Many of the conflict minerals required to produce modern computers, as I understand it, are not currently possible to source ethically. Is this purely about abusive labor practices or are there cultural issues which make the extraction itself the problem? Are there alternatives which could be more “sustainable”, but would make computers slower?

I worry that the idea of “we establish communism and then the exploitation stops” may ignore various microeconomic issues or make invalid assumptions about the cultures of the people who would still be doing that extraction.

And if you don’t give a shit about cell phones or the internet or whatever, what about things like MRI machines? Those supply chains are inherently global. The materials for them do not exist in any single region.

  • p_sharikov [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Several relevant problems could be solved under socialism. I don't know whether this would completely resolve the issue, but massive improvements are possible.

    1. No more treating electronics like they're disposable. Actually repair and maintain electronics.

    2. Only use as much hardware power as is actually required for the given application. Refrigerators do not need to be able to run browsers.

    3. No more treating electronics like toys. Cell phones do not need to be replaced with the newest, flashiest model every two years.

    4. No more throwing together insanely inefficient software in a rush to increase profits. Many apps now are basically running a dedicated operating system on top of your actual operating system (looking at you, Electron). This is obscene.

    5. No more unnecessary software bloat. Companies take increases in consumer computing power as an opportunity to load more garbage on your phone or computer.

    6. Crypto must die.

    7. Mobile gaming must die.

    8. VR must largely die.

    9. Gamers must touch grass.

    Edit: I am running a lightweight linux distribution on a used computer from like 2014 with an i5 processor and no graphics card, and it works great. My monitors are ancient (like 2008?), and I am still using them because there is absolutely nothing wrong with them. Wherever possible, I run native graphical software instead of web apps, and the performance difference is remarkable. So much of consumer electronics is just bullshit marketing and profit-seeking laziness.