YHK - yet another hacker news clone

This... isn't how capitalism works. If nVidia or whoever sells chips the money doesn't just magically go into strategic infrastructure

And if trends had continued from 1900, our streets would be covered 200 feet high in horse droppings.

If the other front-age article on the Science publication about how human population will have overwhelmed the earth by now isn't enough warning, then I'm old enough to remember how the "Japanese economic miracle" was going to inevitably overwhelm the US.

There is a serious lack of wisdom in lots of these statements.

I like to remind people that multiple mainstream "AI Safety" campaigners have called for first strikes on Chinese data centers:

In a new report titled “Superpowers and AGI,” former Obama-era national security official Jacob Stokes calls for United States to begin preparing readiness drills in response to Chinese AI development — up to and including military strikes on the nation’s data centers, the South China Morning Post reported.

“Data centers can be bombed with conventional munitions,” Stokes writes. (He’s not the first thinker to suggest bombings to stop powerful AI; in 2023, AI critic Eliezer Yudkowsky suggested that countries needed to be ready to “destroy a rogue data center by airstrike.”)

https://futurism.com/science-energy/obama-admin-official-sto...

https://www.cnas.org/publications/reports/superpowers-and-ag...

This is something a capitalism country can't do.

In short we need to build a five grids worth of nuclear power plants as a national security priority, the same way the interstate highway network was, if we want to have any chance of keeping up.

In the mean time we can use gas turbines to make up the short fall for the next five years.

Claims like: "It probably doesn’t work, can you outthink steel and drone production? I don’t see how, see my critiques here. But I’m not totally sure, I’m not a superintelligence. And if it does work, that may be the end"

"Whatever capabilities you have today will eventually be matched, unless… you believe that you can use ASI in a decapitating first strike."

"My likelihood of imminent WWIII went up a lot with the nationalization of NVIDIA."

Who is this guy? The head of another AI driving company? Yet he feels qualified to make wargaming predictions between nation states and somehow end up on the front page with a few substanceless paragraphs and one graph. Wow. Is this pay to win? I know I am being critical and I apologize but come on, we can do so much better as a community and as a culture.

EDIT: this had no comments or upvotes really when I posted this

But literally this is all it is:

"Internalize this graph, we post it on this blog a lot. If trends continue, China will have 10x the electricity of the US in 10 years. Whenever you think about geopolitical strategy, always keep it in mind, because whatever your plans are must consider this.

Here’s a strategy that would make sense for America long term. Sell as many AI chips into China as possible, use the money to purchase solar panel and battery factories, and build out electricity capacity as quickly as possible. Fundamentally, compute is a function of electricity. That’s the sort of long term thinking that gives America a chance. With robotic labor, immigrants like Jensen and Elon, a business friendly culture, and an incredible chunk of land, it’s not so clear who is ahead in 50 years. Regardless, I do know this strategy would lead to massive prosperity for the citizens of both countries.

However, that’s not close to what we see happening. We see a lot of short term zero sum thinking in action. It’s very scary what the US “AI race” mentality leads to. When exactly does the race end? Whatever capabilities you have today will eventually be matched, unless…

…you believe that you can use ASI in a decapitating first strike.

I’m worried that this is what these people see as the only way out.

It probably doesn’t work, can you outthink steel and drone production? I don’t see how, see my critiques here. But I’m not totally sure, I’m not a superintelligence. And if it does work, that may be the end.

My likelihood of imminent WWIII went up a lot with the nationalization of NVIDIA."

You don't need the AI chips money to fund solar expansion. Solar panels are already tariffed exuberantly. Removing that tariff, solar expansion will not be faster at all, because there will be another random political faction coming out to eat the profit.

This country inherited a honorable tradition that is no longer fitting in this highly connected world. And few people are educated to objectively acknowledge that.

And I don't get his link to the X post that he's labeled "nationalizing nvidia"; what he links to is... not that.

I agree in general that the US is completely mismanaging the adversarial relationship with China, but this post reads like a conspiracy theorist fever dream.