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A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

nytimes.com

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Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#361

Post by tedd4u »

dgoldstein0 wrote: post #346
bawolff wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While i agree that the poster is reading way too much into this, i'm not sure about the geopolitics. Iran is friends with Russia and has helped them with their weapons program in the past. None of the countries allied with Ukraine like Iran. Iran (and its allies) have almost no ability to counter strike Ukraine. Ukraine picking a fight with Iran, or at least stopping their boats from visiting Russian ports, seems lik…

yeah I assume they've done the cost-benefit and figured that if Russia gets the supplies they'll be hurt more than however much Iran can possibly retaliate - Iran does have missiles that can hit Israel so I do have to question whether they can hit Ukraine - it's not that much further - but may very well be worth it to the Ukrainians to take whatever Iran can dish than what Russia could do with the shipments. And with…

Ukraine fighting Iran has a benefit for Ukraine as well in terms of US perception ... the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Makes it harder for MAGA types like Tucker Carlson to sell the idea that actually Russia is the US's friend.

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#362

Post by Gud »

munksbeer wrote: post #351
Gud wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no "moral grandstanding". I wish to live in a functional society.

You're framing it so you can't lose by making the argument seem like a moral choice between "have data centres" or "live in a functional society". That's a fallacy, and it is moral grandstanding. It's a useful way to win internet arguments (and internet points), but it is just a debate ending strategy.

No, I’m fine with data centers, I’ve built one myself and I’ve maintained multiple.

I argued against “if you have capital, you can do what the fuck you want”.

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#363

Post by perpetuallunch »

leonidasrup wrote: post #335
mjevans wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DC is super weird that way... The actual velocity of an electron down that line is, offhand, extremely slow compared to the speed of light. Think of DC more like you're trying to pump a frozen ice mixture drink (trying to avoid any of the major brand names) down a straw. If you melt it, that's loss to heat. If the pressure gets there that's DC current. The AC vibrations are the same thing except it's like the lever a…

Good intrpduction are Veritasium videos: "How Electricity Actually Works" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI_X2cMHNe0 "The Biggest Misconception About Electricity" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHIhgxav9LY

One cannot simply bring up Veritasium without also honouring his arch nemesis ElectroBOOM.

https://youtube.com/@electroboom?si=HqjCoJtrn6ci41uw

Others that deserve a mention:

styropyro

https://youtube.com/@styropyro?si=aPBPXdj42Oo0UzC2

The Angry Pixie herder, Uncle Bumblefuck aka AvE:

https://youtube.com/@arduinoversusevil2025?si=f1LHLwVdQTn0O8...

And that guy with the multi gigawatt 150,000 volt Lorentz Cannon:

https://youtu.be/lix-vr_AF38?si=P_WLCJFAUOD01pEF

I’m sure I forgot someone?

AlphaPhoenix’s response to Veritasium:

https://youtu.be/2Vrhk5OjBP8?si=vFlggT44kEyDKlKJ

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#364

Post by Jolter »

8note wrote: post #267
bluGill wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both have boom and bust cycles. They are different cycles, but they are still cycles. I wouldn't call either more stable than the other.

the real question is what booms when electrician work busts

Social workers. Unemployment agency workers.

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#365

Post by oblio »

throwitaway222 wrote: post #307
8note wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the real question is what booms when electrician work busts

oil

Not for long. 1-2 economic cycles and oil and gas will probably be 20-40% of what they are now.

Useful to keep in mind when choosing a new career.

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#367

Post by oblio »

mjevans wrote: post #315
wffurr wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's accelerating. Electrification of infrastructure and buildings is a huge growth area with big delays in projects due to lack of capacity.

That's what I don't understand about the lack of building more power plants. Of all types. Yes, people should make efforts to not waste electricity (use more effective lights, etc). However the demand is _never_ going to go down. Progress utilizes more energy. Make stuff more efficient, or less expensive, and people will do more things, or more people will do things. That's how quality of live goes up.

Didn't the US administration just pay Total $1bn to NOT build an offshore wind farm?

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#368

Post by oblio »

ElProlactin wrote: post #311
jeffbee wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah. If USA returns to its senses we are going to need tons of tradespeople to build all the stuff we need for the billion Americans.

> If USA returns to its senses we are going to need tons of tradespeople to build all the stuff we need for the billion Americans You're missing the /s? The only thing that has been keeping the US population from declining is immigration, and the US isn't exactly the most welcoming country anymore.

Fairly sure last year was the first year of US population decline in a long time.

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#369

Post by seanmcdirmid »

trhway wrote: post #354
archonis wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> have a project of massive scale If datacenter demand doesn't evaporate, mega scale datacenters sound like the most probable candidates for this.

the datacenter demand wouldn't evaporate, it will probably change instead - i expect that the datacenters will soon be built like pre-fab homes or like the Liberty ships - the fastest ship was built in less than 5 days. In such a module-based construction you can optimize layout and the fabrication sequence so that the labor is minimized and simplified - like for example you'd be simply laying down wire instead of ru…

Isn’t the whole SpaceX fantasy to just launch data centers into space?

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#370

Post by danans »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #358
Marsymars wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and the pay sucks. This is baffling to me from the homeowner's perspective. I just checked the last invoice I had for electrical work - $300 for something that took (And like, he did good work and I'd hire him again... but at those rates it's worth me doing anything I can myself even if it takes me 5x longer.)

Are you including travel time in the 30 minutes? Time to travel and provide free estimates? Sick/vacation time?

> Sick/vacation time?

Don't forget health insurance for when they have to use that sick time to get treatment - so they can get back to work ASAP. Plus, during a bust if they get laid off, we don't have universal health insurance, so they have to factor that in as well.

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