Interesting Links for 05-11-2024

[andrewducker]

1. Silicon Valley and Wall Street invent collateralized GPU obligations. Surely this will work out fine?

(tags:economics technology ai doom )

2. Is it not enough to simply have a hundred anuses? Must you also use them?

(tags:animals food bodies weird viaSwampers )

3. Brain atrophy in later life linked to bad quality sleep. (Sleeping less isn't the issue, sleeping badly is)

(tags:sleep brain health )

4. Blood Sugar Control is a Key Factor in Slowing Brain Aging

(tags:sugar brain aging )

5. UK's Green energy plan needs 600 miles of power lines

(tags:uk electricity infrastructure )

6. Center Parcs plans first Scottish holiday village near Hawick

(tags:scotland holidays )

Comments

[hilarita]

1. Er, surely these will depreciate at rates hitherto unknown to accountants?
5. Hopefully we can sort out Nimbyism, and also the battery backup we need (and the software to run it well), because dammit we need this stuff.

[andrewducker]

1. Yes.

2. Absolutely. I'm glad Labour are taking it seriously.

[bens_dad]

Er, surely these will depreciate at rates hitherto unknown to accountants?

If the lenders have the contract right, the first round of depreciation will be offset by the new GPUs.
Beyond that, as long as the capital repayment balances the depreciation the risk is covered. Hire-purchase lenders will know how to account for that.

As long as the market for GPU time remains buoyant, the depreciation can be handled by accountancy.
As long as the market for GPU time remains buoyant !

[hilarita]

Mm. I have to say that I personally would not bet the farm on it, but then perhaps I'm being optimistic about how long it will take for the current Generative AI hype to die down. But then if it does, there are plenty of scientists who'd like some more GPUs For Science!, if only they were a trifle more affordable.

[andrewducker]

There are already lots of questions over how much people will actually pay for ChatGPT. Nobody is making a profit except for GPU suppliers like NVidia at the moment (and people who own companies which have massive valuations despite not making any profit).

3 Brain Atrophy

[agoodwinsmith]

I will be interested to learn whether the causal arrow goes from damaged brain to bad sleep, or bad sleep to damaged brain. My suspicion is that at least some poor sleep results from a poor brain trying to do work it no longer has all the tools to accomplish.

Also: have you been to a medical professional for assistance with poor sleep? The writers of the article have a very innocent view of "getting assistance for poor sleep".

Re: 3 Brain Atrophy

[channelpenguin]

I'm betting on even more possible indirection with this. E.g. Some medical issues causing both bad sleep AND brain issues along with whatever other health issues the conditions/illnesses cause.

3. Brain atrophy in later life linked to bad quality sleep

[anef]

As if I wasn't worried enough about my poor sleeping patterns!