Vitalik: The anti-data center movement may not be a bad thing; the slowdown in the massive expansion of computing power could be a net positive

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin expressed his disagreement with the strong emotional reaction against the anti-data center movement this week. The core logic is based on algorithmic advancements; now larger and more data centers are needed to complete tasks that could be done in two years with existing data centers in four years (or even sooner). Therefore, even if the anti-data center movement achieves extreme success, it will not trigger any apocalyptic catastrophic consequences.

Vitalik pointed out that slowing down the expansion of computing power can buy humanity more time to strengthen responses to the already emerging cybersecurity issues and potential biological risks in the future. At the same time, scientific applications are constrained by many factors beyond AI, so if AI development slows down for a year, the degree of scientific progress slowdown will be much less than a year. Overall, the slowdown in the massive expansion of computing power seems to have a net positive effect, and this judgment does not rely on controversial arguments such as "apocalyptic theories" or recursive self-improvement (RSI).