"I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid that computation is too carbon intensive."
By @edent
· Climate Crisis electricity near future · 3 comments · 350 words · read ~2,212 times.
An interesting snippet about the future of computation:
Starting with this build, we are introducing the Power Grid Forecast API. This API empowers app developers to optimize app behavior, minimizing environmental impact by shifting background tasks to times when more renewable energy is available in the local electrical grid. Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26052
Some computational processes take a lot of electricity. Back in the old days, batch computing meant that programmers could use "spare" CPU cycles at night. Their code ran when no-one else was using the machine. These days, it is common for computational tasks to be outsourced to where-ever electricity is least polluting. For example, shifting overnight processing to countries on the other side of the planet with excess solar power. With Windows' new APIs, they can wait until electricity is too cheap to meter before doing something computationally expensive.
Computing budgets are usually set in terms of FLOPS, Watts, or seconds. I think it is fascinating that we might soon routinely add CO2 to that equation.
I've written before about domestic appliances being smart about their electricity use. It would be brilliant if your freezer knew to wait 10 minutes for less-polluting power before running its compressor. Similarly, you could tell a clothes dryer to be finished by the time you get home - but let it decide when to actually run.
I also wonder if a games console could drop its FPS, or outsource some of its processing to the cloud, when domestic electricity becomes too expensive.
Of course, the downside is obvious. Can your code refuse to run if it thinks it will cause harm? Is there an interpretation of the laws of robotics which prevents a machine from polluting?
I don't really think that domestic devices will refuse our requests in the near future. But I am curious what incentives - financial or otherwise - there might be to encourage more efficient resource use.
“I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid that computation is too carbon intensive” | Hacker News
My recent experience with "smart" devices has made me dread the future you propose. When the tech showed up to fix my refrigerator, he said, "It's always the electronics" and ordered a new circuit board to replace the bad one. Because you don't fix those the way you would a compressor. You throw them away and stick in a new one.
Then they sent the wrong one.
Eight weeks and three repair visits later, I finally have a working refrigerator. And every day I pray it doesn't break again.
Before we worry about making them "smart" maybe we should make them reliable.
@edent says:
I've replaced the circuitry of a complex machine by myself. Similarly, I've had a domestic appliance die and been told that the mechanical part is no longer being made. This isn't a technology problem.
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