Resource Scarcity and Socially Just Internet Access over Time and Space

Abstract

Computing within Limits is concerned with "the impact of present and future ecological, material, energetic, and societal limits on computing". This paper discusses limits to computing by adopting a resource perspective on the provisioning of infrastructure for computing with a particular focus on present and future availability of material resources such as minerals and energy. While making claims about resources in general, we use copper as a specific example of coping with finiteness. The first part of the paper summarizes known facts but it is also a set-up for the latter part of the paper where we problematize the concept of "innovation" and argue that the term needs to be both refined and broadened to also take scarcity and just access to resources into account. We suggest that in a resource-constrained world and in the area of computing, a suitable goal for innovation should be to guarantee (to the largest extent possible) internet access over space and time, e.g., to the largest number of people and for the longest duration of time.