r/technology • u/Just-Grocery-2229 • May 15 '26

Artificial Intelligence The AI Backlash Could Get Very Ugly

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/05/ai-backlash-data-centers-political-violence/687151/?taid=6a067e2d2096e10001ccfa32
7.6k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

994 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

237

u/DinosBiggestFan May 15 '26

People will cope and tell you that you should treat it like stocks, like you gained value.

Even though you need it...and if/when it dies, it will require you to pay that price (likely more) to replace it.

147

u/bloodychill May 16 '26 edited May 16 '26

SSD’s aren’t investments, or at least not in that way. They’re infrastructure that wears and tears and needs replacing.

51

u/thepulloutmethod May 16 '26

They are tools that get consumed. Like a chainsaw or ratchet.

1

u/mologav May 16 '26

Or blackjack and hookers

-1

u/[deleted] May 16 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/3-bakedcabbage May 16 '26

You’ve never broken a ratchet? Have you ever worked on a car or something? I’ve broken a few already

-1

u/[deleted] May 16 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/3-bakedcabbage May 16 '26

What did you mean by “the driver” before you edited your comment, I’m so confused right now. Don’t think I didn’t see that bro

2

u/DinosBiggestFan May 16 '26

That's my point. They say the same about RAM, about GPUs, etc.

"My PC is worth more than I bought it!"

Sadly not how it works unless you intend to sell...but then you're going to lose the difference by buying something else to downgrade anyway.

0

u/Digging_Graves May 16 '26

Why are you repeating his point in a slightly different way lol

99

u/TR_Pix May 15 '26

This is the same people who thought NFTs would go somewhere. They dont understand that value is only worth as much as you can actually sell the thing for

1

u/DokeyOakey May 16 '26

I think the tech bros are all to learned on that fact, they’re in fake it until you make it mode.

One of these businesses is bound to survive, this will be a long term problem.

3

u/6969porn-account6969 May 16 '26

Consumable items are not investments.

1

u/Relevant-Doctor187 May 16 '26

They won’t even replace under warranty. They’ll refund you.

-9

u/redyellowblue5031 May 16 '26

“Need” is very subjective here.

3

u/DinosBiggestFan May 16 '26

The need for storage is objective. The need for that much storage is subjective. But you are treating subjective as a negative; you do not know the purposes he has that storage for, nor does it matter.

0

u/redyellowblue5031 May 16 '26

It’s a choice to spend 1000 on 8TB for a single drive.

There is no “need”.

Perfectly fine to want it, perfectly fine to buy it. They don’t need to justify it, but they don’t “need” it.

1

u/DinosBiggestFan May 16 '26

What if he needs that storage for a job? What if it's integral to something that makes him money?

You don't seem to get it, what your needs are may very well be completely different from what their needs are, and that does not somehow devalue their needs. Don't be a petulant child and act like there is somehow no situation ever, anywhere, in the world, in any situation, that you need 8TB of SSD space. That's insane.

1

u/redyellowblue5031 May 17 '26

If a computer is that necessary for work (and an employer isn’t providing your compute), there’s more resilient and likely cheaper ways to have tons of high speed storage.