I deeply dislike the line of argument that goes “we shouldn’t bother reducing our personal energy consumption because 100 corporations produce 70% of greenhouse gases” or similar arguments. Of course we should. Because it’s the right thing to do.
But it’s also true: those 100 corporations and their ilk absolutely promote a false narrative that personal responsibility is the solution to climate change, in order to prevent climate regulation that might harm their bottom line.
And frankly, I think that’s what’s going on here with panic over AI power consumption. Corporate lobbyists and PR creating yet another distraction to slow the course of climate regulation and guilting ordinary people for doing ordinary things in the process.
Personal responsibility has always been capitalism’s mechanism for normalizing corpo behavior. The fake Native American trash commercial in the 70s, banning home cleaners that business can still use at industrial scale, buying new electric cars being somehow carbon better than just not being a vehicle consumer every five minutes, there are examples going even further back in time, but my brain doesn’t currently have enough caffeine to dig further back.
I deeply dislike the line of argument that goes “we shouldn’t bother reducing our personal energy consumption because 100 corporations produce 70% of greenhouse gases” or similar arguments. Of course we should. Because it’s the right thing to do.
But it’s also true: those 100 corporations and their ilk absolutely promote a false narrative that personal responsibility is the solution to climate change, in order to prevent climate regulation that might harm their bottom line.
And frankly, I think that’s what’s going on here with panic over AI power consumption. Corporate lobbyists and PR creating yet another distraction to slow the course of climate regulation and guilting ordinary people for doing ordinary things in the process.
Personal responsibility has always been capitalism’s mechanism for normalizing corpo behavior. The fake Native American trash commercial in the 70s, banning home cleaners that business can still use at industrial scale, buying new electric cars being somehow carbon better than just not being a vehicle consumer every five minutes, there are examples going even further back in time, but my brain doesn’t currently have enough caffeine to dig further back.