University Of Washington CNBC International and Sleepwalkers Discussion

Please respond to the following questions:

1.  CNBC International (Links to an external site.) investigates the undersea cables that bring us the internet.  What is the scale of this cable system and how does it work?  Who owns the majority of the world’s undersea bandwidth?  What security concerns does this infrastructure raise?  Cite specific examples from the video.

2. Jon Huang, Claire O’Neill and Hiroko Tabuchi (Links to an external site.) consider the growing energy requirements of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.  According to the authors, how many terawatt-hours of electricity does trading, creating, and spending Bitcoin consume annually?  How has this changed over the past decade?  Why is this form of currency so energy intensive?  Could the process be re-designed to require less electricity?  If so, how?  Cite specific examples from the article.  If you encounter a paywall, you can also access it as a pdf (attachment).

3.  This episode of Sleepwalkers (Links to an external site.) explores cobalt mining: an essential part of the digital technology supply chain.  What are some of the social and environmental problems associated with cobalt mining in the Congo and how are tech giants like Apple and Tesla responding to them?  What are the potential consequences of China owning these mines?