• ?SpaceX shares up over 20% from opening price, as CEO Elon Musk becomes

    From Lynn McGuire@3:633/10 to All on Fri Jun 12 14:02:07 2026
    Subject: ?SpaceX shares up over 20% from opening price, as CEO Elon Musk becomes world's first trillionaire?

    ?SpaceX shares up over 20% from opening price, as CEO Elon Musk becomes world's first trillionaire?


    https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/finance/spacex-shares-over-20-opening-price-ceo-elon-musk-becomes-worlds-first

    ?SpaceX's debut saw its opening share price rise over 24% in its first
    hours of trading on Friday.?

    ?The shares opened at $150 and reached $166.90 at around 12:20 p.m. ET, according to the Associated Press. At that price, the company has a
    market value of $2.18 trillion.?

    ?Forbes' real-time estimates put CEO Elon Musk's net worth at $1.1
    trillion, making him the world's first trillionaire.?

    Yup, Musk is D.D. Harriman.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delos_D._Harriman

    Lynn


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.16
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul S Person@3:633/10 to All on Sat Jun 13 08:57:16 2026
    Subject: Re: ?SpaceX shares up over 20% from opening price, as CEO Elon Musk becomes world's first trillionaire?

    On Fri, 12 Jun 2026 14:02:07 -0500, Lynn McGuire
    <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

    ?SpaceX shares up over 20% from opening price, as CEO Elon Musk
    becomes
    world's first trillionaire?


    https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/finance/spacex-shares-over-20-op ening-price-ceo-elon-musk-becomes-worlds-first

    ?SpaceX's debut saw its opening share price rise over 24% in its first

    hours of trading on Friday.?

    ?The shares opened at $150 and reached $166.90 at around 12:20 p.m.
    ET,
    according to the Associated Press. At that price, the company has a
    market value of $2.18 trillion.?

    So, the AP believes that 166.9/150 == 1.24. Guess again, guys.

    OK, innumaracy raises its loathsome head. But with the /AP/?

    (I get 166.9/150 == 1.11; interestingly, 24% of 150 is 36, not 16.9
    --
    so I don't want to hear about how I am misundertanding their
    statement.)

    Of course, since this is all "funny money" anyway, it doesn't really
    matter. If the share price dropped to, say $83, Musk would be a half-trillionaire immediately.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.16
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Lynn McGuire@3:633/10 to All on Sat Jun 13 14:53:07 2026
    Subject: Re: ?SpaceX shares up over 20% from opening price, as CEO Elon Musk becomes world's first trillionaire?

    On 6/13/2026 10:57 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
    On Fri, 12 Jun 2026 14:02:07 -0500, Lynn McGuire
    <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

    ?SpaceX shares up over 20% from opening price, as CEO Elon Musk becomes
    world's first trillionaire?


    https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/finance/spacex-shares-over-20-opening-price-ceo-elon-musk-becomes-worlds-first

    ?SpaceX's debut saw its opening share price rise over 24% in its first
    hours of trading on Friday.?

    ?The shares opened at $150 and reached $166.90 at around 12:20 p.m. ET,
    according to the Associated Press. At that price, the company has a
    market value of $2.18 trillion.?

    So, the AP believes that 166.9/150 == 1.24. Guess again, guys.

    OK, innumaracy raises its loathsome head. But with the /AP/?

    (I get 166.9/150 == 1.11; interestingly, 24% of 150 is 36, not 16.9 --
    so I don't want to hear about how I am misundertanding their
    statement.)

    Of course, since this is all "funny money" anyway, it doesn't really
    matter. If the share price dropped to, say $83, Musk would be a half-trillionaire immediately.

    Musk's X, Xai, Tesla, and several other stocks would have to drop correspondingly also. The man has started many other companies also
    such as The Boring Company. He is now starting a cpu making joint
    venture with Intel here in Texas, spending over $100 billion dollars.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/06/elon-musks-spacex-chip-fab-in-texas-to-cost-up-to-119-billion.html

    Just about everything Musk does is about going to space and establishing
    a colony on Mars. Now he is planning a colony on the Moon.

    Lynn


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.16
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From BobbieSellers@3:633/10 to All on Sat Jun 13 13:01:00 2026
    Subject: Re: ?SpaceX shares up over 20% from opening price, as CEO Elon Musk becomes world's first trillionaire?

    On 6/13/26 08:57, Paul S Person wrote:
    On Fri, 12 Jun 2026 14:02:07 -0500, Lynn McGuire
    <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

    ?SpaceX shares up over 20% from opening price, as CEO Elon Musk becomes
    world's first trillionaire?


    https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/finance/spacex-shares-over-20-opening-price-ceo-elon-musk-becomes-worlds-first

    ?SpaceX's debut saw its opening share price rise over 24% in its first
    hours of trading on Friday.?

    ?The shares opened at $150 and reached $166.90 at around 12:20 p.m. ET,
    according to the Associated Press. At that price, the company has a
    market value of $2.18 trillion.?

    So, the AP believes that 166.9/150 == 1.24. Guess again, guys.

    OK, innumaracy raises its loathsome head. But with the /AP/?

    (I get 166.9/150 == 1.11; interestingly, 24% of 150 is 36, not 16.9 --
    so I don't want to hear about how I am misundertanding their
    statement.)

    Of course, since this is all "funny money" anyway, it doesn't really
    matter. If the share price dropped to, say $83, Musk would be a half-trillionaire immediately.

    But he would still rank ZERO on a social scale. He like his pal
    Donald J. Trump pays no taxes on his income. He inspired his DOGE gang
    to destroy some of the USA's greatest initiatives like USAID. And ravage Government agencies like the Dept. of Education and dis-employ thousands
    of experts in many fields to make way for Trump loyalists dedicated to
    the end of the Federal Government.

    Not just my opinion but those of some Trump version judges.



    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.16
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Sn!pe@3:633/10 to All on Sat Jun 13 22:26:28 2026
    Subject: Re: "SpaceX shares up over 20% from opening price, as CEO Elon Musk becomes world's first trillionaire?

    Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:

    On Fri, 12 Jun 2026 14:02:07 -0500, Lynn McGuire
    <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

    "SpaceX shares up over 20% from opening price, as CEO Elon Musk
    becomes world's first trillionaire"


    <https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/finance/spacex-shares-over-20-opening-price-ceo-elon-musk-becomes-worlds-first>

    "SpaceX's debut saw its opening share price rise over 24% in its first
    hours of trading on Friday."

    "The shares opened at $150 and reached $166.90 at around 12:20 p.m. ET, according to the Associated Press. At that price, the company has a
    market value of $2.18 trillion."

    So, the AP believes that 166.9/150 == 1.24. Guess again, guys.

    OK, innumaracy raises its loathsome head. But with the /AP/?

    (I get 166.9/150 == 1.11; interestingly, 24% of 150 is 36, not 16.9 --
    so I don't want to hear about how I am misundertanding their
    statement.)

    Of course, since this is all "funny money" anyway, it doesn't really
    matter. If the share price dropped to, say $83, Musk would be a half-trillionaire immediately.


    This is interesting: it suggests that businesses feeding each other in circular fashion is responsible for much of this hype. It also suggests
    that SpaceX is being used as a fig-leaf for Musk's Grok AI plans.

    ColdFusion
    SpaceX Went Public - A Disaster Waiting to Happen <https://youtu.be/FPIGu0anfAE>

    --
    ^?^. Sn!pe, bird-brain. My pet rock Gordon just is.

    What you think you heard is not what I said
    and what I said is not what you think I meant.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.16
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Dorsey@3:633/10 to All on Sat Jun 13 19:37:52 2026
    Subject: Re: "SpaceX shares up over 20% from opening price, as CEO Elon Musk becomes world's first trillionaire?

    Sn!pe <snipeco.1@gmail.com> wrote:
    This is interesting: it suggests that businesses feeding each other in >circular fashion is responsible for much of this hype. It also suggests
    that SpaceX is being used as a fig-leaf for Musk's Grok AI plans.

    I know nothing about the first part but the second part is definitely true. Musk has announced some plans for putting "AI data centers" in space which seems like a terrible idea to me since your problems of getting rid of heat become that much worse.

    It does worry me that money that could be going into space research and operations are being diverted into AI. That could be a great investment
    but I rather suspect it isn't.
    --scott

    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.16
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Christian Weisgerber@3:633/10 to All on Sun Jun 14 17:12:44 2026
    Subject: Re: "SpaceX shares up over 20% from opening price, as CEO Elon Musk becomes world's first trillionaire?

    On 2026-06-13, Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:

    Musk has announced some plans for putting "AI data centers" in space which seems like a terrible idea to me since your problems of getting rid of heat become that much worse.

    I wish the many people repeating this would explain the problem to
    me.

    You have a body that orbits (the Earth which orbits) the Sun at the
    Earth-Sun distance. This body is heated by the solar illumination
    is receives and cooled by radiation against the background of space.
    At that distance from the Sun, the average temperature of such a
    body will be similar to that of Earth. Whether it's a proposed AI
    satellite, any of countless existing satellites, or a dumb rock.

    Where is the extra heat coming from that getting rid of is supposed
    to be the problem? The satellite converts some of the incoming
    light photovoltaically intro electricity which it uses to perform
    work, but that doesn't change the heat balance.

    You can question the _economics_ of the proposal, but that is
    a different issue. Musk put up a video where he is discussing
    his ideas:
    https://x.com/SpaceX/status/2064099405758906727
    I couldn't be bother to sit through half an hour of talk, but
    from what I glimpsed, his thinking appears to be:
    * We want/need so much AI that running it would take a significant
    part or even more than the electrical power that is available
    in existing or near future terrestrial grids.
    * Economy of scale will make this cost-effective if we just scale
    it up enough.

    --
    Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.16
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From BCFD 36@3:633/10 to All on Sun Jun 14 10:56:19 2026
    Subject: Re: "SpaceX shares up over 20% from opening price, as CEO Elon Musk becomes world's first trillionaire?

    On 6/14/26 10:12, Christian Weisgerber wrote:
    On 2026-06-13, Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:

    Musk has announced some plans for putting "AI data centers" in space which >> seems like a terrible idea to me since your problems of getting rid of heat >> become that much worse.

    I wish the many people repeating this would explain the problem to
    me.

    You have a body that orbits (the Earth which orbits) the Sun at the
    Earth-Sun distance. This body is heated by the solar illumination
    is receives and cooled by radiation against the background of space.
    At that distance from the Sun, the average temperature of such a
    body will be similar to that of Earth. Whether it's a proposed AI
    satellite, any of countless existing satellites, or a dumb rock.

    Where is the extra heat coming from that getting rid of is supposed
    to be the problem? The satellite converts some of the incoming
    light photovoltaically intro electricity which it uses to perform
    work, but that doesn't change the heat balance.

    You can question the _economics_ of the proposal, but that is
    a different issue. Musk put up a video where he is discussing
    his ideas:
    https://x.com/SpaceX/status/2064099405758906727
    I couldn't be bother to sit through half an hour of talk, but
    from what I glimpsed, his thinking appears to be:
    * We want/need so much AI that running it would take a significant
    part or even more than the electrical power that is available
    in existing or near future terrestrial grids.
    * Economy of scale will make this cost-effective if we just scale
    it up enough.

    The computers that do the AI generate heat, just like the computers on
    the ground generate heat. If I remember right, the ISS has issues with
    extra heat at times. I know when I was working at NASA, my project had
    to keep track of the temperature of the mice we flew up there to make
    sure they didn't get overheated. We had an incident where the "brick"
    that powered the laptop near the mouse habitats was causing them to heat
    up and it had to be moved.

    I'm just guessing but the heat problem is that all of the power from the incoming photons is concentrated into a small area, and the small area
    heats up. That heat must be radiated away.

    --
    ----------------

    Dave Scruggs
    Senior Software Engineer - Lockheed Martin, et. al (mostly Retired)
    Captain - Boulder Creek Fire (Retired)
    Board of Directors - Boulder Creek Fire Protection District (What was I thinking?)

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.16
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Alexander Schreiber@3:633/10 to All on Sun Jun 14 22:17:03 2026
    Subject: Re: "SpaceX shares up over 20% from opening price, as CEO Elon Musk becomes world's first trillionaire?

    Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:
    On 2026-06-13, Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:

    Musk has announced some plans for putting "AI data centers" in space which >> seems like a terrible idea to me since your problems of getting rid of heat >> become that much worse.

    I wish the many people repeating this would explain the problem to
    me.

    The problem? There is an entire _list_ of problems with this hare-brained
    idea.

    Just some:
    - power delivery: data centers in general and AI infrastructure in
    particular is very power hungry (ball park numbers are 40..100 kW
    per rack, 100-1000 MW for the entire data center). Feeding them
    with solar would need (assuming high efficiency panels at 25%)
    4 square meters per kW, so that's 160..400 square meters for on
    rack-equivalent - assuming your setup manages to stay in the sun
    and out of earths shadow 24/7, if not, you need a lot more _and_
    batteries as well. And before you ask: nuclear is not a viable
    option.
    - cooling: one old data center design rule (one of many): every watt
    you shovel in to run the machines has to be shoveled out as heat
    again - the ISS for example has a total cooling capacity of around
    126 kW. And about those solar panels: we assume 25% efficiency, guess
    what happens to the remaining light energy? Some of it is reflected,
    sure, but most ends up heating the panels (which reduces efficiency),
    so those need to be cooled as well.
    - hardware reliability: on earth, computers are mostly shielded from
    nasty radiation (from the sun and further apart) via the many kilometers
    of athmosphere above them - no such protection in space. And the
    smaller the semiconductor structures are, the easier they can be
    disturbed by radiation - you _can_ shield them, but good shielding
    is heavy
    - repair: if some parts in a rack in a data center on earth fail
    (disk, SSD, RAM, CPU, ..) you send a tech with a parts cart into
    the machine hall to the rack and have them replace it, easy.
    In space ... yup, that would need a space launch, a little more
    expensive.
    - data links: you want high bandwidth, low latency data links to/from
    you data centers. Getting, say, a 100 TBit/s hookup for your data center
    on earth is not going to be super cheap, but generally easy, just put
    some fiber down (glossing over regulatory and other fun here), but in
    orbit .. well, an experimental setup (NASA TBIRD) proved 200 GBit/s
    orbit-to-ground data transfer

    Where is the extra heat coming from that getting rid of is supposed
    to be the problem? The satellite converts some of the incoming
    light photovoltaically intro electricity which it uses to perform
    work, but that doesn't change the heat balance.

    See above.

    You can question the _economics_ of the proposal, but that is

    Yep, the physics already look hilarious, the economics orders of magnitude
    more so.

    a different issue. Musk put up a video where he is discussing
    his ideas:
    https://x.com/SpaceX/status/2064099405758906727
    I couldn't be bother to sit through half an hour of talk, but
    from what I glimpsed, his thinking appears to be:
    * We want/need so much AI that running it would take a significant
    part or even more than the electrical power that is available
    in existing or near future terrestrial grids.
    * Economy of scale will make this cost-effective if we just scale
    it up enough.

    It would need a _massive_ amount of space launches to get the proposed
    "data centers in space" infrastructure up there ... and it just so happens
    that Elon Musk also runs a space launch company. What an amazing
    coincidence ...

    Kind regards,
    Alex.
    --
    "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
    looks like work." -- Thomas A. Edison

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.16
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Lurndal@3:633/10 to All on Sun Jun 14 21:18:57 2026
    Subject: Re: "SpaceX shares up over 20% from opening price, as CEO Elon Musk becomes world's first trillionaire?

    Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> writes:
    On 2026-06-13, Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:

    Musk has announced some plans for putting "AI data centers" in space which >> seems like a terrible idea to me since your problems of getting rid of heat >> become that much worse.

    I wish the many people repeating this would explain the problem to
    me.

    You have a body that orbits (the Earth which orbits) the Sun at the
    Earth-Sun distance. This body is heated by the solar illumination
    is receives and cooled by radiation against the background of space.
    At that distance from the Sun, the average temperature of such a
    body will be similar to that of Earth. Whether it's a proposed AI
    satellite, any of countless existing satellites, or a dumb rock.

    Where is the extra heat coming from that getting rid of is supposed
    to be the problem? The satellite converts some of the incoming
    light photovoltaically intro electricity which it uses to perform
    work, but that doesn't change the heat balance.

    The satellite power is derived from a solar array larger than
    an american football field, and consumed (i.e. turned into heat)
    by the smaller soi distant orbital data center. Which then needs to
    radiate the heat back into space. It's that last part where most
    of the difficulties lie, since the convection process used to
    dissipate heat in an atmosphere does not work in space.

    Modulo losses, the radiator likely needs to be larger than the solar
    array.


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.16
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Scott Dorsey@3:633/10 to All on Sun Jun 14 17:24:47 2026
    Subject: Re: "SpaceX shares up over 20% from opening price, as CEO Elon Musk becomes world's first trillionaire?

    Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:
    On 2026-06-13, Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:

    Musk has announced some plans for putting "AI data centers" in space which >> seems like a terrible idea to me since your problems of getting rid of heat >> become that much worse.

    I wish the many people repeating this would explain the problem to
    me.

    You have a body that orbits (the Earth which orbits) the Sun at the
    Earth-Sun distance. This body is heated by the solar illumination
    is receives and cooled by radiation against the background of space.

    Yes. The _only_ cooling you get is by radiation. Cooling by radiation
    is only useful for very hot objects... you don't get convection cooling
    in space.

    Where is the extra heat coming from that getting rid of is supposed
    to be the problem? The satellite converts some of the incoming
    light photovoltaically intro electricity which it uses to perform
    work, but that doesn't change the heat balance.

    Well, that's the OTHER half of the problem. Where IS all the energy to
    run those computer systems going to be coming from? You have a couple megawatts of electricity going in and a couple megawatts of heat coming
    out and both ends of that are problematic.

    Musk says:
    * We want/need so much AI that running it would take a significant
    part or even more than the electrical power that is available
    in existing or near future terrestrial grids.
    * Economy of scale will make this cost-effective if we just scale
    it up enough.

    If we can't get that much electrical power on earth, how are we going to
    get it in space? Nuclear power is feasible but that's only half the
    equation.

    I can't help but think that the solution for all of this mess lies in
    more efficient software.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.16
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Christian Weisgerber@3:633/10 to All on Sun Jun 14 21:12:06 2026
    Subject: Re: "SpaceX shares up over 20% from opening price, as CEO Elon Musk becomes world's first trillionaire?

    On 2026-06-14, BCFD 36 <bcfd36@cruzio.com> wrote:

    The computers that do the AI generate heat, just like the computers on
    the ground generate heat. If I remember right, the ISS has issues with
    extra heat at times.

    Presumably the ISS has problems with _distributing_ the heat. In
    particular, there is no convection in zero g, so you have to be
    very careful with inside equipment designed for Earth conditions,
    because it can develop hot spots. You need forced cooling, i.e.,
    a fan.

    I'm just guessing but the heat problem is that all of the power from the incoming photons is concentrated into a small area, and the small area
    heats up. That heat must be radiated away.

    Yes, you need a cooling circuit to distribute the heat. But I fail
    to see how the absolute amount of heat to be dumped is a problem.

    --
    Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.16
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Alexander Schreiber@3:633/10 to All on Mon Jun 15 13:18:38 2026
    Subject: Re: "SpaceX shares up over 20% from opening price, as CEO Elon Musk becomes world's first trillionaire?

    Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:
    On 2026-06-14, BCFD 36 <bcfd36@cruzio.com> wrote:

    The computers that do the AI generate heat, just like the computers on
    the ground generate heat. If I remember right, the ISS has issues with
    extra heat at times.

    Presumably the ISS has problems with _distributing_ the heat. In
    particular, there is no convection in zero g, so you have to be
    very careful with inside equipment designed for Earth conditions,
    because it can develop hot spots. You need forced cooling, i.e.,
    a fan.

    The need for forced air movement for various purposes (cooling, air
    exchange so the air remains safe to breathe everywhere, ...) is reportedly
    one factor that makes the ISS quite a noisy environment.

    I'm just guessing but the heat problem is that all of the power from the
    incoming photons is concentrated into a small area, and the small area
    heats up. That heat must be radiated away.

    Yes, you need a cooling circuit to distribute the heat. But I fail
    to see how the absolute amount of heat to be dumped is a problem.

    Because the more heat you need to move, the more equipment you need.
    Which has weight and needs to be factured into both lift (ground to
    orbit) and maneuvering (mass to rotate/move) weight budgets. Plus it
    likely needs cooling too. And maintenance. And repairs. Keep in mind
    that in (effectively) vacuum, you only can dump heat via radiation,
    which is not very efficient.

    Kind regards,
    Alex.
    --
    "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
    looks like work." -- Thomas A. Edison

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.16
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul S Person@3:633/10 to All on Mon Jun 15 08:15:17 2026
    Subject: Re: "SpaceX shares up over 20% from opening price, as CEO Elon Musk becomes world's first trillionaire?

    On Sun, 14 Jun 2026 17:24:47 -0400 (EDT), kludge@panix.com (Scott
    Dorsey) wrote:

    Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:
    On 2026-06-13, Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:

    Musk has announced some plans for putting "AI data centers" in space
    which
    seems like a terrible idea to me since your problems of getting rid
    of heat
    become that much worse.

    I wish the many people repeating this would explain the problem to
    me.

    You have a body that orbits (the Earth which orbits) the Sun at the >>Earth-Sun distance. This body is heated by the solar illumination
    is receives and cooled by radiation against the background of space.

    Yes. The _only_ cooling you get is by radiation. Cooling by radiation
    is only useful for very hot objects... you don't get convection cooling
    in space.

    Where is the extra heat coming from that getting rid of is supposed
    to be the problem? The satellite converts some of the incoming
    light photovoltaically intro electricity which it uses to perform
    work, but that doesn't change the heat balance.

    Well, that's the OTHER half of the problem. Where IS all the energy to
    run those computer systems going to be coming from? You have a couple >megawatts of electricity going in and a couple megawatts of heat coming
    out and both ends of that are problematic.

    Musk says:
    * We want/need so much AI that running it would take a significant
    part or even more than the electrical power that is available
    in existing or near future terrestrial grids.
    * Economy of scale will make this cost-effective if we just scale
    it up enough.

    If we can't get that much electrical power on earth, how are we going to
    get it in space? Nuclear power is feasible but that's only half the >equation.

    I can't help but think that the solution for all of this mess lies in
    more efficient software.

    <https://www.sciencenews.org/article/quantum-tensor-network-ai-model-reli

    agrees with you.

    The illustration "Total energy consumption of a compressed and
    uncompressed AI model" may be helpful in considering the impact.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.16
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)