I'm glad somebody out there is brave enough to push back against the "personal ChatGPT usage is terrible for the environment" message https://andymasley.substack.com/p/a-cheat-sheet-for-conversations-about
"If you want to prompt ChatGPT 40 times, you can just stop your shower 1 second early."
"If I choose not to take a flight to Europe, I save 3,500,000 ChatGPT searches. this is like stopping more than 7 people from searching ChatGPT for their entire lives."
This is a recasting of the "it's ridiculous to ban private jets - they are only a small percentage of CO2 emissions" argument.
We consume prodigious amounts of the Earth's resources. We need to stop encouraging even more consumption.
If someone needs to loose weight to get healthy, do we offer a dessert mint after the burger they already eat?
Be ashamed of bad habits; don't use them to justify new ones.
That's why I got rid of my car, stopped flying, use green energy, etc.
Just a small note, though: using weight or eating habits as a comparison can unintentionally come across as fat-shaming. We can discuss better choices for the planet without making people feel bad about their bodies. (I'm going to assume you meant well here.)
Outside of the drive-by reply, I didn't realize how much online streaming's environmental footprint was.
The flip side is when people who need to lose weight for health reasons get shamed as fat-phobic.
(Eg, https://medium.com/in-fitness-and-in-health/shamed-as-fatphobic-for-pursuing-better-health-d530ad30b1d behind a Medium wall but available elsewhere.)
On the other hand, I want to make flyskam - "flight shame" - real and widespread.
Discussing things nicely hasn't worked during the last 35 years.
Re: online streaming, I wonder how much of that is from the media transfer, and how much for the ad system (user tracking, customized bids, etc.)
In my journey to improve my health and wellness, I’ve gotten lost within the dark side of the fat acceptance, body positivity, and Health At Every Size (HAES) communities. Hi, I’m Holly, and I’m a…
My point is to look at one's entire CO2/pollution budget, not make relative comparisons.
Dickens: "Annual income £20, annual expenditure £19/6, result happiness. Annual income £20 pounds, annual expenditure £20/0/6, result misery."
Collectively exceeding our budget will bring misery.
Two flights per year might be within the CO2 budget, in which case - happiness!
OTOH, two flights + ChatGPT, might bust the budget - misery.
Simon Willison
Jeff Triplett
Andrew Dalke
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