[gmueckl]

I do believe that we should consider a moral obligation to optimize the sh$$ out of widely used software. Inefficient algorithms running in millions of billions of instances (cloud data centers, smartphones, home routers, smart TVs...) create a considerable environmental footprint fast. This is especially true as long as we are powering them using non-renewable energy sources.

The amount of effort that can be spent on optimizations on this kind of widely used software is enormous before the balance becomes negative. If an optimization that shaves off 1 second of CPU time used per year on each of a million devices will result in a net reduction in energy usage within the first year even if it takes 30 eight hour work days to develop.

This train of thought becomes particularly nasty when you realize that all the computational overhead introduced by the widespread usage of encryption (https etc.) must necessarily lead to environmental damage. To put it in the most provocative way I can think of right now: which is more important: the security of your personal data now or the safety and wellbeing of future generations of humankind?

[carapace]

Systems of elements that can trust each other are more efficient than systems of elements that must expend energy to check each other.