The Aquifer and the Algorithm

What a trillion dollars of cooling infrastructure reveals about a species that can’t think in aggregate

Kelvin signs the water permit on a Tuesday. It’s a good permit. The engineering is sound, the flow rates are within spec, the aquifer recharge modelling says the draw is sustainable at the facility level. He’s a competent man doing competent work. He has a mortgage in suburban Virginia, and the permit crosses his desk alongside eleven others that week, …