So I read an article while researching e-waste (as a computer engineer, its something i will get the power to do something about) i saw that many precious minerals that are essential to modern computers are running low. Low as in, there will be no more available in the ground low. This didn’t make me think of what it would do to the companies who make computers, but rather of the small rural communities polluted with the remains of computers, which have all these rare metals in their guts. If the deficit becomes to great, the prices will go up, making the waste more valuable, but value holds power, and power invites violence. Will these poor communities become like the gold and diamond mines of Africa? With warlords watching over their recovery and reaping the profits of the sale, while the common man, continues like he always has, poor, sick, and with no hope for the future? Is there something that can be done in these places to set them up for success? Or will humanity continue as it always has, with the few and the violent forcing the honest and hardworking to labor for them? I don’t know what forces will come into play, or if I will be able to mitigate the suffering to come with my engineering knowledge, but I do know that it is a problem now, and could be a bigger problem in the future.
