Alternatively: time passes like a kidney stone and the only way to endure it is to clench and focus on something small and irrelevant.

I am not an expert in engineering projects in China, which is why I rely on 3rd party reporting to give me an idea of what is going on in that space. And when China makes what seems to me to be a preposterous claim, qualified by "if everything goes according to schedule," I am suspicious. Not because I particularly distrust Chinese engineers, but because the project managers in my own country are prone to the same tendency to overstate scope, and understate budget and schedule.

Why would you assume any of that? If there is one constant in large-scale engineering projects, it is project managers over-promising on what their teams can deliver. In this case, they are promising a miracle salvation from the global DRAM shortage, so a measure of scepticism is, I believe, warranted.

Not to detract from your point, but assuming that exponential growth continues is one of the classic statistical blunders.

"assuming all current projects are completed on schedule"

From the article. This is the single largest fallacy one can engage in in engineering.

The fever effect is fairly well documented, and could account for what you're seeing. For me, when I'm sick it feels like I suddenly gain the ability to take care of myself.

Speaking as a senior dev: AI has replaced new hires and interns, and the students know it. Why would management hire me juniors when Claude does what they can for cheaper? Will be interesting to see how this ouroboros functions in 10 years when it's still recycling the state of the art as of 2022, and the senior devs start retiring with nothing but agentic backfills.

Also Americans: Four score and twelve seven years ago, ...

Fucking Dallas, TX. Of all the major cities in North America, Dallas is the most devoid of culture. It is a city inhabited by cars, not people. If you took the average of all North American cities, it would be Dallas, but not in a way that derives any value from the cities included in the average. If you asked an LLM to generate an American metroplex, you would get a low-resolution, but otherwise one-to-one map of Dallas and Ft. Worth. Dallas is the backrooms except with a clear view of the sky.

Dang, he who gets spread gets bred. Law of the jungle baby.