this is great. I get so frustrated with the anti-robotaxis stuff. They obviously work, they are obviously safer than human drivers, and if we're sensible about regulating them (which includes not strangling them with regulation) then they'll make cities better.

James O'Malley@jamesomalley.co.uk · 4w ago

Autonomous cars do not have to turn Britain into an America-style car-centric hellscape (FREE TO READ!) takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/no-hellsca...

A bunch of European AI policy and engineering guys asked me to help out on this project and it's been fascinating and chilling: what happens to the EU if it doesn't step up on AI (in short, economic collapse and vassalage to the US/China) europe2031.ai long but I hope worth it!

Europe 2031 — What getting AI wrong means for us

A five-year scenario about AI and Europe's impending slide into irrelevance, with a 2034 epilogue that describes how the collapse of the European model could have been prevented.

europe2031.ai

God bless @jamesomalley.co.uk for being a voice on the centre-left who consistently acknowledges that economics is a real thing that exists (and coming up with potential solutions rather than just accusing businesses of greed) open.substack.com/pub/jamesomalley/p/has-liam-byrne-had-his-weetabix-452

Has Liam Byrne had his Weetabix?

Open data is better for consumers than moralising.

open.substack.com

Nice episode of Science Fictions summarizing SCORE papers from @tomchivers.bsky.social and @stuartjritchie.bsky.social. Minor point about the conclusion. The LHC actually has replication built in with two teams (ATLAS & CMS) operating independently. sciencefictionspod.substack.com/p/episode-10...

Episode 100: Replication, replication, replication

And reproducibility and robustness and stuff like that

sciencefictionspod.substack.com

Fun Bentham's Bulldog review of the very silly-sounding book The AI Con benthams.substack.com/p/the-ai-con... it really amazes me there are still people saying "AI is just a stochastic parrot and also it's racist" in 2026, as though they can't just log on and use one themselves right now

"The AI Con" Con

The shockingly terrible arguments of the AI naysayers

benthams.substack.com

We really need to dial down the anti-free speech bullshit in this country. Police should almost never detain people over their choice of T-shirt! (And I would say the same if the political valence was reversed.) www.reddit.com/r/ThatsInsan...

From the ThatsInsane community on Reddit: Scotland police detain a man wearing an anti-Al shirt because it sounds similar to "Palestine Action"

Explore this post and more from the ThatsInsane community

reddit.com

BIG NEWS: My book, The Land Trap, is coming out on Nov 4! I've been fascinated by this topic for years. The book tells the story of why land still occupies such a huge role in finance, economics and politics globally, and why that's a source of huge risk. You can preorder NOW!

It's just the Claire's Accessories, the simple Claire's Accessories, where you could buy a bracelet for your wife Farewell then Claire's Accessories, your retail staff can rest at ease, as you collapse in economic strife www.ft.com/content/b32d...

Jewellery chain Claire’s UK business appoints administrators

High-street brand’s move puts more than 2,000 jobs at risk and comes after parent group filed for bankruptcy protection

ft.com

Just finished @tomchivers.bsky.social “Everything is predictable”. 5 stars because it manages history of science and intuition better than any other book on Bayesian analysis.

"A confident, precise prior that is contradicted by precise information from the world should result in a radically changed posterior probability" - @tomchivers.bsky.social, "Everything is Predictable" One of those delightful books that will change how I live in this world. Thanks.

Guys! GUYS! Everything Is Predictable is now available for £1 on Kindle! amazon.co.uk/Everything-P... You're robbing me blind! I'm cutting my own throat! You can't afford NOT to buy it!

Absolutely fascinating Studies Show pod from @tomchivers.bsky.social & @stuartjritchie.bsky.social on psychological sex differences (biological, societal, both)- well worth paying for: www.thestudiesshowpod.com/subscribe - I just wish Stuart's profile had no pic: I prefer to see him as David Tennant

Subscribe to The Studies Show Podcast

A weekly podcast about the latest scientific controversies, with Tom Chivers and Stuart Ritchie. Click to read The Studies Show Podcast, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

thestudiesshowpod.com

WHITE HOUSE ECONOMIC ADVISOR HASSETT: TRUMP WANTS UK TO LIBERATE THE POSTCODE ADDRESS FILE - CNBC INTERVIEW.

In 2004, it took the world a year to add a gigawatt of solar power — now it takes a day

I appreciate I’m not the head of counterterrorism, but: no, it’s really not similar. @peteetchells.bsky.social @garwboy.bsky.social @tomchivers.bsky.social @stuartjritchie.bsky.social

Rachel Sylvester@rachelsylvester.bsky.social · last yr.

The harm to children from social media is similar to the cancer caused by smoking and a ban for under-16s “warrants serious attention”, the head of counterterrorism told @thetimes.com Crime and Justice Commission @mattdathan.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

they not like us

Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · last yr.

Wonder what all those Silicon Valley "effective altruists" make of their kin destroying by far the largest aid agency in the world?

These two books, by @anilananth.bsky.social and @tomchivers.bsky.social, are the first two books in a very long time that I read in their entirety without significant pause or other diversion along the way. I cannot recommend them enough! #booksky #dataSkyence

This is not a good riposte! 1) Yes, being unable to say false things curtails free speech. You may say that's fine, but still, it's an imposition on free speech and it's silly to pretend otherwise. 2) Besides that, fact checkers get a lot wrong and censored a lot of true things, esp in the pandemic

all in favour of encouraging risky play, etc, but I do wish that pieces encouraging it would admit, nice and high up, that it would mean more children being injured and killed, and that this is a price they consider worthwhile. (I would probably agree!) www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Why kids need to take more risks: science reveals the benefits of wild, free play

Studies reveal how risky play can benefit child development. But encouraging it can be a challenge for parents.

nature.com

Just incredible that 'the desirable result of the policy' is written up as 'we found a loophole.'

Warren@warren.nyc · 2y ago

Someone explain this one to me.

Monday = London Review of Substacks @semafor.com's @tomchivers.bsky.social reviews three smart essays by @deborahvass.bsky.social, @henrygjeffreys.bsky.social, and @scientificdiscovery.dev in our daily global newsletter www.semafor.com/newsletter/1...

What a letter.

Almost every new car sold in Norway is electric

The Land Registry putting up fees for finding out the true owner of a property by 133% is a proper financial hit if you're running a small investigative news outlet! (Related: I've always thought if you wanted to start a revolution in the UK, make the Land Registry free and searchable on Google.)

As always, articles saying OH NO INJURIES FROM [NEW THING X] ARE UP [Y%] are completely pointless unless you tell us how much the USE of New Thing X is up! If the use of e-scooters and e-bikes have tripled, it's not surprising if injuries have too! www.scientificamerican.com/article/inju...

Injuries from Electric Bikes and Scooters Have Tripled. Here’s What to Know

Following a startling spike in electric scooter and e-bike injuries, epidemiologists warn of inadequate infrastructure and safety rules

scientificamerican.com

I wrote an article about my dad's death, and how it affected my views on assisted dying Free version of the article in the next post Views are my own, not those of the institutions or academies I'm associated with www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcar...

What my dad’s death taught me about the assisted dying debate

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore and her sisters knew their father, the neuroscientist Sir Colin Blakemore, had always planned to go to the Netherlands in the face of terminal motor neurone disease. But the real...

thetimes.com

I'm a very pro-funding-science sort of guy, but AIUI Argentina was running an absolutely enormous deficit, its inflation was out of control, and it had a ton of debt. It had to cut loads of things! Science is important but so is the country not going bankrupt! www.nature.com/articles/d41...

‘There will be nothing left’: researchers fear collapse of science in Argentina

One year into President Javier Milei’s presidency, scientists are exiting the country in the face of big budget cuts.

nature.com

This week's The Studies Show is in your inbox! Actually it arrived yesterday but I'm very slow. For paid-only subscribers, it's about sex, gender, and sport, and it asks the daringly controversial question: is the average man taller than the average woman? www.thestudiesshowpod.com/p/paid-only-...

Paid-only Episode 15: Sex and sport

The battle of the sexes. Or is it "genders"?

thestudiesshowpod.com