Bernie Sanders has a plan to stop the AI industry

[swka]

Looks like there are progress on that front. Hope cooler heads will survive

Bernie Sanders has a plan to stop the AI industry

But it will be hard to assemble a broad coalition of AI skeptics.

www.understandingai.org

 

[blueone]

Looks like there are progress on that front. Hope cooler heads will survive

Bernie Sanders has a plan to stop the AI industry

But it will be hard to assemble a broad coalition of AI skeptics.

www.understandingai.org

Sanders is an idiot.

 

[Brady]

Sanders is no idiot, but he is acting as a politician here. There’s real fear and anger at AI’s impact on the job market, the environment, on people’s energy prices, and this is a politician’s take on showing people he’s being tough on it.

This forum is an echo chamber of smart people who work in industry. There’s bias, there’s vested interest. Don’t forget it’s a very small minority compared to the general populace.

Maybe we can have a better discussion on this topic than something as trite as “he’s an idiot”, so let me start:

How does a country like the USA, during a foreign war that is spiking energy prices, continue to drive many GW of power into data centers in order for the industry to compete on the global stage (against primarily China) when we don’t have the money or the time to spin up the necessary power and water to run them? Do we just let Musk build and operate unregulated methane generators 24/7 and figure it out later like he’s doing for xAI’s Colossus DC?

I’d rather we have better infrastructure discussions than just halting construction as proposed, but this stuff has serious negative impacts on the country. It’s a rational discussion to be had if we don’t be intellectually lazy about it.

 

[blueone]

Sanders is no idiot, but he is acting as a politician here. There’s real fear and anger at AI’s impact on the job market, the environment, on people’s energy prices, and this is a politician’s take on showing people he’s being tough on it.

I stand by my comment. Sanders is an avowed socialist who advocates socialism as a better economic system than capitalism, and writes books about it. That's how he made his modest millions. (Not corruption, as some other idiots contend.) Sanders is in favor of wealth taxes for those wealthier than himself, and taxing unrealized capital gains (though other than his three homes, he claims not to hold equity assets). Taxing unrealized gains has got to be the worst economic policy ever conceived in the US, and he strongly favors it.

Sanders demonizes US billionaires, some which of which are the most productive and innovative individuals in the history of the world, and create millions of jobs and trillions in wealth. For example, the last statistic I've seen is that 50% of Nvidia's employees have a net worth of over $25 million.

Nvidia Is Producing 'Unprecedented Wealth' For Its Employees, Nearly 80% Are Already Millionaires: Report

As Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) continues to dominate the AI race and stock market, a new report says that the wealth created inside the company has reached stunning levels. Jensen Huang-Led Nvidia Staff Are Riding A Wealth Wave On Monday, in a post ...

finance.yahoo.com

His demonization of the US economic system and those who have made it so successful, and advocating socialism and the overt redistribution of wealth over capitalism is in my opinion economic idiocy.

This forum is an echo chamber of smart people who work in industry. There’s bias, there’s vested interest. Don’t forget it’s a very small minority compared to the general populace.

Maybe we can have a better discussion on this topic than something as trite as “he’s an idiot”, so let me start:

How does a country like the USA, during a foreign war that is spiking energy prices, continue to drive many GW of power into data centers in order for the industry to compete on the global stage (against primarily China) when we don’t have the money or the time to spin up the necessary power and water to run them? Do we just let Musk build and operate unregulated methane generators 24/7 and figure it out later like he’s doing for xAI’s Colossus DC?

Musk is doing what's necessary to succeed. So is China. China *added* 78GW of coal-fueled generation plants in 2025 alone. Musk's gas-powered generators are an almost invisible factor carbon-wise compared to even one of China's coal plants. It is mathematical fraud to compare the use of a bunch of gas turbines with what's happening on the other hemisphere when what's happening to the earth's atmosphere is a global phenomenon, not a local issue.

Electrical consumption in the US was flat for many years, which meant there wasn't much incentive to invest in power generation or transmission. Now, due to AI data centers, there is. That fact alone will naturally increase investment. How electrical rates are adjusted are local issues, and not a national issue. And NEPA, the 1970 federal law which allowed virtually unlimited frivolous lawsuits to block infrastructure projects, especially transmission lines, has been recently limited in scope by the Supreme Court, making it less effective for use by individuals and groups which simply seek to stop development of any kind.

Supreme Court Issues First Major NEPA Ruling in Two Decades

Requires Courts to Give Substantial Deference to Federal Agencies’ NEPA Reviews

bbklaw.com

The SC ruling on NEPA alone will be an effective assist for the development of US electrical infrastructure.

I have high hopes to how the US will react to increasing the capacity of the electrical grid, especially if we get off our national butt and focus on nuclear power generation development.

I’d rather we have better infrastructure discussions than just halting construction as proposed, but this stuff has serious negative impacts on the country. It’s a rational discussion to be had if we don’t be intellectually lazy about it.

I am not intellectually lazy, but Sanders does indeed meet my definition of a congressional leadership idiot. End of story. I can't think of even one policy he advocates that is IMO in the best interest of the advancement of the US as a nation.

 

[swka]

I stand by my comment. Sanders is an avowed socialist who advocates socialism as a better economic system than capitalism, and writes books about it. That's how he made his modest millions. (Not corruption, as some other idiots contend.) Sanders is in favor of wealth taxes for those wealthier than himself, and taxing unrealized capital gains (though other than his three homes, he claims not to hold equity assets). Taxing unrealized gains has got to be the worst economic policy ever conceived in the US, and he strongly favors it.

Sanders demonizes US billionaires, some which of which are the most productive and innovative individuals in the history of the world, and create millions of jobs and trillions in wealth. For example, the last statistic I've seen is that 50% of Nvidia's employees have a net worth of over $25 million.

Nvidia Is Producing 'Unprecedented Wealth' For Its Employees, Nearly 80% Are Already Millionaires: Report

As Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) continues to dominate the AI race and stock market, a new report says that the wealth created inside the company has reached stunning levels. Jensen Huang-Led Nvidia Staff Are Riding A Wealth Wave On Monday, in a post ...

finance.yahoo.com

His demonization of the US economic system and those who have made it so successful, and advocating socialism and the overt redistribution of wealth over capitalism is in my opinion economic idiocy.

Musk is doing what's necessary to succeed. So is China. China *added* 78GW of coal-fueled generation plants in 2025 alone. Musk's gas-powered generators are an almost invisible factor carbon-wise compared to even one of China's coal plants. It is mathematical fraud to compare the use of a bunch of gas turbines with what's happening on the other hemisphere when what's happening to the earth's atmosphere is a global phenomenon, not a local issue.

Electrical consumption in the US was flat for many years, which meant there wasn't much incentive to invest in power generation or transmission. Now, due to AI data centers, there is. That fact alone will naturally increase investment. How electrical rates are adjusted are local issues, and not a national issue. And NEPA, the 1970 federal law which allowed virtually unlimited frivolous lawsuits to block infrastructure projects, especially transmission lines, has been recently limited in scope by the Supreme Court, making it less effective for use by individuals and groups which simply seek to stop development of any kind.

Supreme Court Issues First Major NEPA Ruling in Two Decades

Requires Courts to Give Substantial Deference to Federal Agencies’ NEPA Reviews

bbklaw.com

The SC ruling on NEPA alone will be an effective assist for the development of US electrical infrastructure.

I have high hopes to how the US will react to increasing the capacity of the electrical grid, especially if we get off our national butt and focus on nuclear power generation development.

I am not intellectually lazy, but Sanders does indeed meet my definition of a congressional leadership idiot. End of story. I can't think of even one policy he advocates that is IMO in the best interest of the advancement of the US as a nation.

to me, someone in the public for so long, Bernie is either "stupid or liar" when he simply pushes for halting DC, knowing full well what has bene happening in the world of technology competition. I guess the afore mentioned him being politician is just another way to say liar.

 

[Brady]

I think he’s doing the rounds on this proposal now, and here’s a new video on the topic with a prominent creator:

My understanding is that he’s using this as the start of a negotiating position on the idea of slowing down the AI rush so that people (governments, job markets, and you and me) can catch up with its impacts.

 

[blueone]

I think he’s doing the rounds on this proposal now, and here’s a new video on the topic with a prominent creator:

My understanding is that he’s using this as the start of a negotiating position on the idea of slowing down the AI rush so that people (governments, job markets, and you and me) can catch up with its impacts.

And I'm totally against "slowing down and catching up". The US has many competent competitors in the world, and while we're contemplating our navels, China, Japan, and various Euro countries will probably be doing whatever is necessary to get a competitive advantage.