[conspire] Discussion: Using LLMs the Right Way: 10/1/2025 7pm Eastern Daylight time

[Steve Litt]

Deirdre Saoirse Moen said on Wed, 1 Oct 2025 23:51:29 -0700

[snip prior discussion about LLMs]

>I like water. I like natural resources. I like them far, far more than
>the negligable benefits LLMs offer.

You're right about that...

If the anti-LLM crowd had foundationed their anti-LLM complaints on the
environment instead of "dumbing down programmers", they'd have been a
lot more credible to me.

I keep hoping we'll have practical fusion energy in 10 to 20 years,
which would greatly reduce the horrible environmental impact of LLMs'
huge electricity uses. Same with cars, heating, air conditioning,
and lighting. That hope dimmed considerably on November 5, 2024.

I could make excuses. I could talk about getting 23 mpg in the city,
27mpg on the freeway, and driving less than 5K miles per year. I could
talk about setting the AC to 77 or 78 Fahrenheit in the Florida mid
summer. But in an ever faster sweltering world causing monster fires
for you and yearly hurricanes for me (except so far we've gotten lucky
this year), those excuses ring hollow.

I will say I try to tailor my LLM queries to involve as little thinking
as possible for the LLM, and I'm conscious of the environment when
using ChatGPT, just like when I'm running water out my tap.

In my opinion, you've stated the one undisputable disadvantage of LLMs.

SteveT

Steve Litt 

http://444domains.com