@virtualbri
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After re-watching The Sandlot last night I had some bedtime thoughts.

When people pine for that 'simpler time' what they're really talking about is a time of less friction. To white and otherwise privileged kids of that era, this manifested as simplicity and freedom concern.

Not because there wasn't dissent or oppression, but because you were not allowed to express those things. White men absolutely and completely controlled the nation.

An ambitious woman could not get a loan without a man, open a checking account or get a credit cars (in most/many states) without a man. This was irrespective of her abilities, and wholly about her gender. Gay and trans people were not allowed to exist outside the confines of their bedrooms lest they be imprisoned or institutionalized. A gay child trying to figure out what was 'wrong' with themselves may not even know what 'gay' actually is, other than an insult they heard.

This was 'less friction'' that created that 'simpler' time. Conformity. Not having to wrestle with things like inequality or the 'other'. The authorities would take care of those people. That was what made it "simpler". If you were a white or otherwise privileged kid then, it was simpler and easier because of oppression, not goodness or wholesomeness.

The enormous elephant in the room regarding the increasing demands on our electricity grid is simply this: we don't actually _need_ AI. It's not in any way a public need for public good. It's a private and public want. If you turned off every major GAI tomorrow nothing would demonstrably change except for our power consumption would go down and nvidia's stock would crash.