Computers and ecology

Abstract

"MIT computer scientist Nicholas Negroponte enthused in his book Being Digital in 1995 that the digital landscape was giving rise to a new generation which was free of old prejudices and ignored the limitations of geographical proximity as the only basis for friendship, collaboration, games and neighbourliness. He described digital technology as having the potential impact of a natural force that would move people towards greater global harmony. Compared with all this faddish and tendentious chatter about computers, a real debate about computers and ecology involves an analytical return to matter, material, industry, raw materials, production, people’s exploitation of finite nature, and people’s exploitation of people."