Recently, I was chatting with a friend, and we were talking about ‘de-Googling’, federated networks and self-hosted services. As I was listing the benefits and my largely positive experience with them (the Fediverse for the most part), my friend pointed out that it isn’t an environmentally friendly solution, nor is it optimised for the long term. He told me that it requires more machines that consume more energy than a single large one, as these machines aren’t specialised for hosting services.
What’s your view on the argument that ‘several small machines that consume more energy are less optimised and eco-friendly than a single large one built and designed for that purpose’?
I realise that the large machine goes hand in hand with techno-fascists and that they are the real problem, but what if we were to look at this from a purely technical, forward-looking perspective on a clean future? How would you respond to this ?
Wow. This is literally the argument used by the megacorporation in book The Every (sequel to The Circle). It's supposed to be social commentary and satire of greenwashing - the megacorporation claims only it is capable of saving the world by being "green" (which includes recycling people's prized posessions like heirlooms and photographs into bricks for prisons)
Hahaha, but actually when i see what's going on in the real world and how much people sleep on it, it does feels like the greatest satire ! I really don't see much a difference between the book your describing and what's really happening..