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PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   3169 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for March 8, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Let's say you wanted to stop AI in its tracks.

Stop OpenAI? No, deeper.

Stop NVIDIA? No, deeper.

Stop Taiwan Semi who produces NVIDIA's chips. No, deeper.

Stop ASML who makes the machines which make the chips. No, deeper.

Stop the quartz used to make the chips. This deep.

Big Yud retweeted this: https://twitter.com/emollick/status/1766504587781878196

"The modern economy rests on a single road in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. The road runs to the two mines that is the sole supplier of the quartz required to make the crucibles needed to refine silicon wafers. There are no alternative sources known."

I am doubtful, but it is interesting how much high tech stuff runs through relatively fragile supply chains with little redundancy. Also, why isn't this mine worth $1 trillion dollars?

Stop the quartz? No, deeper.

Stop the humans who mine the quartz. Everything I've heard suggests a bioweapon is not really all that difficult to build. If we just drive humanity extinct then no AI will be built!

Because there are a ton of quartz mines scattered all over the globe. Another mine would supply it if this one didn't. Just because one farm supplies grain to wagyu beef in japan doesn't mean another one can't do it if they stop. The cattle don't die.

There is also synthetic quartz, this is a solved problem.

It would cause a delay though--especially if the quartz itself was sabotaged (e.g. by the powder the tweet mentions) rather than the road being blocked or something.

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