General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours

[dtkvictim]

They don't have a local presence here though, do they?

Speaking of, I'm surprised the university hasn't been heavily leaning into AI considering we do have a big technology presence here. I know they have some, but not much. Maybe with the new hospital they'll get into that? The UW Innovation Area - next to the School of Pharmacy - is focusing on healthcare research and innovation. AI is becoming a really big thing there with WRHN itself starting to use it. There's a perfect opportunity for the region to build a large, new research focused general hospital that could spearhead innovation in that sector and with the universities and the culture of innovation and entrepreneurial startups, there's a perfect chance to make Waterloo Region an important centre of advanced healthcare innovation.

AI is way overhyped and not actually that useful.

(UW does have an AI institute).

Mostly agreed, I'd prefer our schools to keep up with research and technology changes, without chasing marketing trends.

Healthcare does seem to be a genuinely effective application of modern AI though.

[Momo26]

Not actually useful in what sense?

We haven't even seen the tip of the iceberg yet. Anyone who underestimates the advances of AI is going to fall so far behind modern tech it'll be compared like someone still using a an old one picture camera (where the bulb 💡 is fused after one flash) today, in 2025

[bravado]

Using electricity to make content that nobody wrote and nobody wants to read is not exactly my idea of a world-changing technology.

Using machine learning is a useful iterative technology that will continue to get better and more useful each year - but you don't get insane investment multiples with boring iteration on existing platforms, so you hype something up and now you've got trillions of investment dollars for something that writes flowery emails and puts coders out of a job.

[plam]

There are some emerging useful applications of AI, but only in particular specialty fields. Most of the AI currently being hyped is vaporware, absolutely.

Yeah, sure, I'm exaggerating a bit, but the stock market valuations of "AI" are way more than they should be. Cory Doctorow writes:

"AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations:"

https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/econo...telligence

[tomh009]

The key is understanding AI's capabilities and limitations, just like any other tool or technology. Don't assume everything is a nail, even if you have a very nice hammer ...

[tomh009]

Yeah, sure, I'm exaggerating a bit, but the stock market valuations of "AI" are way more than they should be. Cory Doctorow writes:

"AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations:"

https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/econo...telligence

That's a nice summary. To quote:

That doesn't mean "nothing to see here, move on." It means that AI isn't the bow-wave of "impending superintelligence." Nor is it going to deliver "humanlike intelligence."

It's a grab-bag of useful (sometimes very useful) tools that can sometimes make workers' lives better, when workers get to decide how and when they're used.

The most important thing about AI isn't its technical capabilities or limitations. The most important thing is the investor story and the ensuing mania that has teed up an economical catastrophe that will harm hundreds of millions or even billions of people. AI isn't going to wake up, become superintelligent and turn you into paperclips – but rich people with AI investor psychosis are almost certainly going to make you much, much poorer.

[Momo26]

I don't like the sounds of that re poorer!

[tomh009]

I don't like the sounds of that re poorer!

To quote James Goldsmith, "If you see a bandwagon, it's too late."

[ac3r]

Consumer end AI - the Gemeni and ChatGTP tier stuff - is but a glorified search engine, but there are indeed many applications in which so called AI is useful and the applications are growing. Health care is indeed one, but also other sciences or industries like defense, manufacturing, mining etc.

[plam]

Here's a good quote about workslop:

Here’s how this happens. As AI tools become more accessible, workers are increasingly able to quickly produce polished output: well-formatted slides, long, structured reports, seemingly articulate summaries of academic papers by non-experts, and usable code. But while some employees are using this ability to polish good work, others use it to create content that is actually unhelpful, incomplete, or missing crucial context about the project at hand. The insidious effect of workslop is that it shifts the burden of the work downstream, requiring the receiver to interpret, correct, or redo the work. In other words, it transfers the effort from creator to receiver.

Also:

Yet a recent report from the MIT Media Lab found that 95% of organizations see no measurable return on their investment in these technologies. So much activity, so much enthusiasm, so little return. Why?

Source: https://hbr.org/2025/09/ai-generated-wor...oductivity

(And using ChatGPT as a search engine is a terrible idea, since it doesn't care about facts.)

[Momo26]

https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...f116c.html

[ac3r]

On a flood plain in the heart of the city?! Oh noes. Cancel it and turn all of uptown into swampland.

[tomh009]

"Waterloo’s tallest tower is proposed at 39 storeys — on a flood plain in the heart of the city"

https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...f116c.html

[bravado]

That's such a shameless and cynical headline, I can barely believe it.

[creative]

That's such a shameless and cynical headline, I can barely believe it.

The Uptown Waterloo floodplain is a historic area shaped by Laurel Creek, which historically flooded extensively. Development in the area, beginning in the early 20th century, included efforts to control erosion and flooding through structural changes to the creek, but the city continued to develop in the floodplain. A 1993 watershed study identified Uptown Waterloo as having the most buildings exposed to flood risk, leading to an updated watershed planning approach and ongoing efforts, such as the 2019-2020 Silver Lake and Laurel Creek rehabilitation project, to manage the risk.

Historical Context

Pre-Development: Before European settlement, the Laurel Creek watershed was dominated by forests and wetlands, with dense forests covering most of Waterloo County in the early 1800s.
Development and Degradation: As the city developed, the clearing of land and draining of wetlands degraded the quality of the watershed.
Structural Flood Control: In the first half of the twentieth century, the city implemented structural changes to Laurel Creek to mitigate flooding and erosion.

Floodplain and Urban Development
Building in the Floodplain: Despite flood control efforts, urban development, particularly in Uptown Waterloo, continued within the floodplain, leading to increased risk from storm events and runoff surges.
1993 Laurel Creek Watershed Study: This landmark study identified significant flood risk in the Uptown Waterloo area due to building in the floodplain and the impact of stormwater runoff from urban areas.

Modern Floodplain Management
Watershed Planning: The 1993 study adopted a watershed planning approach to better manage flood risk.

Rehabilitation Projects: In response to ongoing flood risks, the City of Waterloo began a rehabilitation project in 2018 for Silver Lake and Laurel Creek.

Goals of Rehabilitation: The project aimed to improve water quality, flood control, public safety, and aquatic habitat by dredging and reconfiguring Silver Lake and making natural channel design repairs along Laurel Creek.
Floodplain Mapping Updates: The city has also been working to update its floodplain mapping to improve risk management and provide more certainty for future development.