The dark cloud : how the digital world is costing the Earth
- Bib ID:
- 8844223
- Format:
- Book
- Author:
- Pitron, Guillaume
- Online Access:
- National edeposit: Onsite at National Library of Australia
- Related Online Resources:
- Thumbnail
- Access Conditions:
- National edeposit: Available onsite at national, state and territory libraries
- Description:
-
- [S.l.] : SCRIBE PUBLICATIONS, 2023
- Brunswick, Victoria : Scribe Publications, 2023
- 1 online resource.
- File Characteristics:
- text file EPUB 6.2MB
- ISBN:
-
- 1761385100
- 9781761385100
- Summary:
-
A gripping new investigation into the underbelly of digital technology, which reveals not only how costly the virtual world is, but how damaging it is to the environment. A simple ���like��� sent from our smartphones mobilises what will soon constitute the largest infrastructure built by man. This small notification, crossing the seven operating layers of the Internet, travels around the world, using submarine cables, telephone antennas, and data centres, going as far as the Arctic Circle. It turns out that the ���dematerialised��� digital world, essential for communicating, working, and consuming, is much more tangible than we would like to believe. Today, it absorbs 10 per cent of the world���s electricity and represents nearly 4 per cent of the planet���s carbon dioxide emissions. We are struggling to understand these impacts, as they are obscured to us in the mirage of ���the cloud���. Some telling numbers: If digital technology were a country, it would be the third-highest consumer of electricity behind China and the United States. An email with a large attachment consumes as much energy as a lightbulb left on for one hour. Every year, streaming technology generates as much greenhouse gas as Spain ��� close to 1 per cent of global emissions. One Google search uses as much electricity as a lightbulb left on for 35 minutes. All of humanity produces five exabytes of data per day, equivalent to what we consumed from the very beginnings of the internet to 2003 ��� an amount that would fill 10 million Blu-ray discs which, piled up, would be as high as the Eiffel Tower. At a time of the deployment of 5G, connected cars, and artificial intelligence, The Dark Cloud ��� the result of an investigation carried out over two years on four continents ��� reveals the anatomy of a technology that is virtual only in name. Under the guise of limiting the impact of humans on the planet, it is already asserting itself as one of the major environmental challenges of the twenty-first century.
- Full contents:
-
- Intro
- About the Author
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Introduction
- 1 The digital world's environmental benefits: fiction vs. fact
- 2 Smartphones and the art of Zen
- 3 The dark matter of a digital world
- 4 Investigating a cloud
- 5 An appalling waste of electricity
- 6 Battle of the far north
- 7 Expansion of the digital universe
- 8 When robots out-pollute humans
- 9 Twenty thousand tentacles under the sea
- 10 The geopolitics of digital infrastructure
- Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Appendixes
- Notes.
- Notes:
-
- "First published in France by Les Liens qui Liberent as L'Enfer numerique in 2021"--Copyright page.
- Translated from the French.
- Includes bibliographical references.
- General.
- Translated from French.
- Print version record
- Subject:
-
- Artificial intelligence -- Environmental aspects
- Big data -- Environmental aspects
- Internet of things -- Environmental aspects
- Sustainable development -- Technological innovations
- Technology -- Environmental aspects
- Applied ecology
- Business & Economics - Industries - Computer Industry
- BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Industries -- Computers & Information Technology
- Climate change
- Communication studies
- Computers - Internet - General
- Computers - Social Aspects - General
- COMPUTERS -- Social Aspects
- Environmentalist thought & ideology
- Ethical & social aspects of IT
- Greenwashing and other forms of deceptive marketing
- Impact of science & technology on society
- Information technology industries
- Internet & WWW industries
- Internet: general works
- Media studies: internet, digital media & society
- Nature - Ecology
- Popular culture
- Science / Global Warming & Climate Change
- Social Science - Popular Culture
- Social Science / Media Studies
- Social Science / Technology Studies
- Technology - Environmental Engineering & Technology
- Technology - Social Aspects
- TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING -- Environmental -- General
- TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING -- Social Aspects
- Genre/Form:
- Electronic books
- Other authors/contributors:
- Available From:
- Scribe Publications Pty Ltd
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
You may copy under some circumstances, for example you may copy a portion for research or study. Order a copy through Copies Direct to the extent allowed under fair dealing. Contact us for further information about copying.
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary, dramatic or musical work
- Published status:
- Published
- Publication date:
- 2023
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
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