I read Careless People and then Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter and they felt like a good pairing. "Character Limit" is also one of the best book titles ever. I highly recommend both.
I don't have a problem with data centers and would welcome one nearby if it was a good deal for the area. But I'd want binding contractual agreements about environmental guarantees and requirements for building out new renewable energy generating capacity of 100% or even 150% of what the data center itself needs (and not just outbidding buyers of existing grid capacity). Instead we are handing out regulation waivers and tax incentives and telling locals they don't matter.
Turing himself argued that trying to measure if a computer is intelligent is a fool's errand because it is so difficult to pin down definitions. He proposed what we call the "Turing test" as a knowable, measurable alternative. The first paragraph of his paper reads:
> I propose to consider the question, "Can machines think?" This should begin
> with definitions of the meaning of the terms "machine" and "think." The
> definitions might be framed so as to reflect so far as possible the normal use
> of the words, but this attitude is dangerous, If the meaning of the words
> "machine" and "think" are to be found by examining how they are commonly used
> it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the meaning and the answer to the
> question, "Can machines think?" is to be sought in a statistical survey such as
> a Gallup poll. But this is absurd. Instead of attempting such a definition I
> shall replace the question by another, which is closely related to it and is
> expressed in relatively unambiguous words.
Many people who want to argue about AGI and its relation to the Turing test would do well to read Turing's own arguments.
I bought one of the first 2022 Maverick Hybrids and took delivery in January 2022. At the time my build came in at MSRP of $25k (+ tax). I just built the closest equivalent on the Ford website (several standard features then are options now) and it came out to >$34k. Not double, but that feels like whole different price category for the same truck in 4 years.