Pakistan Allocates 2,000 Megawatts of Electricity To Bitcoin Mining, AI Data Centres (reuters.com)
- Reference: 0177783735
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/25/05/26/1549251/pakistan-allocates-2000-megawatts-of-electricity-to-bitcoin-mining-ai-data-centres
- Source link: https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/pakistan-allocates-2000-megawatts-electricity-bitcoin-mining-ai-data-centres-2025-05-25
[1] https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/pakistan-allocates-2000-megawatts-electricity-bitcoin-mining-ai-data-centres-2025-05-25
What else can we do with that much energy? (Score:3)
Feed the hungry? Treat some childhood diseases? I'm genuinely curious what our society prioritizes these days.
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Dictators and semi-dictators want showy projects like AI pyramids and military parades, they don't care about plebeians.
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Individuals with a false orange glow who cry about government spending see no irony in spending tens of millions on a vanity parade. Man I remember when Obama and Reagan did that. Oh wait, it was Putin and Kim Jong Un.
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> Oh wait, it was Putin and Kim Jong Un.
No it was Macron. Trump was invited to the Bastille Day military parade 2017, after which Trump declared he would organise a similar event.
> The inspiration for Trump’s push is last year’s Bastille Day celebration in Paris, which the president attended as a guest of French President Emmanuel Macron. Trump was awestruck by the tableau of uniformed French troops marching down Avenue des Champs-Elysees with military tanks, armored vehicles, gun trucks and carriers — complete with fighter jets flying over the Arc de Triomphe and painting the sky with streaks of blue, white and red smoke for the colors of the French flag.
> Aboard Air Force One en route home from Paris in July, aides said Trump told them that he was dazzled by the French display and that he wanted one at home.
> It was still on his mind two months later when he met with Macron on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
> “It was one of the greatest parades I’ve ever seen,” Trump told reporters. “It was two hours on the button, and it was military might, and I think a tremendous thing for France and for the spirit of France.”
> Seated next to Macron, Trump added: “We’re going to have to try to top it.”
> [1]https://www.washingtonpost.com... [washingtonpost.com]
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-marching-orders-to-the-pentagon-plan-a-grand-military-parade/2018/02/06/9e19ca88-0b55-11e8-8b0d-891602206fb7_story.html?utm_term=.735c0ff24277
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It don't matter who it was that gave la Presidenta the idea. What's wrong about it is that he's using the U.S. Military for his birthday celebration. That puts him in lil-Kimmy and Putini's league.
Which other president from 1900 onward would be so crass?
Re: What else can we do with that much energy? (Score:2)
Start a desalination plant.
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No. You're right. Priorities, you know. You wouldn't want the {Russians Chinese, North Koreans, Indians}... there, you wouldn't want the Indians to get ahead of you? Childhood diseases can wait. Also, haven't you heard? Vaccines are on their way out. So.. Yep, it's about priorities. We are talking about the Pakistan Ministry of Finance here. 2000 MW isn't that much, is it?
I'm super tempted to post anon, but, hey, I think you'll get the /s
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If you took the time to read the article and associated links in it.
1. They will be using surplus energy
2. Energy consumption has plummeted due to prolonged economic downturn
3. They must still pay for the surplus energy because of decades old contracts
So... in light of this, using the excess energy that they cant use and MUST pay for to mine Bitcoin, is a smart move.
Basically storing the capital they MUST expend now for later use. That capital will be highly liquid and spendable in the future in the largest
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If the power plants are generating a surplus of energy, then why not throttle them down? Oh wait, from TFA:
> Pakistan's energy sector is grappling with challenges, including high electricity tariffs and surplus generation capacity. [...] The rapid expansion of solar energy has further complicated the landscape, as more consumers turn to alternative energy sources to mitigate high costs.
So, it looks like the power plants would rather see the surplus be consumed and paid for, than pull back on production. In short, crypto and AI are excuses to keep the plants running at high capacity.
That shifts the question to one of the viability of crypto and AI vs. the consequences for the climate and environment from the excess production. Crypto and AI may endure in value. Or may not. I hope we f
Don't Feed the Bots? (Score:2)
"I know this is modern Slashdot...", I wonder how many posts are by bots nowadays?
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> Treat some childhood diseases?
Given that Pakistan is one of only two countries in the world where poliomyelitis is still endemic, maybe "childhood diseases" isn't their highest priority.
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How about "desalinate clean drinking water" ?
STEM-illiterate editors (Score:2)
Next time it will be "0.002 Terawatts", I suppose.
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At least the article got the capitalisation correct. Any reason you used an uppercase T?
Re: STEM-illiterate editors (Score:2)
Because the headline does.
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The headline is correctly written in “Title Case”: The article body is correctly written in “Sentence case”: 2000 megawatts.
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Because 2 bigawatts doesn't sound as impressive, 2,000 teenywatts does. Maybe you are familiar with something called marketing?
-Pedantic all the way down.
Can I propose the takeaway? (Score:1)
"surplus electricity"
They are enough... (Score:2)
...to start up a [1]De Lorean [youtube.com], with some leftovers to mine bitcoins and pay for the time-space toll road.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDuZqYeNiOA
57% is fossil fuels... (Score:3)
57% of their energy mix is fossil fuels...
We are destroying our planet for couple bitcoins...
Feeding the terrorists (Score:1)
So, the biggest terror state on earth chooses to further feed their terrorists instead of focusing on their poor population who don't have access to most basic food and health facilities. Pak is coming up to be the second most rogue state after North Korea.
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yes, they learned from honky trailer-park sheep-fuckers, like your dad.
The jokes should write themselves on this one (Score:2)
Fast track to the YOB! What could possibly go wrong?
(And "We don't need no stinkin' AC.")
Can anyone recommend any good books on the topics? I've read a number of books about cryptocurrencies and I'm only increasingly convinced they are entirely driven by bad motives often shading into evil. The blockchain remains a technology in a desperate search for a real application. And the Indian subcontinent? Divide and conquer run amok... (But Midnight's Children was still a interesting read...)
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Be careful there. I started talking like this on Reddit one time and I was subjected to a sustained and blistering attack. It was down voted so far that you could probably never find it again. Then someone copied my comment from an economics subreddit and reposted it on the cryptocurrency subreddit and they were even more viscous.
Re: The jokes should write themselves on this one (Score:2)
Like The Blob? Like Jell-O? Molasses?
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The biggest mystery so far is the identity of Satoshi. They either died or have way more self control than anyone on the planet to not even dip into the original wallets. [1]https://www.forbes.com/sites/d... [forbes.com]
Yes yes I know you can't cash out the entire thing and be an instant billionaire but a little taste here or there for a new car or new roof.
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2025/02/10/new-evidence-could-be-about-to-blow-up-the-mystery-of-bitcoins-satoshi-nakamoto/