"Continual growth in the use of materials and energy would lead fairly quickly to absurdly high numbers that could never be sustained in the real world. In the last couple of centuries, humanity’s usage of energy grew at about 3% a year. If that rate of growth continues, regardless energy sources used, planet’s surface would reach boiling temperature in about 400 years—not due to CO2, but to the simple thermodynamic impacts of so much energy being transferred."
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2024-10-31/to-grow-or-not-to-grow-that-isnt-the-question/
So how are OpenAI and the world doing on AGI readiness?
"In short, neither OpenAI nor any other frontier lab is ready, and the world is also not ready."
"To be clear, I don’t think this is a controversial statement among OpenAI’s leadership."
https://milesbrundage.substack.com/p/why-im-leaving-openai-and-what-im
Electric vehicles are often presented as a key technology for drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions, thus helping curb climate change.
But manufacturing electric cars requires the mining of critical minerals for batteries, like lithium and cobalt, that are largely sourced in developing countries. Local traditional and Indigenous communities say the mining is already harming their way of life, damaging biodiversity, and polluting.
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/green-credentials-of-electric-vehicles-come-under-fire/
Data centers "consumed 17 gigawatts of electricity in 2022, or about 4 percent of total U.S. consumption. This is projected to double to 35 gigawatts by 2030."
“But now your data center for AI applications is no longer a hog, it’s an elephant and it’s living in your backyard,” Eric Woodell, an expert in data centers, stated.
"A mere 10-foot-square space within the average data center consumes about 10 times as much electricity as the average home."
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/how-big-tech-consuming-americas-electricity-and-water
The "green" tech scam must be exposed
"The much-needed re-politicization of environmental problems as advocated by political ecology in general, and degrowth in particular, needs to be accompanied by the simultaneous re-politicization of technological issues. The assumption that technological fixes are the only possible response to social and ecological issues trumps the possibility for developing more emancipatory political ecologies of technology."
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09632719231209745
"That’s why Metroc turned to prison labor. The company gets cheap, Finnish-speaking workers, while the prison system can offer inmates employment that, it says, prepares them for the digital world of work after their release. Using prisoners to train AI creates uneasy parallels with the kind of low-paid and sometimes exploitive labor that has often existed downstream in technology. "
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/prisoners-training-ai-finland
Over 2 percent of the US’s electricity generation now goes to bitcoin
Bitcoin is a true evil, destructive force, the pure expression of unbounded greed. And bitcoin is a good mirror of what Big Tech actually is, a greedfest of hype cycles, churning out one grift after another, the latest being AI.
The only difference between Silicon Valley and Las Vegas is in the chips they use.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/02/over-2-percent-of-the-uss-electricity-generation-now-goes-to-bitcoin/
We have a global freshwater crisis and it going to get much, much worse
What's the solution?
AI and more data say the tech visionaries and innovators
Doesn't AI consume vast quantities of water itself?
Globally, data centers are forecast to consume 450m gallons of water daily by 2030, up from ~205m in 2016, according to data reviewed by Bloomberg.
https://thehustle.co/big-tech-s-thirst-for-ai-dominance-may-bring-literal-thirst-for-everyone-else/
E-waste is fastest growing waste stream in world
70% of toxicity in dumps is from e-waste
Electronics have become less and less repairable
Harder and harder to properly recycle
E-waste from Global North is dumped in Global South
Such countries have neither the proper equipment, standards or policing to ensure e-waste is disposed of properly
The result is toxic soil, water and air damaging health of all, particularly children
This is the world Big Tech made
https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/lax-regulation-poses-threat-to-s-africas-e-waste-initiatives-2023-10-06
“The point is that 5G is a solution that is looking for a killer app. 5G exceeds our biological capabilities to read, to watch, to listen. I don’t know a killer app for 5G.”
In the engineering school, they don’t teach us anything about the environment. They train us to improve things. It’s another word for efficiency. We’re never asked to solve a social problem. We’re only asked to solve a technical problem.
5G: A symptom of the Growth Death Cult
https://www.thisishcd.com/episode/manuel-vexler-5g-a-symptom-of-the-growth-death-cult
Ireland is the 13th worst country in the world for biodiversity. It’s an ecological desert. And the Irish State plans to devastate the environment even more, turning Ireland into the mining capital of the world. Hear the voices of brave and determined environmental protectors who despite receiving death threats, and all sorts of other intimidation, are determined to protect the environment. They need your help.
www.afterthegoldrushpodcast.com
"Many engineers focus on product-level analyses and often miss the systems-level impacts of the products they are “improving.” Our 2021 analysis of 320 articles on digital technology, each with a title that implied inclusion of an environmental assessment, found that only 115 actually had such an assessment. The rest focused on energy use or electrical configurations leading to greater efficiency, as if these constituted sustainability advances."
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2023-09-29/degrowth-for-engineering-and-engineering-for-degrowth/
"Mountaintop removal for lithium to go into electric vehicle batteries is ecocide, just like mountaintop removal for coal mining is. I visited the site of yet another planned open pit lithium mine that is threatening the Great Basin — this time, in the state of Oregon. This site, about 15 miles north of Thacker Pass, is vital habitat for the Lahontan cutthroat trout, sage grouse, and countless other species — and it would be completely destroyed if the mine is built."
https://maxwilbert.substack.com/p/how-much-land-must-be-sacrificed?publication_id=555107&post_id=137557756&isFreemail=true&r=3g47a
"In this series of articles, Low-tech Magazine examines the reasons behind the ever-expanding resource use of digital communication and what we can do about it. The internet isn’t an autonomous being. Its growing energy use results from decisions made by software developers, web designers, marketeers, publishers, and internet users."
https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2023/08/thematic-books-series/
"It's a recipe for disaster," Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement organizer Jake Grobe told Futurism. "ChatGPT is not a necessity for human life, and yet we are literally taking water to feed a computer."
https://futurism.com/critics-microsoft-water-train-ai-drought
Degrowth is the only hope.
"A majority of climate scientists is now calling for "degrowth"—a democratically planned, equitable reduction of less necessary forms of production—in high-income countries in order to enable faster decarbonization. Key degrowth measures include the expansion of universal public services and a job guarantee in sustainable sectors."
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-fund-radical-ecological-social-policies.html
Uruguay's devastating drought was at its peak when President Luis Lacalle Pou took an unexpected question from a young student during a visit to a primary school in the capital: "Why is the water so salty?"
"We have to wait for the rain," Lacalle Pou replied. "We must save our water only for essential needs."
Meanwhile, Google has plans for Uruguayan water ...
https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/headlines/2608049-feature-in-latin-america-data-center-plans-fuel-water-worries
Removing The Headphone Jack Is About Planned Obsolescence, Not “Courage”
"In this article, we will uncover the real motive behind removing the headphone jack from mobile phones. Contrary to what companies may say, it’s not about bravery or driving innovation. Instead, it’s all about planned obsolescence – the deliberate act of designing devices to become obsolete and force consumers to upgrade."
https://cellularnews.com/mobile-phone/removing-the-headphone-jack-is-about-planned-obsolescence-not-courage/
Of all CO2 damage modern humans have caused since our emergence about 250,000 years ago, we have caused 75% of it since 1970
In 2023, we have crossed six of nine boundaries within which human life on Earth will still be possible for future generations.
2009: 3 boundaries crossed
2015: 4
2023: 6
1. Biosphere integrity
2. Global warming
3. Nitrogen and phosphorous
4. Soil loss
5. Freshwater loss
6. Plastic pollution
We will soon cross:
7. Ocean acidification
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adh2458
Save the environment. Don't upgrade
"trading in your old smartphone for the newest model is the worst thing you could do. According to Apple’s own metrics,79 per cent of the phone’s lifecycle carbon emissions are released during production. Resisting the urge to own the latest iPhone won’t reverse emissions for the products hitting the shelves next week, but it will help to limit how many phones are made in the future."
https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/09/12/iphone-13-release-date-how-much-energy-will-you-save-by-not-buying-the-new-phone
"There are more than 440 nuclear reactors around the world, and each is a disaster waiting to happen. Nuclear reactors are most dangerous in two situations: first, as at Fukushima, when direct physical damage to the plant disables back-up generators and other safety equipment. And second, as at Chernobyl, when design flaws combine with user error to create a catastrophic failure."
https://dgrnewsservice.org/civilization/colonialism/the-nuclear-question-are-we-hostages-to-modernity/
"Education systems struggle to adapt to the fast pace of change in technology. The turnover of education technology products is three years on average, but curriculum reform takes place every ten years. This means countries cannot expect to react to every new device on the market. They must map out and prioritize the digital skills they want to teach learners and teachers that will stand the test of time. "
https://www.unesco.org/gem-report/en/articles/four-questions-ask-choosing-technology-education
@e2aff28e only at beginning of its potential harm. We don’t need AI to figure out what to do. We need wisdom. We need degrowth. We will either manage degrowth or Nature will degrow us.
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