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The Periodic Table of Torture

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Digital Games After Climate Change

Abstract

This chapter discusses the carbon emissions and substantial other harms embodied in gaming hardware, analyzing the results of an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) test of a small section of the PlayStation 4 APU—the system-on-a-chip that performs CPU and GPU functions. This test provides a list of the atomic elements contained inside the device, including those most likely to be present in greater quantities. Arranging this element-by-element analysis as a ‘periodic table of torture’ the chapter investigates the significance of each element, finding their source in the earth itself, the uses that might explain its presence in the sample, and the environmental burdens that mining and extraction of this element produces. This chapter can be used as a reference list for researchers studying other digital devices and future gaming hardware, and it can also be read in order to build up a fascinating and horrifying picture of the damage to the natural world produced by the design and manufacture of modern gaming consoles.

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  1. University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Benjamin J. Abraham

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Abraham, B.J. (2022). The Periodic Table of Torture. In: Digital Games After Climate Change. Palgrave Studies in Media and Environmental Communication. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91705-0_7

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