Comment by DoctorOetker
4 hours ago
but I did answer your question: I showed its a false dichotomy: conduction/convection on the ground entails radiation into space.
It's you who didn't answer my question :)
Would you prefer big tech to shit where we eat, or go to the bathroom upstairs?
What false dichotomy? At no point did I even suggest that cooling by convection/conduction on the ground or cooling by radiation in space are the only two possibilities. I am not, despite what one might think, a complete moron. I know that there are more things. You could cool by radiation on the ground. You could cool in space by launching blocks of ice into orbit. You could put your computers on a balloon floating in Neptune and use its atmosphere for cooling.
The reason I'm talking about computers on the ground using the atmosphere for cooling is because that's how things are done right now and that's the obvious alternative to space-based computing.
Why does it matter what I prefer? I'd love to see all industry in space and Earth turned into a garden. I'm not talking about what I want. I'm talking about the economics. I'm asking why so many people are talking about putting data centers in space when doing so would be so much more difficult than putting data centers on Earth. If your argument is that it's more difficult but it's worth the extra effort so we don't "shit where we eat," great, but that's the first time I've ever seen that argument put forth. None of the actual players are making that case.