I think you're pushing the metaphor a bit far, but the parallel was to something like ore.

A power plant "mines" electron, which the data center then refines into words. or whatever. The point is that energy is the raw material that flows into data centers.

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fuzzfactor 4 days ago | parent [-]

Maybe more like converting energy to data, as a more specific type of refinement.

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phkahler 4 days ago | parent [-]

Using energy to decrease the entropy of data. Or to organize and structure data.

	▲	LaGrange 3 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		This is OpenAI, they are not decreasing the entropy. This is refining coal into waste heat and CO2.
	▲	fuzzfactor 4 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I like that. Take random wild electrons and put them neatly into rows & columns where they can sit a spell.