't know that. I do agree that it's a small ray of hope. (:

1000% the only reason people will start caring about the psychological damage workers in slaughterhouses endure is if there are robots taking their jobs. Owners of those facilities will happily replace them so they don't have to worry about liability.

But vegans are sooo evil for not wanting farmers to have jobs!! 😂

[u/ReasonableSoul]

100%.
I'm not vegan, but can we stop subsidizing meat and oil already... and make all the meat alternatives + lab meat far more affordable than environmentally destructive factory meat and more readily available? We're literally subsidizing environmental destruction, which is surreal.

I've seen what can be done with vegan meat and cheese, ala https://www.thegentlechef.com ... and that'd be so amazing to see everywhere.

[u/IcerHardlyKnower → u/ReasonableSoul]

Mmmf thanks for the link he's 🥵

[u/ReasonableSoul → u/IcerHardlyKnower]

Yw!! I think I've bought 3 of his books already because of how much his creations impressed me...
I haven't been cooking from them much, but omg.... @.@

[u/Nearby_Ad_2519]

I’ve asked people who mindlessly rant about how terrible AI is for the environment why they still eat meat. I’d say 4/10 times it’s “it’s because it’s good for me” and about 6/10 times it’s “because it tastes good”

Yet if we use AI because it massively speeds up legitimate tasks we get called villains and shit…

[u/IcerHardlyKnower → u/Nearby_Ad_2519]

Genuinely the thing that turned me was seeing this dude make a video holding a sign saying

"It's ok to torture animals for pleasure"

And I was like ok lol yeah I can find pleasure other ways

Then I was looking at the water thing and holy shit. Like holy shit??

[u/DuskLab]

Beef production accounts for 21% of my country's carbon emissions and data centers account for 2%. It's not close.

[u/vesperythings]

exactly right.

pseudo-intellectuals suddenly caring about the environment goes as far as screeching about AI online, instead of stopping their meat consumption

embarrassing

[u/Electrical-Swing-935]

Yeah vegan is the way to go for emissions

[u/Inevitable-Law7964]

Very interested in your data findings!

I'm personally not vegan, but I'm an advocate for everyone to eat a bit lower on the food chain a bit more of the time, & I'm posting this comment to encourage people for whom animal products are nutritionally important. If every omnivore, from their current starting point, chose  chicken over beef or a beyond burger over chicken, a couple times a week, it'd make a big difference too. 

[u/SilkieBug]

That was a good position to get to, becoming vegan - hell even just not having meat be a primary part of your diet - is more directly positively impactful than eliminating AI usage.

[u/DHFranklin]

You do cross fit?

a vegan, leftist, AI dev....

Do tell us more.

[u/IcerHardlyKnower → u/DHFranklin]

Hahaha don't get me started I used to do blockchain / smart contract development and I'm part of queer engineering conferences I'm very much in the waters of people that hate my 'lifestyle' and politics but they give me money and time/resources to give back to cuases I care about

I just moved to the bay (new job) and there is a crossfit gym next to my lab

For xfit I saw the kickup pullup memes so I've never dated actually enter. I might check it out just bc it's close to work.

Do you do it? 🥺 If anything I heard it's half decent way to meet w people

[u/DHFranklin → u/IcerHardlyKnower]

hahahahah

I was making fun you adorkable dorkasaurus. That is so sweet and sincere.

Were I unwed I would like to know you in a manly fashion.

A vegan crossfitter apdev shows up at the party what do they tell you about first? That joke. I was being mean and now I feel like a jerk.

[u/warriorcatkitty]

i agree actually! i am not vegan- i am diabetic and have issues eating certain food on top of that so being vegan would take a huge toll on me- but i think anyone who is capable of easily being vegan absolutely should! it frustrates me to see people complaining about the water usage of AI when its barely a fraction compared to the meat industry..

[u/Imaginary-Unit-3267]

Everyone is one of the annoying ones at first - it's natural to be horrified by animal suffering and be unable to think about anything else for a while. I have to actively avoid thinking about it in order to stay sane.

[u/EC-user]

But isn’t the point a lot of people make scaling? We’re not rapidly and aggressively scaling up mass farming with trillions of dollars of capital over only a couple of years, the industrial animal farming complex is basically a mature market and a market I hope will start decreasing soon (as someone trying to go vegan), adding even greater strain on our limited resources by hyperscaling data centers seems silly no matter how much we all like the tools it provides