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AI capex is so big that it's affecting economic statistics

(paulkedrosky.com)
339 points throw0101c | 4 comments | 18 Jul 25 19:59 UTC | HN request time: 0.63s | source
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niemandhier ◴[19 Jul 25 05:52 UTC] No.44612914[source]▶
Railroads lead to a distribution of capital into the society and to a long term increase of wealth for many.

Ai leads to a capital concentration on the hands of those that already have money and might lead to a long term reduction of wealth for the middle class.

Less purchasing power in the population usually is not good for economic development, so I have my doubts with respect to a boom .

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1. chii ◴[19 Jul 25 06:14 UTC] No.44613015[source]▶
> Railroads lead to a distribution of capital into the society

does it? I recall that railroads were monopolies (the vanderbilts). The gov't had to pass an act to break them up, because there were price collusions and farmers were forced to pay a higher price for their transport of foodstuffs.

> Ai leads to a capital concentration on the hands of those that already have money

that is true for a lot of other capital intensive ventures. Why pick ai specifically?

And AI is less monopolistic - at least it's not a natural monopoly. There are competition, and there are alternatives.

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2. ruined ◴[19 Jul 25 06:30 UTC] No.44613088[source]▶
railroads are for moving freight, and you don't move freight if you're not selling goods. yes there were trust issues, but fundamentally a railroad requires a surrounding market.

ai does not, and seems to suffer the "resource curse" https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Mak2kZuTq8Hpnqyzb/the-intell...

3. niemandhier ◴[19 Jul 25 08:31 UTC] No.44613642[source]▶
Railroads needed steel and construction.

They were giant infrastructure projects build by thousands of humans.

Ai is not.

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4. chii ◴[19 Jul 25 08:55 UTC] No.44613765[source]▶
how many more people are involved in the entire supply chain of a single chip, compared to construction of rail roads?