Designing data center infrastructure as simple, undifferentiated capacity that adapts to needs, avoiding premature specialization that locks in energy inefficiency.
The Taoist concept of the uncarved block (pu) represents potential in its raw state—simple, flexible, and ready to become whatever is needed. In data center design, the uncarved block opposes the trend toward specialized, optimized hardware for specific workloads. Instead, it suggests modular, generalist infrastructure that consumes energy efficiently across diverse tasks without specialization overhead. Specialized systems require power for features unused in any given moment; they're locked into fixed energy patterns. An uncarved block approach uses commodity hardware, flexible virtualization, and general-purpose systems that adapt their energy consumption to actual demand. This reduces the embodied energy cost of over-engineered solutions and allows infrastructure to evolve without replacement. Laozi valued simplicity as profound strength. Applied here: simpler systems consume less power maintaining unnecessary capability, waste less energy on unused specialization, and adapt more readily to changing computational needs.
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