← Feed

Posts

• View post

  Am I right in thinking there's a deep confusion at the heart of technological ideas on AI ? On the one hand they reject the physical basis of human intelligence - as they must, since they imagine a similar phenomenon can be machine-based. But at the same time, they imagine machine intelligence can emerge, almost as an epiphenomena, out of different physical systems. Dualist or not ? Perhaps we need a more sophisticated Turing test ? - eg. evidence in a machine of both aesthetic and phys...

• View post

  There's a lot of intentional bias in both mainstream and social media - but there's also a lot of what I'd call unintentional bias - coming from a number of influences. One is the fact that 80% of journalists come from professional or upper-class backgrounds. Only 7% of people attend private school in the UK... but half of newspaper columnists are privately educated, 47% of political commentators, 45% of leading podcasters and 38% of BBC executives. Media professionals, their fa...

• View post

  An AI executive's description of their business as "the largest theft of labour in human history" prompts comparisons with slavery - but it occurs to me that this comparison might run deeper than they realise. David Olusoga's new BBC series 'Finding Britain’s Slave Traders' takes an interesting approach - instead of focusing on the brutality and racism at the sharp end of the slave trade, it shows us the documents, houses and peaceful private lives of those that invest...

• View post

  "Across 17 of the world’s largest economies — accounting for nearly 60 per cent of global GDP and well over a third of the world’s population — the message from citizens is unequivocal. Seven in 10 respondents state that economic inequality in their country has gone too far. Two-thirds view the economic system as fundamentally rigged in favour of the rich and powerful, while 69 per cent explicitly demand major economic transformation." https://www.socialeurope.eu/people-want-economic-...

• View post

  Extreme wealth inequality is a fissure running through every notion of liberal-democracy (and has been since 1776, when American slave-owners declared it self-evident that all men are created equal). Equality before the law ? Not if only the wealthy can afford to pursue cases, or the best lawyers. Equality of opportunity ? Not if only the wealthy can send their kids to exclusive schools, employ home tutors, etc. Free and fair elections ? Not if it's the wealthy that fund the political par...

• View post

  Let's draw a connection between the UK scandal over crypto billionaire funding of a far-right political party, and the American controversy over crypto funding of GrapheneOS. Are crypto currencies inherently right-wing ? I think they are, both because they are fundamentally based on scarcity, and therefore facilitate private rather than community benefit, and because they need excessive, environmentally damaging energy use.

• View post

  "Playing on the opponents' ground always leads to defeat" - https://archive.is/20260910182226/https://www.lemonde.fr/en/politics/article/2026/09/10/macron-and-merz-two-losing-strategies-against-the-far-right_6757396_5.html#selection-3523.27-3523.32 Lemonde analysis of how Renzi's attempt to combat the far right in Italy ended up paving the way for Meloni - but that didn't stop Starmer, Macron, then Merz all repeating the same mistake. Just stupidity ? Or were these appa...

• View post

  “For every £1 invested in protecting nature, you’ve got £30 spent trying to degrade it... So that’s a political choice and it’s not a lack of finance. It’s where it’s used.” - https://www.removepaywall.com/search?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2026%2Fsep%2F10%2Fclimate-crisis-tipping-points-energy-environment-report But it's not 'a political choice', is it ? Investment simply flows where the returns are likely to be bigger, quicker. The problem is system...

• View post

  France, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden today announced trade sanctions against Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

• View post

  Few would disagree that meeting everybody's basic needs while protecting the natural environment is the direction we need to go. The contentious issue is more around the fact that it's a direction that requires more social control of parts of the economy, and this is controversial from a number of perspectives: - the wealthy and privileged feel their vested interests are threatened by this extension of social control - some economists and other commentators think that more social cont...

• View post

  "People said they lived better during the Soviet era, that they felt more valued" - https://archive.is/20260905161322/https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/09/05/in-germany-memories-of-the-soviet-legacy-are-at-the-heart-of-saxony-anhalt-s-state-election-i-do-not-consider-russians-to-be-enemies_6757193_4.html#selection-3657.208-3661.95 - interesting article exploring the cultural and geopolitical drivers of today's likely far-right election win in former East Germany....

• View post

  The political centre in the western world is confronted by its own trolley problem. It must choose between letting democracy hurtle down the extreme right route, harming most people, or throwing the switch to the left, damaging the interests of the wealthy and privileged. It is refusing to choose - dreaming instead of a third way that cannot, in principle, exist. 'With France seeking profound change, momentum lies only with candidates who promise to upend the status quo' - Lemonde art...

• View post

  "From Paris, it seems like a mystery. How could the US, which has set the pace for global science for nearly a century, systematically dismantle its dominant position – and, above all, why?" https://archive.is/20260902070050/https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2026/09/02/trump-takes-aim-at-american-science-as-china-pulls-ahead_6757069_23.html#selection-3513.216-3513.507 "China now outcompetes the US in numerous scientific fields. Since 2019, it has led the world in patent...

• View post

  "Russia and ​Israel both ​spread and amplified disinformation related to the mass entry ​of migrants ‌into ⁠Spain's North African exclave ‌of Ceuta last month, Prime ⁠Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday, ​citing research ‌by the European Union's foreign policy body, the European External Action Service (EEAS). "After July 30 and 31, there was a spread of rumours and disinformation, from social networks linked both to Russia and to Israel, and to an ultra-right international tha...

• View post

  "Six nuclear reactors were shut down on Thursday, August 13, due to the ongoing heatwave." - https://archive.is/4t4kH#selection-3347.1-3347.89 I think it's now clear that France must move away from nuclear power. It has saved a lot of fossil fuels emissions to date - but now, given the increasing pace of progress in renewables and battery technology, and climate-ecological breakdown rendering existing nuclear installations inoperable, France must take the strategic turn to renew...

• View post

  RE: https://mas.to/@therightarticle/117098031979293308 This was an academic lynching, led by an acknowledged racist - sacked for precisely that by Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 2024 - followed by an irresponsible pile-on by the UK's rabid right-wing press.

• View post

  Looks like China already has the technology (extreme-ultraviolet lithography) to make the most advanced computer chips... https://observer.co.uk/news/business/article/china-shocks-with-chip-tech-breakthrough

• View post

  "The US used to be a beacon of human rights. Not anymore. Today, it stands alongside North Korea, Nicaragua, Mali & Russia, isolated. And the world no longer listens to it." - France’s UN Mission in Geneva. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/07/28/us-walks-out-on-france-at-un-meeting_6755911_4.html

• View post

  EU tells firms to label AI-generated content from Sunday - https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/07/28/eu-tells-firms-to-label-ai-generated-content-from-sunday_6755910_4.html

• View post

  It's important to note that both wildfires and pandemics - like the Ebola incubating, perhaps, in Africa now - are symptoms of capitalism's over-exploitation of resources. Of course there were wildfires and pandemics before globalisation, but their frequency and intensity is increased by over-exploitation of natural resources: trade and mixing of rare species facilitates microbes crossing species barriers, trade and tourism facilitate contagion, just as surely as harmful emissions and o...

• View post

  Corsica's 'fight against Airbnb-ization' claims to have returned 233 homes to 'year-round residents' - https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2026/07/27/corsica-s-fight-against-airbnb-ization-claims-to-have-returned-233-homes-to-year-round-residents_6755892_19.html

• View post

  You could look at your tax bill like this... The government creates all money (either directly by spending or indirectly through the banks it licences). All of this money is created out of nothing - it's just 'IOUs' written by the government - which is why UK bank notes always had printed on them "I promise to pay the bearer on demand". The money created by banks when they make loans is cancelled - destroyed - when the loans are repaid. The money created when the govern...

• View post

  Another accused Epstein associate found dead... Who is hindering prosecutions and revelations - even, perhaps, willing to kill to do so ? "The failure of the Paris public prosecutor's office to act in the knowledge that Siad was a close associate of Epstein and facing multiple rape and trafficking allegations is beyond comprehension." https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2026/07/22/epstein-case-french-model-scout-and-alleged-recruiter-found-dead_6755717_7.html

• View post

  I think the left/green needs to beware of negativity around electric cars - specifically, it should view, and represent electric cars not as a continuation of the car problem, but as part of the transition away from car dependency. The developed world has been constructed around personal car ownership. Some on the left/green may not be fully conscious of this, because they are concentrated in cities that already have decent public transport, bike-able distances, etc - or among the young, or ma...

• View post

  France has an almost universal provision of state apartment blocks for young people - my son lives in one now. They are like university halls of residence, but instead of just students at one uni, they are open to anybody under 25 that has a 'personal project' - any education or training course, starting work, setting up a business, etc. Generally, people can stay up to 2 years, and most have a social worker attached to help young people into independent life - everything from tax form...

• View post

  Just heard a bit of the BBC reporting of Andy Burnham's cut in VAT on energy bills - it was all about what it would 'cost', and whether this would have to be 'paid for' by raising taxes or borrowing. It again seems not to have occurred to any of the political journalists that a lot of the people benefiting from this cut in VAT might not save it, or spend it all on non-VATable purchases, but actually go out and spend it precisely on other things that do incur VAT. Or they mi...

• View post

  "The problem is that people like me have not managed to find a slogan as effective as 'immigrants take your jobs... It is false, no data shows it, but it works." This researcher on the impact of immigration blames himself - https://archive.ph/e04j3#selection-3625.124-3625.296 - and it's true of course that people with detailed understanding are not necessarily the best communicators - but I'd say there are 3 much bigger forces in play. The first is built in to the way pe...

• View post

  RE: https://mamot.fr/@wwwcdorg/116930309676207928 In France, the extreme right promises to defend the European Social Model and “high-quality public services” - but where they have won control of local councils the evidence is that they have done just the opposite...

• View post

  "France's main energy provider on Sunday, July 12, said three nuclear reactors had been temporarily shut down and eight others were operating at reduced power due to the heatwave." - https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2026/07/12/france-powers-down-several-nuclear-reactors-due-to-extreme-heat_6755404_7.html So it turns out nuclear power was not part of the answer to climate breakdown after all...

• View post

  RE: https://mamot.fr/@Attac/116903440670164167 One of the things that immediately impressed itself on me when I moved to France from the UK in 2012 was how much less neoliberal it seemed. It remains a more equal society, with better regulation of big business, much better public services and infrastructure... But this is not to say France entirely escaped the canker of neoliberalism. As in the UK and US, since Thatcherism and Reaganomics, in France also a transfer of wealth from the many to t...