> But wouldn't it be nice if the US spent more money addressing the shortage of compute rather than blowing $h!+ up for the lulz?
No actually. The best way to ensure growth is in exactly these kind of industries that promote innovation. Sure some companies don't make it but that's the price to pay for risks.
This is a classic case of optimising for the short term and forgetting the long term benefits
So you're saying starting opt-in wars and blowing shit up is sound economic policy for the long run? Gonna disagree. I think the long view is unbounded compute. But I also believe it doesn't take up all that much space, and that we already have the technology to power it if we weren't squandering our impulse cash on dumb shit like subsidizing coal and wars of peacocking.
Where did I suggest starting opt-in wars?
What did you think I meant by blowing $h!+ up? And I gather you are against strategies like China's w/r to building up their own separate tech infrastructure and going all in on renewables and nuclear so they aren't power-limited because you believe these should both be entirely free market operations?
I believe that gives countries that act like China a significant advantage over relying entirely on a bunch of antagonistic billionaire monkeys banging on their economies in the hopes of bringing the singularity somehow. Again, we can agree to disagree here. But we're also forgetting that this is how the United States made Elon Musk happen in the first place.