I own, but do not operate, a few IT companies that manage corporations in the $600MM-$1B receivables range.

Based on our own help desk ticket software, our clients have opened 40% fewer tickets since ChatGPT was rolled out to every desk and phone. 40%. I expect another 40% drop (total 80%) by next year as end users just manage things themselves.

I won't downsize as the tickets aren't really generating revenue as much as headaches. One of my engineers had a broken PDF file that took her 6 hours to fix, and the end user spent 6 days trying to fix it themselves with Ai.

But -- the basic stuff? Reboot your computer stuff? Email rejected because you mistyped a domain name stuff?

You don't need a human, and we would probably have outsource that stuff to India anyway next year if not for ChatGPT etc.

I spend quite a bit on Discord server services, but I'm out.

GFY, Discord and governments, for mandating this bullshit nonsense.

You can add how they've recently reclassified transgenerism (ne gender dysphoria) to the reasons why people have lost trust in the mainstream medical/psychological profession, as well.

Psychology has always been prone to un-scientific activities, but it's become increasingly bad with the wanton politicization of diagnostic standards, on top of the un-scientific approach employed in making most individual diagnosis.

Police detectives tend to not work "a beat", but instead a selection of cases. Reviewing paperwork from the field can easily take up most of their time. They could have to be reading like a hundred witness statements to try to figure out what actually happened, most likely, who's lying, and why. Collaborating testimony with other evidence, reviewing security camera footage, reading test results - DNA, fingerprint, drug, residue, etc... Deciding whether or not there's enough evidence to try for a warrant or the UK's equivalent. Following up with witnesses, scheduling interviews, etc...

Talking to people in public isnâ(TM)t harassment.

Talking to people on taxpayer funded grounds also isnâ(TM)t trespass.

Tax funded?

Not private property anymore.

Well, that's $489 per kWh, which is over $100 USD/kWh, but that also includes engineering, facility construction, grid integration, and all that.

I might be being pessimistic, but I'm not being massively so like the original poster, who was assuming replacement every 15 years. I was pushing that out to 20-30 and suggesting even longer. But, well, I wanted to stick to tested information. And most of that information is with EVs at this point, not grid reserve. We shall have to see.

I mentioned Sodium though? $400B AUD for LFP, $100B AUD for sodium.
And right now LFP cells are tested to last longer than Sodium Ion. But they are supposed to theoretically be able to last longer than LFP, which is why I said there's room for R&D to extend that.

By the sound of it, he’s arguing that in a 100% renewable electric grid, to keep outages from rare production lulls—like multi-day periods that are both overcast (cutting solar) and calm (cutting wind)—to less than once per decade, you’d need about 3 days’ worth of energy storage. That’s plausible. Even a 30-day stretch producing only 90% of demand could be buffered with that reserve.

Australia’s annual electricity use is around 200 TWh, so 2 TWh is roughly 1%—closer to 3.7 days of average demand. That’s in the right ballpark, especially with rounding and overhead. Back-of-napkin accuracy is fine here; maybe the extra cost is wiring, inverters, and grid integration.

What’s not reasonable are the cost comparisons.

Australia’s public healthcare budget is about $180 billion AUD/year. A lithium-ion buildout at ~$100 USD/kWh would cost around $400 billion AUD for 2 TWh. Spread over 15 years, that’s ~$26 billion AUD/year—just 14% of healthcare spending, not more.

If they go with sodium-ion, which is emerging at ~$30 USD/kWh, the total cost drops to ~$100 billion AUD, or ~$6.7 billion/year—less than 4% of healthcare spending.

And that’s assuming a pessimistic 15-year battery lifespan. In reality, the sheer size of the system means shallow daily cycling, which dramatically extends life. Batteries degrade slower when they’re not pushed hard. A system sized for rare deep discharge could last 20–30 years, especially with smart charge management.

Plus, investing $100B+ into grid storage would naturally accelerate R&D, manufacturing scale, and chemistry improvements. LFP cells currently outperform sodium-ion on cycle life, but sodium has room to grow-and in grid use, even 40% remaining capacity can still be useful. You don’t need to scrap a battery at 80%. Just add more cells or shift its role.

I've been thinking about this some. It's NYC, so entry from outside would imply a ground floor, less than ideal. Maybe climbing up a fire escape would work.

Making it look like a utility closet would probably work well. Still have access from inside, not restricted to where you can get at it from outside the building. All depends on the access rating of the place, of course. For example, a painted wooden panel screwed onto the wall concealing the entrance. Sure, can't access it on a whim, but could sit for years.

Keeping an eye on public records to find spaces that are under dispute with said dispute unlikely to be resolved anytime soon, then just change the locks.

There are ultimately lots of options.

I'm actually thinking that it would be "make VOIP calls look local and avoid mass shutdowns for spamming people with scam calls."

They then rent the service out globally to said scammers from China, India, even Pakistan and North Korea.

It doesn't need to be a whole abandoned building - just a specific abandoned spot within it. If anything, a building still otherwise in use would be superior, more noise to hide the power draw in.
I've watched some some specials on NYC buildings. "Useable" floorspace getting walled away or even just forgotten behind a locked door happens regularly. Inheritances, will disputes, remodeling snafus, and more.

As for the use of the servers themselves - I'm guessing they were used to make scam calls and such using local phone numbers.

Fantastic - exactly what I have always not wanted! Fingerprints on my screen!

This is retarded.

1. It isn't for profit healthcare that is the problem, it's THIRD PARTY PAY.
2. I don't use third party pay, ever, for healthcare. I've been insured nonstop for over 30 years, and NEVER ONCE has my insurer paid my doctor.
3. Even when I've had emergencies, I still called around, negotiated a fair cash up front rate, paid cash up front, and billed it to my insurer. My cash up front rate was sometimes below any co-pay negotiated with my insurer, lol.

I just recently had some elective surgery that would have cost me about $2000 on my annual deductible, but I was able to cash pay a negotiated rate of $400 including a follow-up "free". I submitted the $400 to my insurer and they reimbursed me.

Third party insurance exists because YOU VOTERS demanded the HMO Act of the 1970s, which tied health care to employment, and then employers outsourced it to third parties.

Health care is remarkably cheap in the US (cash pay, negotiated) and I don't have to wait months to see a doctor when I call and say I am cash pay. They bump me up fast.