There were a lot of posts on my feed the other day about how the AI Data Centres
are going to become our nemeses. Firstly, by taking all the water and
electricity. A large facility needs tens to hundreds of megawatts of electricity and up to five
million gallons of water every day. The Spanish Data Centre Association
(Spain DC) forecasts almost 67,000 million euros (‘€66.9billion’) invested in
this country through 2030.
Bad enough perhaps, but it gets worse as we ask: what
place will humans have in the scheme of things when the machines can do everything we can do, only better? Already they can write
poetry, resolve an impossible math equation, create ‘improved’ weapons, watch us
and even think for us. It won’t be long before Artificial Intelligence checks
the tea leaves and decided we aren’t wanted on the voyage anymore. I don’t exaggerate, as we read: ‘AI could kill all humans in next
decade, warn experts: but how seriously should we take them?’
I
have been hoarding recently. Not old bits of cardboard, unread newspapers and
empty toothpaste tubes, but stuff which might be useful for when a calamity
befalls us.
Cans
of sardines, jars of fruit and veg in water, tins of unperishable sustenance made in
Eastern Europe, some Nescafé and sugar, a bottle of Butano, a lighter, lots of
drinking water and a jug of vodka in case the first people through my front
door turn out to be Cossacks.
The
thing is it could be anything. Russians or Chinese perhaps (anyone seen Red Dawn?),
or a meteorite, or another round of covid – even more dangerous than the last
one.
An American friend of mine bought a cave in Missouri some time ago, turned
it into a fortress complete with guns and booby traps (and hopefully something
to eat). He emailed me back in 2020 when the pandemic came along with a marvellous
line that reads ‘All things considered, I would have preferred zombies’.
Such
people as my Yankee friend are called preppers or
survivalists – being ready for almost any calamity. In fact, while you are
waiting for the Big One, you may want to get yourself into shape and learn how
to trap, kill and dress a wild boar, then cook it over a fire (don’t let the
neighbours see the smoke!).
The
billionaires (who may well be at fault when things eventually go pear-shaped)
are said to be building enormous underground bunkers loaded with groceries,
guns, oxygen, medical supplies, bimbos and mercenaries. The plan being to, um, start
again once the world ends, with the enthusiastic help of the bimbos. The return of Adam with a fistful of Eves. Rather
obviously, when the hired-muscle realise that their wages aren’t going to be of
any further use, they’ll certainly decide on cutting out their boss and helping
themselves to both the girls and the supply of twenty-year-old Scotch.
To
prepare ourselves, as above, we need tinned food, plenty of fresh water, a
battery radio (so we can pick up Richard over at Spectrum FM), a torch, a few candles, plenty of lavatory
paper (it’s hell when you run out) and an AK-47. I’m about there, except for
the firearm, but I do keep a knotted sock full of marbles, and if
things become hand to hand, there’s some nail-clippers in the drawer.
Well,
let’s ask the GoogleAI what else I need: ‘a basic disaster kit’,
it says. Don’t forget the medical box (Elastoplasts, Paracetamol and a
tongue-depressor), a whistle in case it was an earthquake, some pocket-money
(which reminds me, I ran out of cash the other day and had to raid the tin), a
power-bank charger for the phone, and finally, in a waterproof bag: the trusty passport
and a change of underwear.
I
live on a hill across a (normally) dry-river bed. If it fills up, then I will no
doubt be OK even if it hasn’t drained three days later. Maybe a bit tired of lunching
on tinned rhubarb, but otherwise fine. Unfortunately, most disasters are going
to be lasting a lot longer than a panicky weekend, indeed, they may become
permanent.
What
are the most likely? I ask Wikipedia: it says under ‘Global Catastrophic Risk’, that ‘Human-made
risks carry a much higher probability of ending civilization than natural
cosmic events’. And very jolly reading it is too. On the same subject, GoogleAI
warns of ‘The creation of an artificial superintelligence that outpaces human
control and pursues goals not aligned with human survival’. Something like Terminator 2. On this grim possibility, The Guardian says: ‘Lawmakers blast AI companies after researcher warns of
human extinction by 2030’. That’s just four years from now!
The
GoogleAI disaster-list continues (plus a few of my own) with ‘engineered
pandemics’ (maybe I should add a bottle of American Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.'s Ivermectin equine laxative to my
store), followed by ‘invasion from a foreign force' - perhaps they'll be robot-soldiers, the kind that never sleep - and worse still: ‘nuclear
war and nuclear winter’.
It
continues spreading its gloom with ‘rapid climate change’ (and here am I living
in Southern Spain where the heat this summer broke records), volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, powerful cyclones,
rising sea levels, methane poisoning, el Niño and microplastics.
How
about a putsch from one or another of the billionaires (I’m thinking of YOU
Elon Musk)? Then there’s the – I have to say – rather unlikely threat of
the Rapture, where
the most faithful of the evangelicals will ‘rise in the clouds’ while the rest
of us are burned by Beelzebub, and finally the surprise arrival of either a huge asteroid or an unexpected attack by a horde of bug-eyed
Martians. Frankly, I’m amazed we’ve made it this far.
Living
in Spain, there’s also the outside chance of a coup d’état. Unlikely perhaps,
but they did it once before. In my opinion, it’s pretty much on the cards right
now for the USA.
Really,
and after reading my own notes, I should probably go and make myself a nice cup of
tea and then have a lie down.
Just
in case, and don’t tell my neighbour I’m stockpiling, I might pop round this
evening to the local German discount supermarket again and pick up a few more
tins of pickled beets.
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