How much energy is spent on cat videos and other silliness?

Author: iairishcheeks (30340 Posts - Original UHND Member)

Posted at 4:56 pm on Aug 21, 2026

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AI at least has some utilitarian value. How much energy do we spend on entertainment? How much energy do we waste out of convenience, laziness or apathy? We should be advancing nuclear power in parallel and this criticism goes away.

Interesting stat I heard about the water usage, one of the viral criticisms lately, all of the data centers in the US use less than 3% of the water that all of the golf courses use. Yet I've never heard anyone argue we shouldn't be putting golf courses in the desert because of the water usage.

Replies to: “How much energy is spent on cat videos and other silliness?”

The real problem with data centers: Their buildout costs are driving up interest rates. [LINK] - Curly1918 - 1:11pm 8/20/26 (23) [View All]
- Socialized risk & cost with privatized gain. Pass. [NT] - LanceManion - 12:56pm 8/21/26
- I think the proper way to think about data centers is like utilities or infrastructure. [NT] - iairishcheeks - 7:38pm 8/20/26
  - I think the proper way to think about data centers is how much useful AI we can make per $, per kwh - Eli - 3:36am 8/21/26
    - How much energy is spent on cat videos and other silliness? - iairishcheeks - 4:56pm 8/21/26
- Chinese don’t have this issue. China and U.S. have different routes in developing AI. - Eli - 7:02pm 8/20/26
- And the burgeoning use of Credit Default Swaps by Hedge Funds isn't music to the ears of "Free Cash - TyroneIrish - 6:54pm 8/20/26
  - Just as with all the subprime mortgages at the time of the 2008 crash, there shall be serious losers - Curly1918 - 8:15pm 8/20/26
    - And most egregious are those who seek $1.5T Defense Expenditures, while giving Tax Breaks to those - TyroneIrish - 8:50pm 8/20/26
- Good grief - stop already - Nigel Tufnel - 5:54pm 8/20/26
  - I tend to agree. I also look at who is against data centers - that always help clarify things when - BaronVonZemo - 9:35pm 8/20/26
  - I'm still trying to figure out the fear of datacenters. - NedoftheHill - 7:37pm 8/20/26
    - So, data centers = AI. - iairishcheeks - 1:30am 8/21/26
      - So, stopping AI is as simple as stopping data centers. Good to know. [NT] - NedoftheHill - 4:39am 8/21/26
        
        Obviously, AI runs on computers. [NT] - iairishcheeks - 4:59pm 8/21/26
    - The objections are rooted in the distain that datacenter builders have for local communities...odd - TyroneIrish - 9:04pm 8/20/26
      - I know exactly who you mean [NT] [LINK] - Curly1918 - 10:07am 8/21/26
    - There are Luddites in every generation. The bigger problem is that so many do not fear debt. - Curly1918 - 8:06pm 8/20/26
      - Yes. And anyone who looks at the issue knows we can only reduce debt by inflating the dollar. - NedoftheHill - 8:38pm 8/20/26
        
        Without AI I think we'd be in a recession or perhaps a depression. - iairishcheeks - 1:32am 8/21/26
        
        At least as the stock market measures those things. [NT] - NedoftheHill - 1:25pm 8/21/26
  - A mere $1.4 Trillion... can't possible impact credit markets. Right? [LINK] - Curly1918 - 6:18pm 8/20/26
    - That's a bit misleading - Nigel Tufnel - 11:02pm 8/20/26
      - Long term I totally agree. [LINK] - Curly1918 - 2:26pm 8/21/26

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