Jonathan Zawada for Noema Magazine Mapping the water footprint of AI. BY NATHAN GARDELS –  is the editor-in-chief of Noema Magazine. In various Noema essays, we have sought to underscore the material basis of the information/clean energy economy. Far from the myth of de-materialization, the extraction and use of resources — from cobalt, copper and rare earth elements for energy storage batteries to burning fossil fuels to power data server farms — is no less than that of the maligned industrial smokestack era. Now, we are learning that generative AI is not just sucking up our abundant content, but also drinking our … Continue reading Thirsty Bots Are Drinking Our Scarce Water