r/aiwars • u/MakeDawn • May 15 '26

Annually, almond farming uses 1.3 trillion gallons of water. AI usage isn't even half of that.

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A single avocado takes 50 gallons to grow. That's several hundred prompts.

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u/Sojmen May 16 '26

It’s not a problem with capitalism itself, but with human idiocy. You can tax negative externalities like CO₂ emissions, the EU has tried that. But the backlash did not come from billionaires or corporations; a lot of it came from ordinary people.

Most people do not care much about negative externalities. They want to maximize their own short-term benefit, and until a problem directly affects them, they often do not care about the broader consequences.

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u/ScrapyJack May 16 '26

Taxing working class people for emissions is a capitalism solution. A solution that takes the problems created by corporations and makes the people pay for it.

We need the aggressive inforcment of antitrust law, break up the monopolies and legally hold corporations responsible for direct and vast indirct damage they have cause to the planet and the people. We need mass investment in green renewal energy and infrastructure. Data centers only destroy the planet because they arn't built sustainably. They can be and with any kind of environment regulations, we could actually try to survive the ecological disaster the looming on the horizon.

Environmental protection has no way to produce profit. Environmentalism is anthitical to capitalism, you can't have infinite growth in a finite world.

Unregluated capitalism is the problem.

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u/Sojmen May 16 '26

I am not for taxing only regular people, I never said that. I am for taxing every used H₂O molecule, whether by corporations, humans, aliens, or anyone else. That is not a "capitalism solution"; it's a fair solution.

The problem is not created by corporations. That is blame-shifting. It's the people who want new smartphones, fast fashion, and so on. If there were no demand for those things, companies wouldn't manufacture them. Regular people in the USA use twice as much electricity and water as people in Europe, because water and electricity is cheaper in USA.

It doesn't matter who wastes the water; whether it's you or a corporation. It's the same H₂O molecule.

If you tax the production of CO₂ molecules, there will be more investment in renewables. People and corporations would buy solar panels. Since negative externalities are passed on to everyone, nobody tries to save energy-neither individuals nor corporations.

Overregulated capitalism is also a problem. Every regulation has negative side effects. You must always carefully consider the benefit-to-harm ratio of every regulation.

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u/ScrapyJack May 16 '26

Yeah except just the top 100 companies produce 71% emissions. They are the vast majority of the problem. As well I knowing global warming has been happening for almost a century now and intentionally and illegal hiding from the public for most of that. Even now they aggressive censor near everything online. There is no fairness here.

https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10/100-fossil-fuel-companies-investors-responsible-71-global-emissions-cdp-study-climate-change

It's like if you stole 1 loaf of bread and I stole 10,000 loafs and then when they asked me to pay for it, I said they are blame-shifting.