Because a LOT of people are missing the point:

[highlandlawyer@mastodon.social]

@ApostateEnglishman @cstross @tbortels @jackwilliambell
Decarte's demon

[lispi314@udongein.xyz]

@jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com @cstross@wandering.shop @ApostateEnglishman@mastodon.world

not using any dependencies requiring a Package Manager

Nothing like using obsolete vendored libraries.

Somewhat joke aside, language-centric dependency/"package" managers are an antipattern that should never have been adopted.

Dependency/build managers (i.e. tools that know how to build a given language provided the dependencies are available on the system, obtaining them being out of scope of its duties) are fine (insofar as dead languages are, anyway).

And I'm NOT having one of those brain implants, no way!)

It's proprietary malware, it's a good idea to reject it.

[wellsitegeo@masto.ai]

@Tubemeister @jackwilliambell @cstross @ApostateEnglishman
One thing we've learned from AI is that Clippy was not the worst thing humans could invent.

[gregswift@hachyderm.io]

@cstross @ApostateEnglishman @jackwilliambell ok, but hear me out... I'd rather a package manager than `curl|bash` for my brain implants...

[jb@masto.hackers.town]

@woozle
It‘s not just that it‘s a bad idea, it‘s a solution looking for a problem to solve.

The only advantage in having anything beyond basic communications satellites and telescopes in orbit is solar power.

That‘s it. Everything else increases complexity while gaining very little.

@cstross

[tubemeister@mstdn.social]

@WellsiteGeo @jackwilliambell @cstross @ApostateEnglishman Well no. If you’re looking for the worst thing humans can invent, computers aren’t even in the running.

[agreeable_landfall@mastodon.social]

@cstross It's a shame to clutter near-Earth orbit with temporary junk, when we could -- for far less money -- just run fiber to every home in the USA, including rural areas. Just like the home electrification program of the past.

And it could be done by the US Government, benefiting people instead of billionaires.

[printdevil@dice.camp]

I'd add "must not be created, owned or manufactured by anyone who uses fantasy or science-fiction references in their company names or IP"

The only brain implant I'd like to see in the short term is something to repair Corpus Callosotomy as an epileptic management treatment. That's probably not the Futurist brain hacking people generally think of though.

@jackwilliambell @cstross @ApostateEnglishman

[cstross@wandering.shop]

@aspragg @jackwilliambell @ApostateEnglishman You've been brainwashed by crapitalism into thinking the duration of support should be limited *at all*. If it's going in my brain, it gets unconditional support for the rest of my life. Otherwise it's not going in.

[cstross@wandering.shop]

@agreeable_landfall See, it's another fucking American thinking they're the only place on the planet that matters (or uses broadband, for that matter). Barbarians.

[woozle@toot.cat]

@jb

Again, I could answer that. Do you actually want to hear it, though?

@cstross

[n_dimension@infosec.exchange]

@cstross

I loathe Felon Muscovite but one thing that he does not need to talk up is his space orbital capabilities.

He does about 150 orbital launches a year, which is more than all the global total launches combined.

Boeing lifters are fully single shot and cost anywhere from 2 to 3 billion dollars of taxpayers money.

Musk is a fraction of that.

If he gets his Starship operational, he will be able to put 1kg of mass up there for about $20 and for that price you can totally put a data centre in orbit and kill dead the "using water/power/CO2" arguments from the #Antiai mob

Having said all that, everytime his Nazi Starship explodes I rejoice.

[jorny@mastodon.social]

@n_dimension @cstross

Putting them there is one thing. Cooling them is another.

[markotway@mastodonapp.uk]

@jorny
Came here to write this.

It doesn't matter how cheap or practical it might be to *put* the DC in space. Simple fact is that physics means it's a dumb decision to do that.

@n_dimension should probably go read the myriad of info debunking the idea of data centres in space and explaining why it wouldn't work and is dumb, at any cost.

@cstross

[cubeos@hachyderm.io]

@n_dimension @cstross Aehm... No. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_hardening unless he wants to rebuild Nvidia GPUs in 65nm. And using SRAM instead of DRAM. And figure out a way how to reliably cool things in vacuum by radiating away the heat on the darker side while the other side gets roasted by the sun.
But I agree on the Nazi Spaceship sentiment.

[0xtero@ohai.social]

@n_dimension @cstross what is the datacenter supposed to do in orbit other than melt into junk?

[acb@mastodon.social]

@n_dimension @cstross What will you cool it with?

[beelbeebub@mastodon.social]

I think the issues that make it a fantasy are

Chips of the sort need for AI don't work well in space enviroment

Power (do thr maths on size of solar arrays needed)

Cooling (can only cool by radiation)

Many clever people that you or I have looked at the idea and declared it impractical.

[cstross@wandering.shop]

@n_dimension Mr Musk: You have a problem cooling data centres on Earth so your proposal is to put them inside the biggest imaginable vacuum, which is itself an insulator, with one half exposed to direct sunlight? Did you fail physics in primary school?

[dr2chase@ohai.social]

@n_dimension @cstross it's the dumbest and least efficient way to deal with those arguments. Air cooling on earth (no water needed) is the easier than radiative cooling in space. Solar panels and batteries on earth, cheaper than batteries in space.