by Bo Harvey….“There is no single vital problem, but many vital problems, and it is this complex intersolidarity of problems, antagonisms, crises, uncontrolled processes, and the general crisis of the planet that constitutes the number one vital problem.”3
The Desert of the Anthropocene: An ongoing installation from artist Ravi Agarwal
The long engagement is a part of an ongoing investigation into the current state of the nature, both as a crisis which traverses a political realm, but also a cultural contestation of how ‘nature’ is thought of in the era of the Anthropocene.
The worst-case scenario for drought on the Colorado River
By Umair Irfan, Vox.com…One in eight Americans depend on a river that’s disappearing.
Navigating the polycrisis–life in turbulent times
By Michael Lerner, Angle of Vision…The polycrisis has many names—cascading crises, the metacrisis, the permacrisis, the great unraveling, the great simplification, “the end of the world as we know it” [TEOTWAWKI], and more. In Latin America it’s called “eco-social collapse.” The French call it “collapsologie.” Or one can simply call it turbulent times or a rapidly changing world.
Global rice shortage is set to be the biggest in 20 years
There’s a strained supply of rice as a result of the ongoing war in Ukraine, as well as weather woes in rice-producing economies like China and Pakistan.
The surprising thing A.I. engineers will tell you if you let them
by Ezra Klein, The New York Times…This is an example of “alignment risk,” the danger that what we want the systems to do and what they will actually do could diverge, and perhaps do so violently. Curbing alignment risk requires curbing the systems themselves, not just the ways we permit people to use them.
#20 – Global polycrisis with Thomas Homer-Dixon
A discussion with a researcher who studies the way global crises intersect.
This changes everything
In a 2022 survey, A.I. experts were asked, “What probability do you put on human inability to control future advanced A.I. systems causing human extinction or similarly permanent and severe disempowerment of the human species?”
Regular old intelligence is sufficient–even lovely
Precisely twenty years ago, I published a book called “Enough” that outlined my fears about artificial intelligence and its companion technologies like advanced robotics and human genetic engineering
Climate, fiction, and the future
Artists have a long history of channeling social change into their works, shaping our cultures, societies, and institutions. When informed by science, this becomes a powerful tool for action.
More in this tag
May
30
2023
The global polycrisis reflects a civilizational crisis that calls for systemic alternatives
By Zack Walsh, Polycrisis Transition Consultancy…A review of emerging definitions of polycrisis within cognate bodies of scientific literature exploring societal...
May
26
2023
Beyond growth: speech by President Ursula von der Leyen
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, delivered this speech during the opening plenary of the Beyond Growth conference
May
26
2023
AI and the future of humanity
By Yuval Noah Harari at the Frontier Forum…..In this keynote and Q&A, Yuval Noah Harari summarizes and speculates on ‘AI and the future of...
May
26
2023
Crazy Town: Episode 74. Prepping for the apocalypse: Elites’ foolish fantasies for surviving a collapse of their own creation
By Asher Miller of Resilience.org…Crazy Town Podcast….Meet Barrett Moore, the bunker-building bullshit artist who helps capitalists survive the apocalypse...
May
26
2023
‘In a lot of the world, the clock has hit midnight’: China is calling in loans to dozens of countries from Pakistan to Kenya
By Bernard Condon, Fortune….Poor countries have been hit with foreign currency shortages, high inflation, spikes in unemployment and widespread hunger before, but...
May
22
2023
The ORA Fellowship announced 21 new fellows working to address the global polycrisis
Omega Resilience Awards announced their inaugural cohort of fellows working in the Global South.
May
22
2023
What is Neom? Home to The Line at Saudi Arabia’s megacity
Plans for a new smart city, called The Line, in Neom are part of the 2030 Vision to embrace a new economic era in the kingdom
May
22
2023
Yuval Noah Harari argues that AI has hacked the operating system of human civilisation
By Yuval Noah Harari , The Economist…Storytelling computers will change the course of human history, says the historian and philosopher
May
22
2023
W.H.O. ends global health emergency designation for covid
By Stephanie Nolen, The New York Times….The decision has little practical effect but is a significant moment in the struggle against a virus that has killed...
May
22
2023
An end to pandemic restrictions could bring thousands to the border
By Miriam Jordan, The New York Times….Title 42, the policy that has allowed the swift expulsion of many migrants at the southern border, will lift on Thursday....