A Future Of Internets

From Energy Literacy
to Fossil-Free Imaginaries

A Future Of Internets

From Energy Literacy to Fossil-Free Imaginaries

As a kick-off of FIBER’s Reassemble Lab ‘Natural Intelligence’, this public programme invited artists, technologists, researchers and policy makers to reflect upon the possibilities of a fossil-free internet based on ecological ethics and regenerative principles.

The immense possibilities of today’s internet services, data centres, artificial intelligence and rendered computer graphics have been made possible by a large supply of cheap energy sources: fossil fuels. The promises of yet another generation of artificial intelligence and the rise of the metaverse and NFT’s are unthinkable without the endless extraction and flow of fossil energy. Many are already talking about ‘data warming‘ as one of the strongly growing drivers of global warming.

The first part of the programme was also part of MozFest, the online festival by Mozilla, and will discuss the themes of Energy Literacy and Fossil-Free Imaginaries. You can still get familiar with the topic with Marloes de Valk (software artist, writer and PhD researcher at the London South Bank University), Michelle Thorne (Sustainable Internet Lead at the Mozilla Foundation and co-founder of Branch Magazine), Shayna Robinson (futurist, tech environmentalist, Program Officer for the Internet Society Foundation’s Research and Innovation Programs) and Abdelrahman (Abdo) Hassan (data science practitioner, activist and poet).

The second part discussed the themes of Everyday Technologies and Collective Infrastructures with Tega Brain (artist, environmental engineer and co-founder of Solar Protocol), Kim van Sparrentak (member of the European Parliament for GroenLinks), Mick Jongeling (design researcher interested in ethics, energy and transformation strategies) and Aymeric Mansoux (media researcher and Reader at the WdKA).

Replay the programme below

Programme

Marloes de Valk (she/her)
Speaker

Talk: From Appropriate technology to Permacomputing: A Glossary of Counternarratives and Practices.

Marloes de Valk (NL) is a software artist and writer in the post-despair stage of coping with the threat of global warming and being spied on by the devices surrounding her.

There is a rich diversity of terms, concepts and practices in existence, related to lowering the environmental impact of network infrastructure. This presentation aims to give a brief overview of these.

Michelle Thorne (she/her)
Speaker — remote

Talk: Solarpunk Provocations for a Fossil-Free Internet

Michelle Thorne is a Sustainable Internet Lead at the Mozilla Foundation and senior advisor to the Green Web Foundation.

She directs research initiatives in Mozilla’s Sustainability Program and a PhD program on Open Design of Trust Things (OpenDoTT) with Northumbria University.

Kim van Sparrentak (she/her)
Speaker

Kim van Sparrentak is a member for the European Parliament for GroenLinks. On of Kim’s committees is the Parliament is Artificial Intelligence in the Digital Age.

Kim is committed to AI that serves society and respects fundamental rights. She focuses on non-discrimination, AI and sustainability and protecting workers when using AI in the workplace.

Tega Brain (she/her), Benedetta Piantella (she/her) and Alex Nathanson (he/him)
Speakers — remote

One of the core-partnerships within the lab is the collaboration with the ‘Solar Protocol’ project. Environmental engineer Tega Brain, designer and humanitarian technologist Benedetta Piantella and multimedia artist and technologist Alex Nathanson will talk about their web platform hosted across a network of solar-powered servers that routes internet traffic according to the cycle of the sun.

Shayna Robinson (she/her)
Discussion Lead — remote

Futurist and tech environmentalist Shayna Robinson (US) is the Program Officer for the Internet Society Foundation’s Research.

Prior to joining the Internet Society Foundation, she was the Director of Research & Development at Pollicy, a civic technology organisation seeks to improve public service delivery through data, design, and technology.

Abdelrahman (Abdo) Hassan (he/him)
Discussion Lead

Abdo Hassan (EG/NL)) is a data science practitioner, activist and poet. His practice is multifaceted and revolves around decolonial computing and bridging critical theory with the critical practice of data.

His interests include memetics, internet geographies, technical utopias/dystopias and depictions of e-governance.

Aymeric Mansoux (he/him)
Discussion Lead

Aymeric Mansoux (FR/NL) leads the Master of Arts in Fine Art and Design of Arts XPUB (Experimental Publishing) of the Piet Zwart Institute. XPUB focuses on the acts of making things public and creating publics in the age of post-digital networks.

Mick Jongeling (he/him)
Discussion Lead

Mick Jongeling (NL) is a design researcher interested in ethics, energy and transformation strategies. His main focus is understanding and materialising the environmental impact of digital design.

This is done by questioning design and communication practices within the discourse of design, while emphasising collective responsibility.

Reassemble Lab: Natural Intelligence

10 — 13 March 2022, Amsterdam

About FIBER’s Reassemble Lab #3: Natural Intelligence

The immense possibilities of today’s internet services, data centres, artificial intelligence and rendered computer graphics have been made possible by a large supply of cheap energy sources: fossil fuels. The promises of yet another generation of AIs and metaverses are unthinkable without the endless extraction and flow of fossil energy. Many are already talking about ‘data warming’ as one of the strongly growing drivers of global warming.

Natural Intelligence, the third part of FIBER’s Reassemble Lab, will explore alternative internet infrastructures based on earthly dynamics, low-carbon solutions and ecological ethics. What role can design, creative coding and artistic research play to envision and prototype a fundamentally different way of adapting our technological demands to natural cycles? What does it mean to learn from, adapt to, and work with natural intelligence, and how to imagine, articulate, practice and connect initiatives towards fossil-free futures?

From March 10 to 13, FIBER provides a four day meeting place for artists, designers, creative coders, technologists, researchers, energy experts and policy makers who are committed to, or interested in, working towards a fossil-free and fair internet. The question of ‘natural intelligence’ will be explored within four interdependent and sometimes overlapping research areas: Energy Literacy, Everyday Technologies, Collective Infrastructures and Fossil-Free Imaginaries.