Is Al Gore responsible for the huge carbon footprint made by his invention called the "Internet"?

Answer 1

No just his huge house but don't worry he's got carbon offsets so everythings ok

Answer 2

I dislike Al Gore with a passion, but I can't dun him for that one.
The Internet saves us a lot of letter delivery and all the energy waste required to deliver them.
Computer printers, on the other hand, seem to waste a LOT of paper. .Why do they always seem to have to print an extra unnecessary page?
Why do the use such large margins?
Anyone out there managing the design of these tree wasters?

Answer 3

Yes, but at least hes trying to fix what he broke. More than I can say of the guy who beat him in 2000.

Answer 4

No. You had better be facetious. Compare the carbon footprint of the "Internet" to the Republican Hummer. Hmm....

Answer 5

I thought the internet actually saved resources... teleconferences (saving travel)... file transfer (instead of mailing documents), etc, etc. U.S. worker productivity also increased. Where do you get your facts?

Answer 6

When are you people going to give up your lies?
is this all you have is misinterpretation of comments in an attempt to discredit people?

Answer 7

See article:

http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ii_summary.htm

I feel he contributed meaningfully but not "invented" it..

Answer 8

of course not. it's Bush's fault. as is everything else in this world...

Answer 9

As far back as the 1970s Congressman Gore promoted the idea of high speed
telecommunications as an engine for both economic growth and the
improvement of our educational system. He was the first elected official
to grasp the potential of computer communications to have a broader impact
than just improving the conduct of science and scholarship. Though easily
forgotten, now, at the time this was an unproven and controversial
concept. Our work on the Internet started in 1973 and was based on even
earlier work that took place in the mid-late 1960s. But the Internet, as we
know it today, was not deployed until 1983. When the Internet was still in
the early stages of its deployment, Congressman Gore provided intellectual
leadership by helping create the vision of the potential benefits of high
speed computing and communication. As an example, he sponsored hearings on
how advanced technologies might be put to use in areas like coordinating
the response of government agencies
http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/200009/msg00052.html

POOR CHOICE OF WORDS ON GORES PART.
but more on Gore

Gore's support for national computer networking initiatives came in a very different milieu in terms of science funding than one might perceive in the year 2000. In the 1980s, the United States was worried about its competitive position internationally, specifically with respect to Japan, Europe, and Soviet Union. Topics included:

Superconducting magnets (e.g. how to build "mag lev" trains).
What nation would make breakthroughs in particle physics (and whether to build a superconducting supercollider).
The prospective loss of U.S. dominance in the semiconductor industry.
Basic issues of how science and technology could support a national industrial policy.
While consistently supported funding for agencies involved in science and technology, such as the National Science Foundation and for NASA, Gore also began to give speeches and hold hearings in support of high-performance computing and networking. In 1987, for instance, Gore spoke on the floor in support of research into superconducting supercomputers:

(quote Gore Speech in 1987!!!!!!!!!)
Mr. President, I rise to discuss the subject of superconductivity and to make my colleagues aware of dramatic new developments which have been disclosed in the news media and which have been taking place in the field of science during the last 6 weeks. Last week in New York City, there was an unprecedented conference which was described by participants as unlike anything the field of science had ever seen before. A series of rapid-fire dramatic new discoveries in the science of superconductivity, which means the creation of materials which conduct electricity with no resistance whatsoever, promise to open up tremendous new applications in fields from electricity transmission to high-speed rail transit to the construction of appliances and the like. We must have a national response to this new opportunity.
It's a safe bet that very few members of Congress at the time would have felt the urge to make this kind of speech. Many may have felt little desire to listen to it, either. The point, however, is clear: Gore took an active interest in promoting the United States position in science and technology. As chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space, Gore held hearings on these issues. During a 1989 hearing colloquy with Dr. Craig Fields of ARPA and Dr. William Wulf of NSF, Gore solicited information about what constituted a high-speed network and where technology was headed. He asked how much sooner NSFnet speed could be enhanced 30-fold if more Federal funding was provided. During this hearing, Gore made fun of himself during an exchange about high-speed networking speeds: "That's all right. I think of my [1988] presidential campaign as a gigaflop." [The witness had explained that "gigaflop" referred to one billion floating point operations per second.]

But Gore's interest and support for U.S. high-speed networking begins much earlier than 1989. As early as 1986, Gore called for, in the context of funding for the NSF, support for basic research in computer networking:


Mr. President, it gives me great pleasure to support the proposed National Science Foundation Authorization Act.
MR. PRESIDENT, IT GIVES ME GREAT PLEASURE TO SUPPORT THE PROPOSED NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION AUTHORIZATION ACT.

WITHIN THIS BILL I HAVE TWO AMENDMENTS, THE COMPUTER NETWORK STUDY AND THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT REPORT. THE FIRST AMENDMENT WAS ORIGINALLY INTRODUCED WITH SENATOR GORTON AS S. 2594. IT CALLS FOR A 2-YEAR STUDY OF THE CRITICAL PROBLEMS AND CURRENT AND FUTURE OPTIONS REGARDING COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS FOR RESEARCH COMPUTERS. THE SECOND AMENDMENT REQUIRES THE PRESIDENT TO SUBMIT A REPORT TO CONGRESS ON THE ACTIONS TAKEN TO ESTABLISH AN INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT.

BOTH OF THESE AMENDMENTS SEEK NEW INFORMATION ON CRITICAL PROBLEMS OF TODAY. THE COMPUTER NETWORK STUDY ACT IS DESIGNED TO ANSWER CRITICAL QUESTIONS ON THE NEEDS OF COMPUTER TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS OVER THE NEXT 15 YEARS. FOR EXAMPLE, WHAT ARE THE FUTURE REQUIREMENTS FOR COMPUTERS IN TERMS OF QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF DATA TRANSMISSION, DATA SECURITY, AND SOFTWEAR [sic] COMPATIBILITY? WHAT EQUIPMENT MUST BE DEVELOPED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE HIGH TRANSMISSION RATES OFFERED BY FIBER OPTIC SYSTEMS?

BOTH SYSTEMS DESIGNED TO HANDLE THE SPECIAL NEEDS OF SUPERCOMPUTERS AND SYSTEMS DESIGNED TO MEET THE NEEDS OF SMALLER RESEARCH COMPUTERS WILL BE EVALUATED. THE EMPHASIS IS ON RESEARCH COMPUTERS, BUT THE USERS OF ALL COMPUTERS WILL BENEFIT FROM THIS STUDY. TODAY, WE CAN BANK BY COMPUTER, SHOP BY COMPUTER, AND SEND LETTERS BY COMPUTER. ONLY A FEW COMPANIES AND INDIVIDUALS USE THESE SERVICES, BUT THE NUMBER IS GROWING AND EXISTING CAPABILITIES ARE LIMITED.

IN ORDER TO COPE WITH THE EXPLOSION OF COMPUTER USE IN THE COUNTRY, WE MUST LOOK TO NEW WAYS TO ADVANCE THE STATE-OF-THE-ART IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS -- NEW WAYS TO INCREASE THE SPEED AND QUALITY OF THE DATA TRANSMISSION. WITHOUT THESE IMPROVEMENTS, THE TELECOMMUNICATION NETWORKS FACE DATA BOTTLENECKS LIKE THOSE WE FACE EVERY DAY ON OUR CROWDED HIGHWAYS.

THE PRIVATE SECTOR IS ALREADY AWARE OF THE NEED TO EVALUATE AND ADOPT NEW TECHNOLOGIES. ONE PROMISING TECHNOLOGY IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF FIBER OPTIC SYSTEMS FOR VOICE AND DATA TRANSMISSION. EVENTUALLY WE WILL SEE A SYSTEM OF FIBER OPTIC SYSTEMS BEING INSTALLED NATIONWIDE.

AMERICA'S HIGHWAYS TRANSPORT PEOPLE AND MATERIALS ACROSS THE COUNTRY. FEDERAL FREEWAYS CONNECT WITH STATE HIGHWAYS WHICH CONNECT IN TURN WITH COUNTY ROADS AND CITY STREETS. TO TRANSPORT DATA AND IDEAS, WE WILL NEED A TELECOMMUNICATIONS HIGHWAY CONNECTING USERS COAST TO COAST, STATE TO STATE, CITY TO CITY. THE STUDY REQUIRED IN THIS AMENDMENT WILL IDENTIFY THE PROBLEMS AND OPPORTUNITIES THE NATION WILL FACE IN ESTABLISHING THAT HIGHWAY.
[Upper case shown, indicating a contemporaneous insertion into the Congressional Record at the time of corresponding floor debate.]

That Gore wrote about a national "data highway" as far back as 1986 is extremely significant. It is important to make clear the context of the state of computing at that time. The IBM PC was only four years old. The Apple II computer was still in widespread use. The number of hosts on the Internet numbered, as counted by Mark Lottor's Internet Domain Survey, was 5,089. Entire universities (such as Michigan State University) made their initial connection to the Internet in 1986. In order for Gore to make this kind of speech in 1986, he had to have been conversant with the thinking of computer scientists and Internet pioneers. Such pioneers included such as Vint Cerf, Steven Wolf, and Larry Smarr - then director of the National Center for Supercomputer Applications at the University of Illinois (NCSA), where Mosaic would be born some seven years late
http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue5_10/wiggin