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[Google CEO Sundar Pichai says we're just a decade away from a new normal of extraterrestrial data centers]

#71

Off the Record / Re: The AI dooooooom thread

Last post by Syt - December 04, 2025, 01:12:17 PM

It is ridiculous. We are accelerating global warming, pushing the world economy to the brink, all so we can have more verbose emails and very lifelike fake images.

Don't worry, Google got you.

https://fortune.com/2025/12/01/google-ceo-sundar-pichai-project-suncatcher-extraterrestrial-data-centers-environment/

Google CEO Sundar Pichai says we're just a decade away from a new normal of extraterrestrial data centers
December 1, 2025, 1:25 PM ET

Google's "moonshot" aspirations to expand its AI footprint are taking on a more literal meaning.

CEO Sundar Pichai said in a Fox News interview on Sunday that Google will soon begin construction of AI data centers in space. The tech giant announced Project Suncatcher earlier this month, with the goal of finding more efficient ways to power energy-guzzling centers, in this case with solar power.

"One of our moonshots is to, how do we one day have data centers in space so that we can better harness the energy from the sun that is 100 trillion times more energy than what we produce on all of Earth today?" Pichai said.

Google will take its first steps in constructing extraterrestrial data centers in early 2027 in partnership with satellite imagery firm Planet, launching two pilot satellites to test the hardware in Earth's orbit. According to Pichai, space-based data centers will be the new standard in the near future.

"But there's no doubt to me that a decade or so away we'll be viewing it as a more normal way to build data centers," he said.

To be sure, Google isn't the only company looking to the skies for an answer to improving data center efficiency. Earlier this month, Y Combinator and Nvidia-backed startup Starcloud sent its first AI-equipped satellite to space. CEO and cofounder Philip Johnston predicts extraterrestrial data centers will produce 10 times lower carbon emissions than their earthbound counterparts, even taking into account the emissions from launch.

While the cost of satellites used to test AI hardware in space has decreased drastically, putting extraterrestrial data center development within reach, the cost of building these solar-powered centers is still an unknown, particularly as earthbound data centers are expected to require more than $5 trillion in capital expenditures by 2030, according to an April McKinseyreport.

Google, which catapulted itself back into the AI front-runner conversation with the recent release of Gemini 3, is one of several major hyperscalers pouring money into data centers to expand its computing capabilities. Google itself announced this month a $40 billion investment in data center construction in Texas.

All the while, speculation of an AI bubble threatens to create an oversupply of data centers, which could render the data center space race a dangerous overinvestment.

"The stakes are high," the McKinsey report said. "Overinvesting in data center infrastructure risks stranding assets, while underinvesting means falling behind."

Harnessing solar energy to power data centers has become increasingly appealing amid growing concerns about the sustainability of expanding AI compute, which requires an exorbitant amount of power. A December 2024 U.S. Department of Energy report on domestic data center usage found data center load has tripled in the past 10 years and may double or triple again by 2028. These data centers consumed more than 4% of the country's electricity in 2023, and are predicted to consume up to 12% of U.S. electricity by 2028, according to the report.

Google alone has more than doubled its electricity consumption on data center use in the past five years, using 30.8 million megawatt-hours of electricity last year compared to 14.4 million in 2020, when it began specifically tracking data center energy consumption, according to its latest sustainability report released in June.

Google has worked to reduce the energy needed to power its growing data centers, reporting it reduced its data center energy emissions by 12% in 2024, despite an increasing footprint. However, concerns about the lasting sustainability of data center expansion remain.

"There is still much we don't know about the environmental impact of AI, but some of the data we do have is concerning," Golestan Radwan, United Nations Environment Programme chief digital officer, said in a statement last year following the program's note warning of the environmental impact of AI infrastructure expansion. "We need to make sure the net effect of AI on the planet is positive before we deploy the technology at scale."

#72

Off the Record / Re: The AI dooooooom thread

Last post by garbon - December 04, 2025, 01:02:48 PM

This is why billionaires are bad.
If we had stronger taxes and anti-trust laws this could have been avoided.

Yes, they are indeed terrible for society.

#73

Off the Record / Re: The AI dooooooom thread

Last post by HisMajestyBOB - December 04, 2025, 12:58:52 PM

This is why billionaires are bad.
If we had stronger taxes and anti-trust laws this could have been avoided.

#74

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by HisMajestyBOB - December 04, 2025, 12:57:20 PM

Interesting breakdown of the authoritarian tech complex: https://www.authoritarian-stack.info/

Cross-posting this with the EU thread since it's about the America based tech oligarch capture of the US state, and how much of a risk it poses to Europe.

My question to folks in this thread is how successfully has the authoritarian tech complex captured the US state, and what sort of effort would it take to counter it?

Fairly successfully, and the first step would be for the Democratic party to start making any sort of motions towards countering it. Instead they seem just as happy to suck up to the techbros.

#75

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by The Minsky Moment - December 04, 2025, 12:54:14 PM

This goes further—commissioning Silicon Valley executives directly into military ranks. In June 2025, four tech executives were sworn in as lieutenant colonels

That I did not know. Insane.

#76

Off the Record / Re: [Canada] Canadian Politics...

Last post by Jacob - December 04, 2025, 12:37:31 PM

The coalition party does not rise from the ashes like it did when the social credit party imploded, and that will be a significant shift in the politics of this province.

What do you think the odds are of a coalition re-emerging - or rather, managing to remain together under the current banner of the BC Conservatives?

And in a scenario where it does not, how do you see it playing out?

On the face of it it seems like it will give the NDP a structural advantage in the near and medium terms as the anti-NDP vote is split. Or are there other likely scenarios?

#77

Off the Record / Re: [Canada] Canadian Politics...

Last post by Jacob - December 04, 2025, 12:34:42 PM

Rustad has resigned: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/rustad-announces-resignation-bc-conservative-9.7003086

#78

Off the Record / Re: The AI dooooooom thread

Last post by Jacob - December 04, 2025, 12:34:04 PM

These people genuinely think they are going to create a technological singularity.  They would destroy the entire economy in their mad quest for immortality.

I remember years ago reading about Thiel funding biotech technology that promised a form of immortality derived from the blood of young people. If it had been fiction I would have derided it as being to obnoxiously didactic a metaphor.

Also these billionaires really do seem to want to set themselves up as demi-gods.

#79

Off the Record / Re: The AI dooooooom thread

Last post by Jacob - December 04, 2025, 12:31:08 PM

and vast reduction in wages payed. The rich get richer.

... combined with a significant costs for consumer goods.

#80

Off the Record / Re: The EU thread

Last post by Jacob - December 04, 2025, 12:30:29 PM

Interesting breakdown of the authoritarian tech complex: https://www.authoritarian-stack.info/

Cross-posting this with the US thread since it's about the America based tech oligarch capture of the US state, and how much of a risk it poses to Europe.

My question for this thread is: how possible is it for European countries to avoid falling into an irreversible dependence on this anti-democratic oligarch clique?