My career was in mechanical engineering which intersected with AI (or machine learning, as we used to call it) in many ways – from the design of optimally lightweight and strong structures to controlling robots, AI has been around in some form for decades.
But with the application of AI to large language models and the rise of hyperscale data centers, AI seems poised to make, or break society. Viewing this from a homesteading lens, I’ve always been a bit of a doomsday prepper, but oh boy, I really don’t want an AI doomsday to occur. While I may be able to provide some resources and food for my friends and family, there is no way that we’d all be able to survive off of only what we make on the homestead.
It’s pretty clear that we likely on the path of AI breaking society with AI friends and lovers, but I still hold out hope for a solarpunk future where humans, nature, and technology live in harmony.
If you haven’t heard of solarpunk, then I highly suggest looking into it. Just as steampunk and cyberpunk concepts are built around specific technologies, solarpunk has solar and renewable energy as the forefront technology, but there is an appreciation for nature in the solarpunk community that is not found in otherpunks.
Why is that? Well, plants are natural solar panels, and people still need food from plants. There’s even been a lot of research into Agrivoltaics which is the combination of agriculture and solar farms on the same land.
In a sense, to me solarpunk is the “golden path” – the only viable future for humans that doesn’t result in a dystopian nightmare. Solar powered AI robots can be used to grow food, and humans can be left to do what humans do best, create.