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June 1996
Earth in the Balance: Computers and the Planet’s Future

By Philip Goff

 



In the second of his two part series on society’s increasing dependence on computer technology, Philip Goff looks at computers, the environment, and corporate power.

Unlike other forms of technology, nothing has developed at quite the rate of computer technology. Besides the impact on human culture (see May 1996 edition of Satya), computer technology is also having dire consequences for the environment. Individuals, stores, restaurants, and companies both large and small now feel a "need" to keep up with the emerging technology in order to stay competitive. This has meant that hundreds, if not thousands, of terminals, C.P.U.’s, and keyboards are being thrown away every day. They are seen as being big, clumsy, and slow, and are replaced every few years with more powerful hard drives and software. As the popularity of computer ownership grows, and as the technology progresses, this wasteful cycle of obsolescence can only get worse.

Although new computers are smaller and use less plastic and packaging than their older counterparts, the manufacture of computers is still incredibly energy intensive and very toxic. Much like factory farms, there is inevitably heavy pollution around computer or software production plants. Ask any resident of Silicon Valley in California. Here, in the birthplace of the computer industry, lies one of the highest concentrations of hazardous waste sites in the U.S. Computers also require large quantities of electricity to operate. Despite stricter energy consumption codes, homes and offices reliant on computers use far more energy than they had previously, gutting any progress American society has made at reducing energy demand.

The most insidious effect that computer technology is having on the planet is the increased power computers are giving to multinational corporations. The increased efficiency and wealth that computer technology is giving to companies whose interests are cars, forests, electronics, mining, and oil, dwarfs the positive impact that computers are having on the general public. Animal and environmental activists must keep in perspective that as they become more unified via web pages, e-mail, and the Internet, the increasingly corporate and global economy is becoming 10 times more unified. Clearly, without the influx of computer technology, the over-development of undeveloped countries and the exploitation of the Earth’s natural resources and indigenous peoples would occur at a much slower rate. Despite their many beneficial uses, it is obvious that computers will further accelerate the ecological damage being done to this planet.

Paving the Information Superhighway
The ascendancy of the information superhighway is yet another way in which corporations can extract control over our culture. According to many pundits, we must create the infrastructure for the information superhighway just as we created the interstate highway system in the 1940s and 50s. In this case, the infrastructure will be created, for the most part, by multinational computer and telecommunications companies such as Microsoft and AT&T. This gives corporations with very specific agendas a lot of power and influence. Have you noticed that, like magic, computers and the Internet are now topics of discussion in the press and for millions of people? There is a question we all need to ask ourselves: is there really a demand for the Internet, World Wide Web, interactive television, networked computers in all public schools (as the President promised in a campaign speech in February), etc., or, is the demand being artificially created by laying down the infrastructure and the constant positive reinforcement arriving via the press, the government, and the advertising industry? Are we being socialized to accept computer technology as a necessity, just like a refrigerator or indoor plumbing?

The interstate highway system indeed makes for a nice parallel. When highways were built after WWII, there was no enormous demand for them. America was still quite rural and most cities had efficient mass transit systems. In fact, the highways themselves created the demand for more highways. They were not built to alleviate traffic, they created traffic by giving the populace a great incentive to buy automobiles. This, of course, pleased development interests, car companies, and oil companies, some of the main beneficiaries of the "growth" economy, a dysfunctional system built on the twin pillars of development and consumerism.

Likewise, in the 1990s, the information superhighway is not being created to supply a massive and organic demand for more information. In fact, it creates the demand, and is a great incentive for the populace to buy computers and pour unnecessary money into modem hookups and telecommunications equipment. This, of course, pleases telecommunications, computer, and software companies, the emerging power players in the post-industrial "growth" economy. The information superhighway is to Microsoft and AT&T what the interstate highways were to General Motors and the Standard Oil Company. When one understands this, and then couples it with the power these companies have through advertising and government lobbyists, the reasons behind the absence of a critique of computers become clearer.

Images of the Future
As frightening as computer technology may seem on its own, it is important to note that it also paves the way for other technologies even more alarming. It creates foundations for increased knowledge in sciences such as genetics, bio-engineering, robotics, and artificial intelligence. If we compare computer technology from 20 years ago with where it is today, just imagine the possibilities a generation from now! The eventual advent and propagation of artificial intelligence will inexorably change the course of human cultural history. The apocalyptic "war against the machine" in the hit movie Terminator II may not be such a fantasy in 2025.

Computers promise to make life easier and more enjoyable. The fact is, for most people, life has become more difficult and less enjoyable: money is tighter, violence is pervasive, and job security is waning. For every hour saved by the latest computer program or gadget, there is another hour and 10 minutes worth of work, because those same computers have made people’s jobs and lives more competitive in the emerging global economy. This phenomenon parallels the emergence and rapid domination of the automobile as a transportation mode. For every hour it saves by whisking motorists around at higher speeds and on wider highways, the "system" created by the car, i.e. decentralized cities, sprawling suburbs, and massive congestion, adds 70 minutes of tedium to one’s life. Hence the specious reality of many new forms of technology: for all of the problems they purport to solve by making life more convenient, they create a whole new set of environmental and cultural problems and anxieties. This spiral will go on and on forever, for unless society begins to seriously question the role of technology, we run the ultimate risk of dehumanizing our culture and forever compromising the ecological balance.

Philip Goff is a graduate student in urban planning and an eco-activist. He would like to thank Kathy Roberts for her excellent copy editing. Click here to read the first part of this article.

 

 


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