Silicon dreams and carbon nightmares: The wide boundary impacts of AI

by Nate Hagen in The Great Simplification…What are the environmental implications of a tool with unbound computational capabilities aimed towards goals of relentless growth and extraction? How could artificial intelligence play into the themes of power and greed, intensifying inequalities and accelerating the fragmentation of society? What role could AI play under a different set of values and expectations for the future that are in service to the betterment of life?

The indomitable Covid virus

by Eric Topol in Ground Truths…The Sato Lab in Japan recently characterized KP.3.1.1, as having the most immune evasion and infectivity of any of the variants derived from and including JN.1. And previously Ben Murrell showed clearly (below, right) KP.3.1.1 had the most prominent growth advantage of all circulating variants out there. No surprise it is rapidly rising to dominance here and elsewhere around the world.

Long Covid defined

by Dr. Ely et al, in The New England Journal of Medicine….We hope that the 2024 NASEM definition will facilitate communication among patients, such as those described in the clinical vignettes, and with family members and clinicians. A standard definition should enable better tracking of the burden of long Covid and facilitate the design and conduct of robust clinical trials that produce better treatments for this and other infection-associated chronic conditions. Above all, we hope that this definition contributes to compassionate and effective care for all patients in whom long Covid is diagnosed.

Food as you know it is about to change

by David Wallace-Wells in The New York Times…It can be tempting, in an age of apocalyptic imagination, to picture the most dire future climate scenarios: not just yield declines but mass crop failures, not just price spikes but food shortages, not just worsening hunger but mass famine. In a much hotter world, those will indeed become likelier, particularly if agricultural innovation fails to keep pace with climate change; over a 30-year time horizon, the insurer Lloyd’s recently estimated a 50 percent chance of what it called a “major” global food shock.

Why shifting from prediction to foresight can help us plan for future disruption

by Roger Spitz in World Economic Forum…As the world becomes more complex, foresight methodologies account for a greater set of possible futures.
Scenario development, a foresight methodology, is an alternative to prediction which can help map new possibilities.
Foresight may predict possible futures but more importantly, it allows for preparation.

Living Landscapes: rethinking biodiversity in Southern Africa

by Oak Foundation….One of the strengths of the course is that the students taking part already work in conservation areas where they can make a difference, such as biodiversity conservation, natural resource management, and governance (land, water, and the ocean).They come with a wide range of expertise – from government agencies, conservation organisations, climate justice, and not-for-profit organisations. This means they bring experience with them, which they can share with the group.

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Jul 06 2023

Global polycrisis: The causal mechanisms of crisis entanglement

by Dr. Michael Lawrence at The Cascade Institute….. In this framework, a global crisis arises when one or more fast-moving trigger events combines with...
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The Regeneration Handbook: System-changing strategies

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Oct 31 2024

Insurable losses from natural disasters – how have the numbers changed over the years?

by Terry Gangcuanco in Insurance Business Magazine….Canadian insurtech MyChoice has released a new study showing a sharp rise in insurable losses linked to...
Oct 30 2024

Holding states to account: do humanitarians undermine civil society?

by Zainab Moallin in ODI.org…Are humanitarian efforts, despite their best intentions, diminishing civil society’s capacity to advocate for systemic change with...
Oct 29 2024

AI Snake Oil—A New Book by 2 Princeton University Computer Scientists

by Eric Topol in Ground Truths….A Counter to the Hype and Some Misleading Claims

Oct 28 2024

The Earth Does Not Speak in Prose, A conversation with Paul Kingsnorth

Interviewed by Charlotte Du Cann, Paul Kingsnorth, writer and Dark Mountain co-founder….writes about forging a language that can speak with and for the...
Oct 22 2024

GAR Special Report 2024: Forensic insights for future resilience learning from past disasters

from the GAR Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction…If we accept that disasters are neither natural nor inevitable, then we must work to prevent or...
Oct 22 2024

Our polycrisis demands a radically new approach to risk management

By Ruth Richardson in Open Access Government…A fundamental part of the problem is that our current tools and strategies aren’t designed to assess the types of...
Oct 22 2024

The Regeneration Handbook: System-changing strategies

by Don Hall in Resilience.org…Many Transition Initiatives, from Fujino, Japan, to London, England, have started their own community-owned renewable energy...
Oct 22 2024

The security blind spot: Cascading climate impacts and tipping points threaten national security

by Laurie Laybourn, et al. in IPPR…Recent governments have not considered climate change a priority national security issue. But climate-security threats are...
Oct 10 2024

The collapse is coming. Will humanity adapt?

by Peter Watts in The MIT Press…..Now, Homo sapiens of some form or another is going to survive no matter what we do, short of blowing up the planet with nuclear...