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1. gok+h4[view] [source] 2026-02-02 22:06:22
>>g-mork+(OP)
> it is possible to put 500 to 1000 TW/year of AI satellites into deep space, meaningfully ascend the Kardashev scale and harness a non-trivial percentage of the Sun’s power

We currently make around 1 TW of photovoltaic cells per year, globally. The proposal here is to launch that much to space every 9 hours, complete with attached computers, continuously, from the moon.

edit: Also, this would capture a very trivial percentage of the Sun's power. A few trillionths per year.

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2. rainsf+RA[view] [source] 2026-02-03 00:24:23
>>gok+h4
We also shouldn't overlook the fact that the proposal entirely glosses over the implication of the alternative benefits we might realize if humanity achieved the incredible engineering and technical capacity necessary to make this version of space AI happen.

Think about it. Elon conjures up a vision of the future where we've managed to increase our solar cell manufacturing capacity by two whole orders of magnitude and have the space launch capability for all of it along with tons and tons of other stuff and the best he comes up with is...GPUs in orbit?

This is essentially the superhero gadget technology problem, where comic books and movies gloss over the the civilization changing implications of some technology the hero invents to punch bad guys harder. Don't get me wrong, the idea of orbiting data centers is kind of cool if we can pull it off. But being able to pull if off implies an ability to do a lot more interesting things. The problem is that this is both wildly overambitious and somehow incredibly myopic at the same time.

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3. byeart+1G[view] [source] 2026-02-03 00:57:24
>>rainsf+RA
So what are the other things? You said he glossed over them and didn't mention a single one.
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4. aorlof+7I[view] [source] 2026-02-03 01:11:15
>>byeart+1G
Reliably and efficiently transport energy generated in space back to earth, for starters

Or let me guess, its going to be profitable to mine crypto in space (thereby solving the problem of transporting the "work" back to earth)

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5. mkull+KK[view] [source] 2026-02-03 01:29:06
>>aorlof+7I
Why would you transfer the energy to earth? The energy powers ai compute = $
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6. Sparyj+6e1[view] [source] 2026-02-03 05:29:39
>>mkull+KK
Dead on, You can transmit data to and from space and have the compute completed at potentially fractions of the cost.
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7. aorlof+mf1[view] [source] 2026-02-03 05:41:25
>>Sparyj+6e1
Tell me about your cooling medium in space
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8. rlt+Bf1[view] [source] 2026-02-03 05:44:00
>>aorlof+mf1
A large piece of aluminum with ammonia pumped through it?
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9. jacque+0t1[view] [source] 2026-02-03 07:43:38
>>rlt+Bf1
Right up to the radiation limit and then you'll either have to throttle your precious GPUs or you'll be melting your satellite or at least the guts of it. You're looking at an absolutely massive radiator here, many times larger than the solar panels that collect the energy to begin with.
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