It can help gather concerned people together to form coalitions and projects that help. It connects creative people with solutions to a larger audience than they might otherwise have. Films like the incredible Our Planet stream on Netflix, which can jar people out of complacency.
But the amount of planet-warming electricity needed to power the Net could require as much as a fifth of all power generated. Already it is billions of kilowatt hours a year.
5G is clearly inevitable. What is going to stop it or even slow it down? Does the EU have a plan for that? 5G requires large increases in physical infrastructure. And it will create huge consumer conveniences, which will no doubt make it quite popular. Certainly along with all the home appliances “phoning home” with your data, remote medical procedures will become much more common, saving lives.
All this wonderfulness of the Tech of our Dreams Come True, even if the spying-on-consumers aspect wasn’t happening, which of course it is, goes on with a backdrop of what many scientists call “the sixth extinction” - though this time it is we, humanity, causing it.
So, yes we want a human-centered internet that respects and empowers us, but what if it is a net contributor to this die-off and climate change in general? Can the development of the Net, for better or worse, even be considered outside of this reality?