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A lot of raw materials that go into modern electronics are produced using slave labor, and the “recycled” devices tend to end up poisoning the environments of p
by bunderbunder 4y ago
A lot of raw materials that go into modern electronics are produced using slave labor, and the “recycled” devices tend to end up poisoning the environments of people in similarly disadvantaged communities.
I don’t know enough about these things to know whether buying more or less of these devices directly helps enslaved people, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to observe that rampant consumerism does fuel the postcolonial economic machine that perpetrates that kind of exploitation. And I think that those of us who stand to benefit the most from this system would do well to be extremely cautious about how we are incentivized toward motivated reasoning.
- toolz 4y agoIt's also important to recognize consumerism has driven a lot of innovation which has benefited humanity. I venture to say one of the most impactful advancements in human history is providing access to the internet in almost every spot on the globe. That was influenced at least in part by so many people owning smart phones. A sufficiently technologically advanced human species might be the only thing capable of stopping the next extinction event. Something that will almost certainly occur naturally without any intervention.
- x86x87 4y agoHmm. A sufficiently technologically advanced human species may greatly accelerate the arrival of the next extinction event.
- toolz 4y agoSure, but another extinction event without humans is more or less inevitable - with humans it may be preventable. So our choices appear to be wait for the bad thing to happen or continue to drive each other to improve and learn, which consumerism does in fact provide great motive and drive for humans to improve (although not the only mechanism, I'm sure, just a large one we understand today). Hopefully we strike the right balance and solve these problems.
- bunderbunder 4y agoI always worry a little when something is both the purported solution to and the primary cause of a problem.
- jasonlotito 4y ago> A lot of raw materials that go into modern electronics are produced using slave labor, Can you confirm this for Apple products? I couldn't find anything recent.
- benj111 4y agoOk. Well there's 2 elements here, the factual and emotional. Factually you could argue either way. I suppose broadly you could say that industrialisation is bad for those at the bottom in the short term. But after the hump things get better. Is that pain reasonable? Is it avoidable? Are we morally obligated to avoid it? Are all somewhat open questions. The GP used the word 'reconcile' which to me is a more emotional metric. Personally I don't make the link (rightly or wrongly) between me buying X and person Y suffering. So personally I don't have anything to reconcile. That is a correct answer. It isn't the answer, but as an answer to the GP, it is legitimate. I can also see it being a reasonable answer to say that in buying Congolese cobalt you are helping the country industrialise, which in the long term is a good thing. Again you may disagree with the reasoning or morality but it seems to me a legitimate way of reconciliation.