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Data centers in space makes no sense

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Re: Data centers in space makes no sense

#31

Post by Terr_ »

I'm convinced that >30% of this comes from ideas leaking out of fiction such as like Neuromancer, and percolating through the minds of wealthy people attracted to some of the concepts. Namely, the dream of being a hyper-wealthy dynasty, above any earthly government, controlling an extraterritorial Las Vegas Fiefdom In Space. (Which in the book, also hosted a powerful AI.)

Then they work backwards, trying to figure out some economic engine to make it happen. "Data centers" are (A) in-vogue for investment right now and (B) vaguely plausible, at least compared to having a space-casino.

Re: Data centers in space makes no sense

#34

Post by antonymoose »

awakeasleep wrote: post #17
antonymoose wrote: post #10

To Steelman the topic, Musk’s whole alleged mission is to make humans a multi-planet species that can survive an earth killing event. To that end, a small data center space isn’t about unit-economics, it’s a bigger mission. So the question we should consider is what can we put into space the further that mission. Can we put a meaningful sum of human knowledge out there for preservation? It sounds like “yes,” even if…

When I was a kid, I had to go to CCD, a religious after school program for Catholics. The whole time I was there it was a mental game of trying to steel man the contradictory or incoherent stuff, using my brain power to try and rewrite things to make sense. After some years, I woke up and realized that’s what I was doing, and even if I could do it in my mind, that didn’t make the source material rational. Heres hopin…

> Heres hoping you have a similar moment.

I do not politically align with Musk. I’ve always thought Tesla was important in popularizing electric cars while being a low-quality built product with repair and supply chain issues. I think The Boring Company is a joke. Twitter was a power-grab.

I also think SpaceX is societally beneficial, a good means to shake-up a stagnant industry and a humanity-wide area of interest.

If you think I’m a member of a religious cult, I respectfully suggest you evaluate what led You to believe that itself.

Re: Data centers in space makes no sense

#35

Post by ozim »

*Data centers in space only make sense if they are cost effective relative to normal data centers*.

Disagree there are bunch of scenarios where Data Centers in space make sense. Like nuclear annihilation and having vaults across the globe to communicate and get back lost information because ground data centers would be wiped out by EMP from blasts.

Re: Data centers in space makes no sense

#36

Post by mongol »

redwood wrote: post #16
antonymoose wrote: post #10

To Steelman the topic, Musk’s whole alleged mission is to make humans a multi-planet species that can survive an earth killing event. To that end, a small data center space isn’t about unit-economics, it’s a bigger mission. So the question we should consider is what can we put into space the further that mission. Can we put a meaningful sum of human knowledge out there for preservation? It sounds like “yes,” even if…

Sure but you could do that with a simple disc in space

Actually, the data centers can be the discs. As long as the data centers can crunch on, we don't need to stay alive here on earth

Re: Data centers in space makes no sense

#37

Post by philipkglass »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #20
RobotToaster wrote: post #6

It possibly makes sense if you're preparing for war, harder to hit, harder to physically break into, beyond the range of nuclear EMP, and accessible from anywhere on earth.

Any country capable of producing nuclear warheads will also be able to toss up enough BBs and other small objects into LEO to wipe out most of Starlink and anything else in LEO. At least on Earth data centers in theory can be hidden and physically hardened. In orbit, even a crude rocket able to reach that plane can become a weapon of mass satellite destruction. Even if those orbits clear out in four or five years, by…

Any country capable of producing nuclear warheads will also be able to toss up enough BBs and other small objects into LEO to wipe out most of Starlink and anything else in LEO.

South Africa built nuclear weapons in the 1980s:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa_and_weapons_of_ma...

But it never had an orbital launch capability.

Pakistan doesn't have a domestic orbital launch capability but it does have nuclear weapons.

Surprisingly, the United Kingdom doesn't have a domestic orbital launch capability at present though it has had ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons for many decades.

At present, I would say that building a basic implosion-assembled atomic bomb is easier than building a rocket system that reach low Earth orbit. It's a lot easier to build a bomb now than it was in the 1940s. The main thing that prevents wider nuclear weapon proliferation is treaties and inspections, not inherent technical difficulties.

Re: Data centers in space makes no sense

#39

Post by grim_io »

antonymoose wrote: post #10

To Steelman the topic, Musk’s whole alleged mission is to make humans a multi-planet species that can survive an earth killing event. To that end, a small data center space isn’t about unit-economics, it’s a bigger mission. So the question we should consider is what can we put into space the further that mission. Can we put a meaningful sum of human knowledge out there for preservation? It sounds like “yes,” even if…

A data center in space is probably toast after some years of space radiation.

High performance chips are made for the shielded atmosphere. Imagine the cost launching all the extra shielding that you don't need on earth.

It is beyond stupid. Comical levels. I can't believe people are trying to find any justification.

Re: Data centers in space makes no sense

#40

Post by proggy »

ozim wrote: post #35

*Data centers in space only make sense if they are cost effective relative to normal data centers*. Disagree there are bunch of scenarios where Data Centers in space make sense. Like nuclear annihilation and having vaults across the globe to communicate and get back lost information because ground data centers would be wiped out by EMP from blasts.

Has it occurred to anyone that you can put computers underground? In this apocalyptic scenario you are describing, how do you expect the ground based command and control infrastructure to survive? Satellites are 100% reliant on ground based operations. That is a hard requirement. And if you put the command and control underground, might as well just skip the whole space based plan and just put the data underground.
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