AI systems threaten data privacy & security even if these systems lack an agentic component but AI agents possess the ability to manipulate a user’s digital systems autonomously & continuously, expanding threats that evade existing regulatory regimes. We wrote about it here: fftf.link/AISnitches

The Economist@economist.com · 11mo ago

“A fundamental shift is needed in how we approach the development and deployment of AI agents,” argues Meredith Whittaker. “Basic lessons in privacy and digital security are being discarded,” she warns

idk it just feels like at this point it’s clear that sustained use of AI does something to your brain and for some people that ends up being truly life ruining and i’m like why would you not want to protect your brain.

They could always sign up to give comment at a public meeting.

The Wall Street Journal@wsj.com · yesterday

New York City’s business elites are long accustomed to direct access to City Hall, where even Democratic mayors felt the need to court the city’s wealthiest and most influential corporate leaders. That access is getting shredded by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

I’m telling you this as a political scientist. The person who is electable is the one who is elected. This can and does change over time. Any and all speculation about “electability” is either puffery or anxiety and is often both.

Julia Azari@juliaazari.bsky.social · 23h ago

One way to be safe is to never write an electability take

I have been saying for about a decade the the "New Right" is more or less just Bircherism 2.0. Considering the affinity that the John Birch Society always had for Franco, I am submitting this post as further evidence of my thesis

Seth Cotlar@sethcotlar.bsky.social · 2d ago

Co-host of Charlie Kirk’s podcast whose book was blurbed by DJT, Jr and JD Vance. Don’t call them fascists though.

People are so upset that @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social reviews The Odyssey more like a classicist nerd than a seasoned movie critic. What the hell did you expect? What exactly is the value of the Homer expert shrugging off her detailed expertise and evaluating its merit qua popcorn spectacle?

Let Sam explain how Dropout got The Don Hertzfeldt Collection... 🍌 @donhertzfeldtfilms.bsky.social

hey boss. yeah i'm gonna be late again for my job in Myst world, where we live. i forgot which combination of the sixteen valve handwheels in my apartment opens the front door again

We're not going to stop climate change unless we phase out fossil fuels.

Oil giant BP profits more than double due to Iran war - again

The "strong" three-month results come amid "one of the most disrupted periods in the global energy market".

news.sky.com

So what does "kokushobi" mean when it comes to climate change? Japan needed a new word as record temps soared past 100*F. "Cruel heat day" turned out to be a perfect description via a public poll as climate crisis vocabularies evolve in other countries, too. https://nyti.ms/4vRs4aA

It's So Hot That Japan Needs a New Word for It

Japan this week recorded its first kokushobi, a term that means “cruel heat day,” as temperatures reached 104 degrees. It is not the only country that has scrambled for a new summer vocabulary.

nyti.ms

Do you know what would be better forest management? ADDRESSING CLIMATE CHANGE

Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they)@doctorvive.bsky.social · 3d ago

This (from the @wsj.com Editorial Board) distills every denialist trope there is: It implies climate change isn’t exacerbating extreme weather. It calls solutions “costly … nostrums.” It fosters doomerism. And it suggests we can just adapt to or “manage” climate impacts. How is this journalism?

Yes to @olivia.science’s whole post and I’m going to include especially this part on supposed ai automated plagiarism detection software in a fall faculty learning community

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ@olivia.science · 4d ago

If useful, here's my attempt to process my feelings about how I feel sadly kinda — or rather very — sick from all this AI fascist nonsense as an academic. 😶‍🌫️ I'd be pleased if even one person finds something useful because there's something to be said for processing this all together, so, um, enjoy?

@sarahkendzior.bsky.social is exceptionally well informed and knows how to join a dot. You do not want her to be right, she does not want to be right - but she has an impressive record of accurate predictions spanning decades. Shit is bleak.

Sarah Kendzior@sarahkendzior.bsky.social · 3d ago

New important interview! On Kushner and WWIII. This taped on Monday and I’m glad it posted. Lots of info here: Iran, Israel, Ukraine, Russia, AI weapons, and more: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r8m...

Today is a beautiful day to buy tickets to The Mermaid www.edfringe.com/tickets/what... I'll also be selling my book AND if that's not enough inventive, stickers

Babes in arms policy: Babies are not allowed in the venue, please refer to the age suitability for the show

edfringe.com

Bankhöjdare: Klimat- och ekosystemkrisen hotar den finansiella stabiliteten

Bankhöjdare: Klimat- och ekosystemkrisen hotar den finansiella stabiliteten

Enligt Frank Elderson vid Europeiska centralbanken (ECB) är det tydligt att den ökande frekvensen av naturkatastrofer kopplade till global uppvärmning utgör ett stort problem som måste få mer fokus.

aktuellhallbarhet.se

The Romanian navy blowing up a huge rock to redirect water to a nuclear power plant to help cool it down during a fossil-fuelled heatwave

Jaya rules, and Ravenous rules! This is such a vivid example of how generative AI does not "democratize" art and culture like its boosters claim. It actually increases the need for/impulse towards gatekeeping because in practice, AI just democratizes fraud. Actual work still takes time and skill!

Jaya Saxena@jayasaxena.com · 4d ago

I wrote about Ravenous preparing to commission freelance (yayy!!!) and realizing that means having to plan for AI scams (boooooo) www.weareravenous.com/ai-freelance...

xAI will start removing its foul, "temporary" methane generators between now and July 2027, and is meanwhile working to "reduce environmental impacts" of currently-functioning ones. BS that is fuel to Justin Pearson and @keshaunpearson.bsky.social's inspiring fight 💪 www.politico.com/news/magazin...

Anger Over Data Centers Is Fueling a New Political Movement

Justin Pearson, a Tennessee lawmaker, has become one of the loudest voices amid a growing national backlash against the pollution and politics of America's AI buildout.

politico.com

This is ridiculously scary. Yes, we are currently talking about ballrooms and reflecting pools and inflation and Iran and Venezuela and Epstein and crypto grift and the moral rot of the GOP. But all that is going to be forgotten soon. Shit is about to get real, as they say.

Zeke Hausfather@zekehausfather.com · 3d ago

I'm not sure folks have realized just how crazy the second half of 2026 and 2027 will be for global temperatures – on the back of a record-smashing El Niño event. Here is my latest estimate of where both years will end up compared to global temperatures since 1850.

and GOD IS EMPTY JUST LIKE ME

No AI-positive institution is deploying responsibly. If they say they are, it means they aren't checking or are silencing the people who are. Read Nik Suresh (hermit-tech.com/blog/ai-mani...) or listen to this interview, then read the lawsuit from the Mayo Clinic's director of research operations 👇

Nik Suresh/Ludicity on surviving corporate AI psychosis

Today we have an interview! $5-and up patrons and YouTube members got the unedited version of this on Monday. Nik’s advice when your boss loves Claude a little too much: ‘Just let the money r…

pivot-to-ai.com

Jed Brown@jedbrown.org · 4w ago

This sums up the frantic and coerced deployment of "AI" throughout public and private sectors. Results of even cursory audits are horrifying every time, invariably paired with forced adoption and retaliation for asserting professional norms. Colonialism is a cherry on top.

I had to remake my favorite Danaher meme for the #2Shots$40Everywhere campaign. @gilead.com why is so expensive and why won't you sell it to those that want to buy?

Change the world, if not for yourself, then do it for your kids. And if you don't have kids like me: all kids are your kids. The AI class that claims they miss the time of playing in the street and then say it cannot be pushed for? Their time will come. bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2013/12/12/a...

Amsterdam children fighting cars in 1972

“This would be a perfect area for a trial with a maximum speed of 30km/h” (18mph) explains a traffic expert of the city of Amsterdam to a child in a film that was broadcast on Dutch national TV alm…

bicycledutch.wordpress.com

AI "rejection is possible and has historical precedent, to name just a few successful examples: Amsterdammers kicked out cars, rejecting that cycling through the Dutch capital should be deadly [...] and governments banned chlorofluorocarbons [...] to mitigate ozone depletion" doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2mo ago

“.. He said cars were once portrayed as killing children, but the world changed its norms by having sidewalks and crosswalks .. “When I was growing up, I used to play in the streets,” Huang said. “When cars came along, you obviously can’t play in the streets now.” apnews.com/article/nvid...

‘Climate change kills’: Pedro Sánchez speaks plain truth to Spain’s deniers

‘Climate change kills’: Pedro Sánchez speaks plain truth to Spain’s deniers

PM has long history of speaking out on realities of global heating but political opponents remain unnmoved

theguardian.com

Är det lämpligt att vår regering deltar i utländska påverkansaktioner mot Europa?

"yeah i just ask chatgpt and-" cool i no longer take you seriously as a person

THIS... Read Every Line Every side post reference Every word of this post from @jennycohn.bsky.social She continues to report with amazing in-depth coverage regarding the effect that the Tech-Bros & Theo-Bros are having on the demise of the democratic state for their own self serving purposes.

Jenny Cohn@jennycohn.bsky.social · 4d ago

Peter Thiel has promoted the Sovereign Individual, which says that the shift from “mass democracy” to “individual sovereignty” can happen “invisibly” (and without a shift in public opinion) via tax-free zones & free ports & that the power of nation states will eventually splinter into fragments. 1/

spoiler alert: letterboxed earthy-crunchy cyberspace wordie

Merriam-Webster@merriam-webster.com · 6d ago

Find the 5 words from your birth year that perfectly describe YOUR vibe ⬇️ www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/