The center of the virtual world, economically andculturally, may still be the United States, but thework of creating that world leaves a real and growingfootprint overseas. American technology giants haveestablished data centers in about two dozencountries, and electronics manufacturers draw onmaterials fraught with ethical and environmentalconcerns. Those include the so-called conflictminerals — tin, tantalum and tungsten (and alsogold) — as well as rare earth metals that areavailable almost exclusively from China. At thesame time, the rapid cycle of obsolescence and replacement that feeds the expansion alsoproduces a lot of garbage — nearly 42 million metric tons of toxic e-waste in 2014, less than asixth of which made it into the regulated recycling stream, with much of the rest being brokendown by workers at dumps throughout the developing world. Following are a few scenes fromthe digital life cycle.
虚拟世界的中心在经济上和文化上或许仍然是美国,但创造虚拟世界的工作越来越多地转向海外。美国科技巨头们已经在大约24个国家建立了数据中心,电子产品制造商们使用材料的过程催生了对于伦理道德和环境的关切。这包括了所谓的“争端矿物——锡、钽、钨(和黄金)——以及为中国垄断的稀土金属。与此同时,过时与替代的快速循环维持了产业的扩张,也制造了大量垃圾——2014年,全球产生了将近4200万吨有毒的电子垃圾,其中不到六分之一进入了受监管的回收渠道,而剩余的大部分则被发展中国家的工人在垃圾场分解。以下是数字产品生命周期中的几幕场景:
【数字产品噩梦 流向全球的电子垃圾】相关文章:
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2020-09-15
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