Opportunity

[Eric Oyen]

I am not going to argue politics, especially on this list. However, I do ask that you dismiss all the pundits on both sides, go out and do your own research. Just an honest opinion on my part, I don’t think you are going to like what you see.

-Eric
From the Central Offices of the Technomage Guild, Political Sciences Dept.


> On Aug 17, 2022, at 3:25 AM, David Schwartz via PLUG-discuss <plug-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
> 
> I don’t know what you’re referring to exactly about the economy crashing, other than the typical doom-and-gloom nonsense that the right-wing propaganda machinery floods the airwaves with whenever Democrats are in charge of things. The truth is, things are always shifting, slowly but surely.
> 
> As for technology, I’d make this simple observation:
> 
> At some point, the world leader in CPU chips — Intel — was following along the same path they had been taking for years and was working on a 5 GHz CPU when they realized that as they kept trying to speed-up CPUs, the amount of effort needed to extract the heat from the chips would make the hardware far too expensive and cumbersome to remain viable. So they decided that multiple CPUs on the chip where the CPU speed was around 2-3 GHz would be better in the long-run. 
> 
> I’m guessing that the folks at a world leader in computer engineering — Apple Computer — also figured this out. Intel sells chips; Apple sells computer systems. Dell buys Intel chips and integrates video cards from another vendor that use Intel’s GPUs. Apple doesn’t really care who makes what; they just want to maximize their profits.
> 
> Coincidentally, video cards have been hard to come by because the GPUs have been getting hijacked for use by crytocurrency miners. A large portion of these have Intel GPUs on them.
> 
> Apple decided it might make more sense to simply put a bunch of CPUs and GPUs on one substrate and then tune their software to run on this sort of architecture, alleviating the dependency on separate CPU and GPU chips and cards. There’s a side-effect in that nobody is going to be hijacking their GPUs for other purposes.
> 
> Intel apparently didn’t want to lose the revenues they’ve been earning from their GPU chip sales to crypto miners and, well, Apple is no longer using either Intel’s CPUs or GPUs.
> 
> So while some say the economy is “crashing”, the 10 largest corporations in the world are all reporting record profits and growth. The stuff politicians are doing to continue long-term policies that enable corporations to siphon off more and more money from consumers is appalling, and may well lead to a lot more discomfort and pain for consumers, but certainly not from corporate shareholders and execs. If you want to profit from that shift, then buy stocks in these large and growing companies. Warren Buffet has large holdings in them, as well as Apple. He also owns a large utility company in Nevada.
> 
> Speaking of utility companies, one thing that is surely going to help “crash” the economy (for consumers) over the coming decade is the increasing growth of EVs and their need to get their fuel from the power grid. The same power grid that’s going to be used to power computers and crypto miners. Some with politically-motivated arguments might see it as convenient that states like Arizona have passed laws that give utility companies the power to punish consumers who want to install their own renewable energy sources and batteries to become independent of the power grid. Yes, we’re talking about those folks who’d like to unhook from the inevitable increases we’re going to see in the cost of electricity, especially since the cost of fuel to power generators is also skyrocketing — and the profits from those price increases is nearly all flowing into the bank accounts of the monarchy of Saudi Arabia (with the help of elected officials in Congress, both past and present, members of both political parties).
> 
> The tea leaves are pretty clear to many readers: there’s a big shift towards more and more things in our life that require electricity to run, and it’s inevitable that the cost of said power is going to go up. But the price of gas is also going up, which is contributing to the increase in power costs. Buying a bunch of old computers that consume 3x the power of the newest computers does not seem like a smart way to avoid increases in the cost of electricity.
> 
> Make your home more thermally efficient so you don’t need to run your A/C as much. Replace electronic equipment with newer lower-power stuff. Reduce your overall carbon footprint by 10%. Grow your own fruits and veggies. Set up a wind turbine or solar panels to charge batteries that power your electronic equipment at home, but do not connect them to the grid. Buy an inexpensive EV to get around town, because in the long-run it’ll be far cheaper than a gas-powered vehicle. (I recommend a Bolt or a Leaf as they’re the cheapest EVs on the market today and will remain so for 2-3 years due to factors like the global chip shortage. I got a 2019 Leaf SL Plus, and I *LOVE* it! It only costs me 4¢/mile in electricity to drive.)
> 
> While you’re at it, figure out how to generate $100-$200 per day online to supplement your income. 
> 
> -David Schwartz
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On Aug 15, 2022, at 9:31 AM, Keith Smith via PLUG-discuss <plug-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org <mailto:plug-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org>> wrote:
>> 
>> Hi,
>> About 24 years ago I worked for a guy who used to say "There is opportunity in chaos.".
>> 
>> Given the chip shortage and other things taking place in the global space, present and future, I am wondering what do you see as opportunity in this present/coming chaos?
>> 
>> FWIW I am an old guy who has started to realize that being forward thinking is VERY important.
>> 
>> To keep things relevant I see that hardware is finally powerful enough that 10 year old hardware can run Linux rather well.  If the economy really is going to crash it might be worth acquiring some old iron, SSD drives, and RAM for future projects.
>> 
>> Your thoughts?
>> 
>> Thanks!!
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