The Invisible Networks Shaping Your Everyday Life | Deb Chachra | TED

Summary

The speaker explores the invisible yet pervasive nature of infrastructure in our daily lives, emphasizing its role in providing agency and enabling our actions. They discuss how these systems, powered by energy, connect us globally and historically, highlighting the need for collective infrastructural citizenship. The talk advocates for a transition to renewable energy and resilient, equitable infrastructure to address climate change, suggesting that our infrastructural choices reflect our values and responsibilities to future generations.

Takeaways

• 🏠 The mundane activities at home, like turning on lights or cooking, are underpinned by vast infrastructural systems that make modern life possible.
• ⚡️ Energy is the true currency of the material world, and our access to it is mediated through complex networks that shape our daily lives.
• 🌐 Infrastructure connects us globally, with systems like the internet and shipping now operating on a planetary scale.
• 👷‍♀️ Thousands of people work behind the scenes to maintain these systems, often invisibly, yet they are crucial for our comfort and agency.
• 💡 Artificial light as an example of infrastructural advancement, providing the 'superpower' of agency to act independently of daylight.
• 🌱 The concept of 'infrastructural citizenship' suggests a collective responsibility towards the systems that support our lives, regardless of geographical or political boundaries.
• 🌳 Transforming infrastructural systems to be resilient and equitable is key to responding to climate change and ensuring a sustainable future.
• 🔄 The shift towards renewable energy allows for closing material loops, moving away from the extractive-pollutive model of the past.
• 🌱 In the 21st century, infrastructure should evolve like a forest ecosystem, enduring and adaptable, rather than static like a monument.
• 🌐 The challenge and solution to climate change must be global, reflecting the scale of the problem and the interconnectedness of our infrastructural systems.

Q & A

What is the main theme of the speaker's discussion about their daily routine?

The main theme is the invisibility and importance of infrastructural utilities in our daily lives, which provide the agency to live the kind of life we value.

How does the speaker describe the technological systems at their fingertips?

The speaker describes these systems as continent-spanning and enabling them to be like a cyborg, with access to various utilities such as energy, water, and telecommunications.

What does the speaker mean by 'infrastructural citizenship'?

Infrastructural citizenship refers to the idea that we have a relationship and responsibility to each other that is independent of our national boundaries, but connected through the shared infrastructural networks that support our lives.

Why does the speaker emphasize the importance of energy in the context of infrastructure?

The speaker emphasizes energy because it is the true currency of the material world, powering all infrastructural systems and enabling or constraining our actions and lifestyles.

How does the speaker connect the concept of agency to infrastructural networks?

The speaker connects agency to infrastructural networks by stating that these networks bring resources to us, enabling us to act in the world and live freely, which is the essence of agency.

What is the significance of Amara Sen's view on money in the speaker's narrative?

Amara Sen's view on money is significant because it supports the idea that money is valued for the agency it provides, not for its own sake, which parallels the speaker's argument about the value of infrastructural systems.

How does the speaker's personal background relate to the broader discussion on infrastructure and agency?

The speaker's background, having parents who moved from India to Canada, provides a personal perspective on how infrastructural systems can vastly differ and impact individual agency and quality of life.

What challenges do infrastructural systems face in the context of climate change?

Infrastructural systems face the challenge of becoming less stable due to climate change, which can lead to more frequent and severe disruptions, affecting their reliability and the communities they serve.

What is the speaker's vision for infrastructural systems in the 21st century?

The speaker envisions infrastructural systems that endure like forests, powered by renewable energy, with no waste, evolving over time, and providing a thriving environment for all.

How does the speaker suggest we approach the transformation of infrastructural systems?

The speaker suggests a collective approach, starting with small-scale, reversible, and responsive systems that can be connected to form larger, more equitable, and resilient networks.

What role does the speaker see for individuals in the future of infrastructural systems?

The speaker sees individuals as infrastructural citizens, actively participating in identifying and articulating the benefits and harms of these systems, and working together to shape a shared infrastructural future.

Outlines

00:00

🏠 Daily Life and Infrastructure

The speaker begins by describing their mundane evening routine in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which includes turning on lights, streaming music, and cooking dinner. Despite the routine seeming ordinary, they highlight the unseen infrastructure that supports these activities, such as electricity potentially sourced from nuclear reactors or hydroelectric projects, and the gas that heats their home and water. The speaker emphasizes the interconnectedness of these systems, which span continents and involve thousands of people, and how they provide the speaker with agency and the freedom to live a comfortable life. They draw a contrast between their life and those in poorer communities who spend much of their day securing basic necessities like clean water and fuel, illustrating the impact of infrastructure on quality of life. The concept of 'infrastructural citizenship' is introduced, suggesting a collective responsibility to maintain and improve these systems for the benefit of all.

05:01

🌐 The Impact of Infrastructure on Agency and Climate

The speaker delves into the concept of 'infrastructural citizenship' further, discussing how our past choices have shaped the current infrastructure we rely on, which in turn affects our present and future. They argue that the distribution of benefits from these systems is often uneven and can be unjust, pointing out the challenges of individual action on climate change due to the collective nature of infrastructure. The speaker suggests that as we decarbonize and transform our infrastructure, we have the opportunity to make it more resilient and equitable. They emphasize the importance of considering the physical reality of our planet, where energy is abundant but matter is limited, and the need to transition from a linear to a circular economy. The speaker calls for a collective effort to build infrastructure that embodies an ethics of care, rather than a utilitarian approach, and to create systems that are small-scale, reversible, and responsive to local needs while addressing global challenges.

10:02

🌱 Building Sustainable and Ethical Infrastructure

In the final paragraph, the speaker envisions a future where infrastructure is designed with care and sustainability in mind, akin to a forest ecosystem that is self-sustaining and evolves over time. They argue for the creation of infrastructure that is not just enduring like monuments but is also adaptable and transformative, much like a forest. The speaker calls for a shift from the 20th-century model of massive, monolithic systems to 21st-century systems that are interconnected, responsive, and scalable. They emphasize the importance of building infrastructure that fosters social relationships and global communication, and that reflects a commitment to shared humanity. The speaker concludes by urging collective action to create a world where infrastructure serves to take care of each other at scale, allowing individuals to thrive.

Keywords

💡Infrastructure

Infrastructure refers to the basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise. In the video, it is discussed as the backbone of modern life, enabling activities such as turning on lights, cooking, and using telecommunications. The speaker emphasizes that infrastructure, such as energy and water systems, is often invisible yet crucial to our daily lives, connecting us to vast networks of resources and services.

💡Agency

Agency in the video is defined as the capacity of individuals to act independently and make their own free choices. The speaker relates it to the freedom and ability to live the kind of life we value, which is facilitated by infrastructural networks. For example, having artificial light on demand gives us the agency to act when we want, highlighting how infrastructure enhances our capabilities.

💡Energy

Energy is described as the fundamental currency of the material world, necessary for any work to be done. The video underscores that our energy usage is largely mediated through infrastructural systems, which shape our daily activities. The speaker points out the need to decarbonize these systems to address climate change, indicating that energy is a central concern in discussions about sustainability and infrastructure.

💡Decarbonization

Decarbonization is the process of reducing carbon emissions to a net-zero level. In the context of the video, it is presented as a necessary transformation of our infrastructural systems to combat climate change. The speaker argues for the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources within our infrastructure to reduce our carbon footprint and create a more sustainable future.

💡Resilience

Resilience, in the video, is the ability of infrastructure systems to withstand or recover quickly from challenges such as climate change impacts. The speaker suggests that as we decarbonize, we should also make our infrastructure more resilient, meaning it can adapt to changing conditions like extreme weather events, which are becoming more frequent and severe.

💡Telecommunications

Telecommunications are the means of transmitting information by electronic means, especially from a distance. The video mentions telecommunications as part of the infrastructural utilities that connect us globally. It is an example of how infrastructure enables not just physical connections but also the flow of information, which is essential for our interconnected world.

💡Supply Chains

Supply chains are the networks of organizations, people, activities, information, and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer. The video touches on supply chains as part of the infrastructural systems that support our lives, from the food we eat to the energy we use. The speaker implies that these chains are a critical yet often overlooked aspect of our daily existence.

💡Sewage

Sewage in the video is part of the infrastructural systems that manage waste. The speaker uses sewage as an example of how infrastructure connects us not only to resources but also to waste management, which is essential for public health and environmental sustainability. It highlights the interconnectedness of our daily activities with larger environmental systems.

💡Citizenship

Citizenship in the video is redefined as 'infrastructural citizenship,' which is about our responsibilities to each other beyond national borders, linked by shared infrastructure. The speaker argues that our actions and decisions regarding infrastructure impact everyone on the planet, emphasizing the collective nature of infrastructural systems and the need for collective action.

💡Renewable Energy

Renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and hydroelectric power are highlighted as the means to transform our infrastructure. The video suggests that renewable energy is key to decarbonizing our systems, providing a sustainable and abundant source of power that can help us move away from fossil fuels and mitigate climate change.

💡Ethics of Care

The ethics of care in the video refers to an approach that values relationships and responsibilities, as opposed to a utilitarian focus on maximizing benefits and minimizing harms. The speaker calls for infrastructure networks that embody this ethics, suggesting that our infrastructural decisions should prioritize care for people and the environment over purely economic calculations.

Highlights

The speaker describes their mundane evening routine and how it is powered by vast infrastructural systems.

The source of energy and resources in everyday life is often invisible to us, yet it spans continents and involves thousands of people.

Amara Sen's theory on agency and the role of money in providing the freedom to live a valued life is discussed.

The contrast between the speaker's life and their foremothers' struggle for basic needs highlights the impact of infrastructural networks.

Artificial light as a 'superpower' and its role in providing agency and the freedom to act is emphasized.

Infrastructures are collective and connect us to each other and the land around us on a global scale.

The speaker's profession as an engineering professor shapes their perspective on the physical reality of energy and resources.

Infrastructures are described as the most powerful tool for responding to climate change, with the potential for resilience and transformation.

The concept of 'infrastructural citizenship' is introduced, emphasizing our responsibility to each other beyond political borders.

The speaker discusses the constraints of current infrastructural systems on individual actions and the collective challenge of climate change.

The need to decarbonize infrastructural systems and the potential pathways to achieve this are highlighted.

The importance of building infrastructural systems that are small scale, reversible, and responsive is advocated.

The speaker calls for infrastructural networks that embody an ethics of care rather than a utilitarian calculus of harms and benefits.

The potential of renewable energy to close material loops and transform the technological basis of human civilization is discussed.

The 21st century's infrastructural systems should endure like forests, evolving and providing for all who live within them.

A commitment to shared infrastructural future is equated with a commitment to shared humanity and the essence of being human.

Transcripts

I'm going to tell you about the most

boring part of my day so on a typical

evening I come home to my apartment in

Cambridge Massachusetts and I turn on

the lights I stream music to my stereo

from my phone I head into the kitchen to

make dinner for making something like

pasta right I would get water from the

sink and I'd put it on the stove to heat

up I'd get vegetabl out of the fridge I

would get olive oil spices out of the

pantry I can I can have dinner on the

table in about 20 minutes I'm pretty

good at this and then it takes me maybe

another 10 to clean up right so that's

like scraps in the garbage wash the

dishes and I'm done boring right but

here's the thing when I come in the door

and I flip that light switch those

electrodes might be getting their push

from a nuclear reactor from a

hydroelectricity project a th000 miles

away the the gas in my stove comes from

national and local pipelines it Heats my

house it also heats the hot water that I

do the dishes in and then that water

drains to one of the largest wastewater

treatment plants in the country and then

out to Boston Harbor so alone in my

kitchen I am a continent spanning

Colossus right like I am a cyborg I have

these technological systems at my

literal

fingertips the so these are

infrastructural utilities right so

there's energy it's fuel it's

electricity

it's water it's sewage it's

telecommunications it's the supply

chains behind that and these are the

systems that make my life as I know it

possible and on that typical night

they're basically invisible at least

invisible to me right there are

thousands of people whose life and time

and work and Care goes into making sure

these systems function they are the real

world of technology in which we all

live so Amara sen he's a development

Economist and he is known for studying

some of the poorest communities on the

planet he made the case that the reason

why we want money is usually not because

we want it for its own sake but because

it gives us agency in his words it gives

us the freedom to live the kind of life

that we have reason to Value so my

parents moved from India to Canada

before I was born I grew up in

Canada and I think about the way that my

foremothers would have spent

so much of their day getting clean water

getting fuel for

cooking and I actually think about the

fact that a very large fraction of the

planet that is still true today and that

is especially true for the people who

look pretty much like me right this is

the main thing that they do with their

days the difference between my life and

theirs is not so much that I have a bank

account how much I get paid is a lot

more to do with where I am because my

individual a agency my ability to do

things in the world is really

underpinned by these shared

infrastructural networks I'm going to

give you an example because the the most

significant example of this is

artificial light right so having light

on demand means that you can kind of do

what you want when you want to do it

right it's a superpower and this is what

I mean by agency right it's that ability

to act in the world so these

infrastructural networks make our life

possible by bringing these resources to

where we are and to where we use them

so as you heard I'm an engineering

professor and that means I think a lot

about the physical reality of the world

and you know one of the great truths is

that energy is the thing that we need to

for anything to work right like we pay

for it in dollars but energy is the true

currency of the material world and in

many cases the most you know efficient

or the most powerful way to hardness and

distribute resources is through networks

and networks are intrinsically

Collective

right so if you think about like roads

and rails they have to go somewhere

telecommunication systems become more

valuable when more and more people are

connected to them electricity is cheaper

for thousands of years people have had

shared Water Supplies because if you

have a bunch of people living close

together everybody needs water every day

water flows downhill right so it makes

sense to cooperate to build a reservoir

to build an aqueduct to build pipelines

to bring water to where your shed

Community is and of course you have a

bunch of people living close together

the value of some kind of shared sewage

treatment very quickly also becomes

clear so our infrastructural systems

connect us to each other but they also

connect us to the land around us and

this is now true really on a global

scale right so if we think about the

internet we think about mobile phones we

think about particularly so shipping

Transportation Aviation these are now

planetary Networks

and our infrastructural systems also

connect us to our past and to our future

because the networks that we live in

today are the physical manifestation of

the values and choices that were made by

people who came before us right it's

like what are those networks going to be

how would we use them who would benefit

from them and of course who would be

harmed by them and of course you know we

look at these networks today and we're

like that seems like a really uneven

distribution of benefits or even an

unjust distribution of benefits that's

worth keeping in mind because of course

we are the people who are now making the

decisions for those who are going to

come after us right so I think of this

as infrastructural citizenship the idea

that we have a relationship to each

other actually we have a responsibility

to each other that has nothing to do

with what it says on our passport but it

has everything to do with the fact that

we are like physical living beings that

are located somewhere on the

planet so you know I said that

infrastructure is how we get our agency

our freedom to act in the world to do

things and it's all powered by energy

because everything is powered by energy

and that means that for most of us most

of our energy usage is then mediated it

goes through these infrastructural

systems because they shape and they

enable what we can do every day so it's

things like where does the electricity

come from how is it generated what kind

of Transportation options do you have do

you drive do you take public transit do

you fly um things like where does your

water come from or how do you heat or

cool your

home so many of these these physical

systems then they both enable what we

can do but they also make it really hard

to do other things to do alternatives to

those things our infrastructural systems

basically because of the way that we use

enogen because they shape and enable

what we can do it means that they also

constrain the things that we can't do

right it makes it much harder to do

things that are not the things that are

made possible by these systems and what

that means is actually this is a thing

we're all familiar with right because we

know how hard it is to move the needle

on climate change as individuals that

our individual personal decisions like

it's hard for them to do anything

because there's really no such thing as

a personal carbon footprint because

things go through these

systems so what that means is that we

know that we need to decarbonize these

systems right but these are physical

systems that are embedded in the

landscape and that means that we need to

think about these sort of Landscapes as

a whole as we think about decarbonizing

these systems we can think about making

them resilient and transformative the

reason why this matters is that these

physical systems that are embedded in

our Landscapes we think of them as

boring and reliable but our Landscapes

of course have been stable and we know

that that's not the case anymore right

climate change that's what climate

change is it's making our Landscapes

less stable and that means you know this

is uh longer heat waves this is stronger

hurricanes this is fires this is

flooding everything that we think about

as extreme weather events you know this

idea of a natural disaster right the

thing that makes it a disaster is

precisely that it's not natural right

it's that it affects humans and human

communities we you know we talk about

the severity of natural disasters and

what we often feel that severity through

the impact on infrastructural systems so

you know we think about like what

systems go down how long they go down

for how how long it takes for them to

come back back up again how big the

outage is right and then who's affected

and because our Landscapes are becoming

less stable sooner or later the who's

affected will be all of

us but we can flip this

around because as we decarbonize these

systems as we transform them we have the

opportunity to make them resilient to

make them responsive to make them more

Equitable this I mean our

infrastructural systems they are the

most powerful tool that we have for how

we can respond to climate change and we

know that we can do this right because

after Decades of policy commitments

we've done the research we have the

renewable energy technology to transform

this we know that there there's at least

a pathway and once we know that a

pathway exists we know that many

Pathways exist but we can only choose to

walk those Pathways together right this

is no longer an engineering problem to

be solved and this is where being an

infrastructural citizen comes in right

it's this idea that we can sort of stand

together to identify and articulate the

benefits of these systems starting with

the fact that they're really not

economic right the way that these make

our lives work is not just a question of

you know money and that's even more true

for the harms right that we can't think

of these as sort of monetary harms the

harms that we do to each other the harms

that we do to our communities the harms

that we do to our shared ecosystem so I

said I think a lot about the physical it

right so the physical reality of our

planet is that energy is decentralized

it's distributed it's um abundant it's

endlessly

renewing but that's not the case for

matter our planet is mostly a closed

system for matter and we know that we're

really hitting these kind of physical

limits of the idea that we can take

stuff out of the ground and we transform

it and we consume it and then we dump

those atoms somewhere else right because

this is what happens with CO2 in the

atmosphere from fossil fuels it's

E-Waste in landfills um it's

microplastics in the

ocean the thing that's changed is that

we can now make the decision to get off

this one-way conveyor belt from

extraction to pollution because we can

use renewable energy to close these

materials loops and we know that we

really want to this we actually really

need to do this because what we're

looking at doing is transforming the

entire technological basis of human

civilization right no

so this is the work and we are just at

the beginning of this work and let means

we know we don't have all the answers

but we do know that we want

infrastructural networks that embody an

ethics of care and not the utilitarian

calculus of harms and benefits because

we know we don't have all the answers we

actually expect to get better answers it

makes sense for us to build out systems

that are small scale that are reversible

that are responsive that are exploratory

and then to connect these together to

make these larger networks and they need

to make sense for who they're for

because they give us the freedom to live

the kind of lives that we have reason to

Value we want to do this at a local

scale and we also want to do it at a

global scale because if you can't solve

a problem with the same mindset that

created it you also can't solve a

problem if you're not thinking on the

same scale as the problem right so this

is not a do-it-yourself thing this is

about do it together but everywhere

so in the 20th century we built out

these kind of massive monolithic systems

and I have to say like I am a fan of our

charismatic Mega structures so in the US

that's the Golden Gate Bridge it's the

Hoover Dam right these were built as

monuments and they were built to

endure but in the 21st century our

infrastructural systems will need to

endure not like monuments but like

forests so if you think about a forest

ecosystem it's powered by the sun it's

rooted in the Earth

there's no waste everything is basically

used to grow new things it endures but

it actually evolves and changes with

time and of course it provides a place

where all who live there can

Thrive our infrastructure systems are

how we take care of each other at scale

so that we can take care of each other

as individuals they underpin our

agency and they really Foster and allow

us to develop our social relationships

with each other and that's especially

true with things like Global

Communications right that means that

this is now culture on a global

scale all of these are about what it

means to be human right and that means

that a commitment to a shared

infrastructural future is a commitment

to our shared Humanity so this is the

world that we can create together thank

you