It’s true that ai needs energy, water, and land, but I’m not sure it’s competing with humans for those resources.
Even if we use the most extreme projections for how much energy, water, and land ai will consume in the future, it will still use only about 1.7% of total human energy use, 0.04% of total human water use, and 0.01% of total land use.
If anything is competing for those resources it’s cows, which make up 8-10% of human energy use, 10-20% of human water use, and 40%-50% of human land use.
I’m not against technology. I question the scalability of resource-intensive technology inside a capitalist system that regards life itself as an economic unit.
I know you're not against technology! I was just saying this particular technology is not as resource-intensive as other systems. (And therefore, isn't as much of a worry to me as other systems are)
For those interested, here’s some further reading:
https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1116327/ai-energy-usage-climate-footprint-big-tech/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/libertbarry/2025/11/03/ai-versus-humans--the-race-for-natural-resources/
"instead life is becoming an appendage of technology." Very true, Claudia. Things feel pretty bleak at the moment.
I’m reading a book called Life 3.0 about how we should go and exploit the universe because only the most ambitious species will survive. 😂
It’s true that ai needs energy, water, and land, but I’m not sure it’s competing with humans for those resources.
Even if we use the most extreme projections for how much energy, water, and land ai will consume in the future, it will still use only about 1.7% of total human energy use, 0.04% of total human water use, and 0.01% of total land use.
If anything is competing for those resources it’s cows, which make up 8-10% of human energy use, 10-20% of human water use, and 40%-50% of human land use.
(Rough ChatGPT math….)
I’m not against technology. I question the scalability of resource-intensive technology inside a capitalist system that regards life itself as an economic unit.
I know you're not against technology! I was just saying this particular technology is not as resource-intensive as other systems. (And therefore, isn't as much of a worry to me as other systems are)
40-50% of land use for cows?
this statistic seems impossible to be correct. But we should really consume a lot less meat, i heartily endorse that view.
It's true! If we eliminated just lamb and beef production, we'd return three Europe-sized continents' worth of land to the wild.
https://www.elysian.press/p/we-could-return-three-continents
https://ourworldindata.org/global-land-for-agriculture
yes...it does appear to be true...I was very surprised.😬
Me too. So crazy.