Andy Masley

@andymasley.bsky.social

3536 Followers 429 Following

When the going gets weird the weird turn pro. Researching and writing about AI and other topics from a broadly effective altruist perspective. On a grant from Coefficient Giving. andymasley.com

No! I’m just some guy. For any claim I make, I hyperlink or footnote it with a reliable source, or back it up with math you can check. I never ask readers to trust what I’m saying, you can verify any factual claim I’m making by following the links I provide. I use a lot of different sources and check their own trustworthiness. Sometimes I’ll cite specific sources that present other information well, even if the source itself has a bias. For example, I sometimes cite Construction Physics, a blog I like a lot, even though the author works for a think tank that is generally pro building more data centers. When I do that, I’m never citing the author’s personal opinion, it’s always external numbers from sources like the US government (like their big reports on how much water agriculture uses) that he’s just made more readable. If you think I’m misrepresenting a source I’ll pay you money to let me know. Many everyday people are commenting on AI and the environment right now. Most educated people I meet now have strong confident takes on AI and water use for example, and will talk about it in person and write about it online a lot. I see myself as one of those everyday people, responding to the same sources everyone else has access to. I’m not claiming to have any expertise that you need to trust over any other everyday people. I am claiming to have the easily accessible actual numbers and facts from external sources that are often missing from the debate about data centers.
A row of nine books standing upright between two black art-deco-style bookends on a wooden surface. From left to right: Derek Parfit's Reasons and Persons, Superforecasting by Philip E. Tetlock and Dan Gardner, Quine and Analytic Philosophy, Plunkitt of Tammany Hall by William L. Riordon, The Machinery of Government by Heath, the three volumes of Fernand Braudel's Civilization & Capitalism, 15th–18th Century (The Structures of Everyday Life, The Wheels of Commerce, and The Perspective of the World), and Energy and Civilization: A History by Vaclav Smil.