Nick Harkaway
@nickharkaway.com
Author. Also husband, dad, clothing-repairer, dog-walker. Decreasingly rigorous on social media. Happy to receive simple work queries here; anything more involved contact Patrick Walsh @ PEW Literary in London or email me. www.linktr.ee/harkaway He/him
speaking as somebody who's been in/around the field for a long time this is it right here
Ben Recht@beenwrekt.bsky.social · yesterdayThe world needs a high-quality, truly open language model. I wrote about why it’s necessary and why it’s easier to build than you might think.
I don't know what this means, but I doubt I'm going to like it when I do.
AFP News Agency@en.afp.com · yesterday#BREAKING: Microsoft offers voluntary exit packages to 60,000 staff
Solar has overtaken nuclear. A decade ago it supplied 1% of the world's power. In 2025 it met three quarters of global demand growth. Almost nobody saw it coming. I spoke to Jocelyn Timperley at BBC Future about why. www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...
'It's offensively cheap': How solar power is quietly becoming bigger than nuclear
After defying projections, solar's dramatic growth means it is overtaking nuclear as a global power source. Here are seven reasons for solar's success, and where it might go from here.
bbc.co.uk
Yikes. This is just offloading the important bits of your life. It's not even the cognitive bit (which I think is probably quite bad) that's the issue in this case. This is just giving up an opportunity to do love. That's... well, gosh, I guess it's dystopian.
David Gura@davidgura.bsky.social · 2d agocool, cool
In one day, two politicians - Bolsonaro in Brazil and Vucic in Serbia - with ties to Trump have lost surprise elections thanks to high turnout. The rise of the international far-right is not inevitable.
London has probably now got the cleanest air out of any equivalent sized cities in the world thanks to Ulez, electric cars and buses.
Michael Druker 🇨🇦@mdruker.app · 4d agoSocial media loves talking about how everything is getting worse. But what’s something that you’ve seen get _better_ in your lifetime?
Asking for a few friends: does a 'distinctly British' approach to AI include paying for the use of our work? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
John Healey pledges to use budget to harness power of AI to bolster Britain’s security
Chancellor says government to commit hundreds of millions to develop ‘distinctively British’ approach to AI
theguardian.com
All this talk of "Be Ready" and prepping and not once has the government advised making sure you have enough books in to last out a long emergency. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
‘Realistic and reassuring’: UK public ‘responding calmly’ to Be Ready campaign
Government’s emergency planning advice has sparked sales of essentials but no panic stockpiling, say prepping shop owners
theguardian.com
Networks are MUCH better at crisis than solo prepping - talk to your neighbours!
Gripes of Wraith@gripesofwraith.bsky.social · 4d agoFor some reason, the government emergency advice forgot to include: Help support and nurture your local community because the best place to store food, is in your neighborhoods’ belly
Well I am certainly glad that alongside this, the government is doing all it can to prevent fossil fuel shortages ruining our energy security by moving to renewables. *look to camera*
I remember when I used to bring up the genetically engineered dogs they made in China (IIRC) with increased bone and muscle mass and wonder hopefully whether that was research that could be used to solve the health problems of humans in long-term microgravity.
Amy Feldman@amyfeldman7.bsky.social · 5d ago*NEW* Colossal Biosciences’ Ben Lamm and Anduril’s Palmer Luckey team up on a new startup to genetically engineer war dogs for the military. Warhound comes out of stealth at $1.2B valuation For @forbes.com with @iainmartin.bsky.social and @mhunterhart.bsky.social www.forbes.com/sites/amyfel...
Just done a grocery shop to cover notional food shortages and feel like a total idiot.
I've forgotten how to release the bulb to replace it. Twist? Lever? Anyone know?
I can only respect the elegance of this reference
Maria J Pérez Cuervo@mjpcuervo.com · last yr.Parents, please check your kids’ candy this Halloween. I’ve just found an ancient metal whistle with the inscription “QUIS EST ISTE QUI VENIT" inside a Snickers bar. I blew it and heard a note of infinite distance, and now I’m haunted by a figure in pale, fluttering draperies. Be safe.
Have just received a digital vaccine consent form for someone else's child. So many things going on there.
One of the secret 384-bit keys is.... 4. 4. Paging @nickharkaway.com , Nick Harkaway to the Gnomon Security Phone.
Ars Technica@arstechnica.com · last wk.
On the one hand, this is a sobering new UN climate report. It's the first that flat out states we're going to exceed the 1.5°C target imminently and unavoidably... but it also lays out how we can limit "overshoot" and return to that target by 2100. www.cnn.com/2026/10/21/c... (1/2)
As climate summit approaches, UN reports existing 1.5C warming limit is no longer achievable | CNN
A new UN climate report released Wednesday finds that the globe will unavoidably slip past the Paris Climate Agreement’s 1.5-degree warming target in the next few years. The task now, the report state...
cnn.com
It's worth repeating what @drkatemarvel.bsky.social told me for this story: “Passing 1.5 degrees is a sign that we’re not moving fast enough, but it doesn’t mean we’re doomed."
Wow, there's some blue-on-blue violence on bsky this morning. I am taking a very deliberate decision to not wade in and I am going to go do some work and watch the rain fall. Peace 'n' love, motherfluffers.
How bad do the effects have to get before they finally go "okay, yeah, maybe it is more bad than good"?
Every time there's a new study on the negative impact of LLM tools on education, work, communications, and media, at least half the commentariat will always go "but you shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater, 'AI' has constructive uses!" even as they pretend to be 'critics'.
"There is a saying used around AI use: ‘Always keep a human in the loop.’" Is that really a saying? Proposing it as a saying makes it sound as if we're all old campaigners of a world where shonky statistical outputs are like printer jams.
