r/SneerClub

There was a post in this subreddit about Adam Becker's book "More Everything Forever" when it came out, and he promoted it last month on a Taylor Lorenz podcast. This article examines his arguments about Mars, acknowledges his takedown of Musk and Bezos, but challenges his sloppy science.

I look at Eric Schmidt saying AI will solve climate change, Marc Andreessen saying we have to increase energy consumption a thousand fold, Scott Alexander saying people in 2100 will live in a post-scarcity society, Sam Altman saying he's creating a genie that can fulfill any wish and I find myself wondering if these TESCREALists have ever talked to anyone who's not a libertarian in Silicon Valley.

They just seem to take it for granted, that growth can continue forever. And so, they take it for granted that they have to do everything they can do create the supersmart computer that will fix everything and give humans everything they want. They use endless amounts of words, the internet is flooded with their verbal diarrhea, but that is just it. That's the whole idea: Build a smart computer, so it can give you anything you want. Everything else is just filler words, most of it meant to sound smart to other TESCREALists. It's just puffing up a very hollow worldview.

I mean, reading anything these people have to say, feels like watching a group of Young Earth creationists debating where Noah's arc is really located. There are just countless assumptions underlying their worldview that they take for granted, that nobody outside their own intellectually incestuous community actually takes for granted.

I just wonder, have these people ever talked to an ecological economist? Do they realize that when you increase energy consumption a thousand fold, you start boiling the oceans from the waste heat alone? Are they serious about any of this, or are they just trolling?

Have they ever heard of EROI analysis? Have they ever talked to a geologist, or anyone in the mining industry? Do they realize there's a looming copper deficiency of 25% of global demand by 2035?

Do they realize there's a global water shortage emerging, not just due to climate change, but due to use of unsustainable aquifers that don't recharge? Do they realize you can't afford to desalinate your staple crops?

Do they realize the issues the electric grid is dealing with? The average electrical transformer is 40 years old by now. These things were designed for 20-30 years of use. But now they want to build an entire layer of complexity on top of the global economy, that nobody asked for, while we're struggling to keep what we already have, because they seem to think if they get their "alignment problem" right they will create a utopia of unicorns and rainbows for trillions of people in the future.

We have very real, very acute problems right now, when it comes to feeding 8 billion people on a rapidly warming planet. But they either don't care or seem to think AI will just solve this. It's like a bizarre doomsday cult has taken control of the global economy. How does anyone even take these people seriously?