AI Lions and Renewable Straw
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat . . . and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
Isaiah 11:6
The book of Isaiah, written between the 8th and 6th centuries BC, prophesies a utopia where all natural enmities disappear and predators and prey become as one and take the same sustenance.
It is understandable that the Israelites of the time, oppressed by Assyrians and Babylonians, would long for a peaceable kingdom. Today, however, it is less understandable – in fact downright baffling -- that investment managers who pride themselves on their rationality seem to believe that we live in a world in which physics and economics have gone with the wind, and the lions in their portfolios can prosper on a diet of straw.
The conceit I am referring to concerns the voracious lions of artificial intelligence (AI) and the utopian dream of decarbonization. The AI revolution needs the red meat of reliable power – in science-fiction-like quantities – while the decarb dreamers’ windmills and solar panels can deliver only unsatisfying amounts of marginally nutritious straw. Many investment managers own shares of AI leaders[1] such
as Nvidia while simultaneously professing a commitment to net zero CO2. This is portfolio management animated more by blind faith than by proven, analytical process. Investors would be wise to question whether they wish to invest with organizations which seem almost willfully ignorant of the performance-sapping implications of this conflicted approach.
https://heartofliberty.com/blog/blog/7503779/ai-lions-and-renewable-straw
