The comparison between physical and digital “junk” is limited. Yes, ultimately the digital has a physical presence on a server somewhere, but microscopic. It doesn’t clutter your house or your life the way, for example, hundreds of old magazines you can’t bring yourself to throw away, do.
The comparison breaks down in another way: it’s very easy to find your digital “junk” in the cloud, usually by typing in a few key words or sorting by date. The issue strikes me as a pseudo problem. We have enough real concerns in this life. Enjoy the ease and low cost of storing whatever you want in the Cloud.
“Part of the blame surely rests on the gatekeepers of The Cloud themselves. ”
Yeh roughly 99.99%. They create a system which moves your stuff around without your permission, fucks with your photos, regularly stuffs up by misplacing items or replacing current versions with older versions etc etc. And CHARGE you for it. All while pumping out vast amounts of greenhouse gases, creating buildings that when seen, even from a distance, increase the risk of depression in those so inclined while inspiring rage in rhe well adjusted. Fuck ‘em, fuck all of them!
Applying Kant's categorical imperative, an individual's digital detritus might be relatively small, but when everyone retains that amount of data - and the data, including all the "junk email" keeps accumulating over time - it does have an impact.
The sentences beginning "Data centers are resource guzzlers" smuggle many, many assumptions about energy use and 'planetary heath' into a series of handwaving, unsubstantiated gestures. Disappointing to see such cliched language coming from Liberties, which (I had thought) was dedicated to freedom of thought, not the reproduction of thought-killing ecocliches.
The comparison between physical and digital “junk” is limited. Yes, ultimately the digital has a physical presence on a server somewhere, but microscopic. It doesn’t clutter your house or your life the way, for example, hundreds of old magazines you can’t bring yourself to throw away, do.
The comparison breaks down in another way: it’s very easy to find your digital “junk” in the cloud, usually by typing in a few key words or sorting by date. The issue strikes me as a pseudo problem. We have enough real concerns in this life. Enjoy the ease and low cost of storing whatever you want in the Cloud.
“Part of the blame surely rests on the gatekeepers of The Cloud themselves. ”
Yeh roughly 99.99%. They create a system which moves your stuff around without your permission, fucks with your photos, regularly stuffs up by misplacing items or replacing current versions with older versions etc etc. And CHARGE you for it. All while pumping out vast amounts of greenhouse gases, creating buildings that when seen, even from a distance, increase the risk of depression in those so inclined while inspiring rage in rhe well adjusted. Fuck ‘em, fuck all of them!
Applying Kant's categorical imperative, an individual's digital detritus might be relatively small, but when everyone retains that amount of data - and the data, including all the "junk email" keeps accumulating over time - it does have an impact.
The sentences beginning "Data centers are resource guzzlers" smuggle many, many assumptions about energy use and 'planetary heath' into a series of handwaving, unsubstantiated gestures. Disappointing to see such cliched language coming from Liberties, which (I had thought) was dedicated to freedom of thought, not the reproduction of thought-killing ecocliches.