NVIDIA has announced they will build a space datacentre jointly with startup Starcloud.
I thought this is cool – humanity is moving closer towards the Dyson sphere project which earlier could only be contemplated in science fiction.
Basically this means a lot of autonomous datacentres, equipped with solar panels, orbit around our Sun which means they get uninterrupted access to free power and reduce CO2 emissions on Earth.
Questions may be asked such as what to do with slow ping (connection) to these satellite datacentres especially when they are at their max distance from Earth or hidden behind the Sun. Also, how the problems of cooling and maintenance will be solved.
Those, however, in my opinion are all solvable problems. For example, in relation to long ping, that might not be a problem considering the current trend in AI. Just 6-12 month ago, AI would only be able to complete simple tasks and needed constant interaction with a human operator. Now, there are already autonomous agents that you can leave working overnight to complete a whole project. In a way, the task-level maturity of AI is growing fast. Thus, the demand is going to be there, I’m pretty sure of it.
Now, will the humanity adapt and how that’s another question. Will these new datacentres be used for research, improving healthcare and prosperity of the humanity and all living things? Will it help with our exploration and understanding of the Universe?
Will humanity be able to resists the temptation to use the growing AI capabilities towards destructive or entertainment only applications? Real-world Matrix anyone?
Will humanity be able to adapt and co-exist productively with the new specie born by this technological evolution?
We will see and work towards a better outcome!