The Choice Between an Easier Present or A Greener Future

Technological advancements are the buzz of the hour. Every organization wants to possess the latest tech stack, irrelevant of whether it actually makes a difference to their bottom line.

That’s the thing with trends – it makes you follow things without running a background check.

While the tech advancements are not a fad. But it sure is something that needs our attention. And not toward how it is making our lives effortless but how it could potentially ruin the lives of future generations.

Making the Difficult Choice

High-end technology resources do not always paint a picture of physical data centers or any physical infrastructure. But the truth, highlighted in a report by the Guardian , is even the “cloud” relies on physical data centers that consume massive amounts of energy – even more than commercial flights.

And this is just the beginning. Large Language Models like ChatGPT, the talk of the AI town, are lagging far behind in their duty towards the environment, using up millions of liters of water to cool down the machines used for training these models. As if AI was not enough to bring our attention spans down or evade our privacy, now it is also significantly contributing to polluting our environment.

While governments worldwide are making ambitious plans to incorporate technology, they are overlooking the environmental aspects of this. Their ambitious plans could lead to more energy consumption and, in turn, cause damages that would take ages to reverse if they are reversible.

Another opportunity cost occurs while companies move toward a future with less reliance on fossil fuels. While giving up their usage of fossil fuels, companies are now looking for ways to exploit areas where the availability of resources is at a lower price.

And it would surprise you that lithium and cobalt, known for their use in batteries and the motor sector are also widely used in the data centers. Moreover, their extract also involves human rights violations and water usage in huge quantities.

The list could continue, but the point is to make you aware of the implications of the technological advancements going on at a swift pace.

We need to make a choice, and it has to happen now. Do we really need gadgets to give us the comfort that we could do without? Is inculcating AI in every field making a difference to the bottom line? Think about it, what will be the end of this so-called upgrade?

Making the difficult choice now would guarantee a better future tomorrow. The choice is yours - do you want to continue with your comfort? Or do you want to secure a sustainable and better future?

?