Abstract
The growing number and popularity of smart devices is astonishing. Most people, despite some concerns regarding privacy, welcome these devices. A belief in the positive value of technological innovation drives the welcoming and consumption of smart technologies, together with an idealized view of a future in which we delegate many activities to these technologies. These devices are thought of and sold as contributors to a better quality of life, economic growth, and progress. However, these technologies are also driven by the capitalist imperative: the accumulation of capital. But the impression of these devices being smart and positive obscures these imperatives and their negative impacts, including their environmental consequences. In this paper, I draw attention to the environmental consequences of smart devices, pointing to the increasing extraction of materials and the pollution that their production and consumption entail. I also comment on their environmental inequalities tied to smart devices.
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