A website exploring the novel's themes of climate change and artificial intelligence
Tree rings can be used to reconstruct climate records because they are strongly linked to summer temperatures in high latitudes and provide exact dating especially of extreme events. A new study1 about to be published in Nature provides a fascinating glimpse into climatic conditions in the arctic region over the last five […] Read More
The prospect of a sudden shift in climate due to a rapid change in a key climate moderator such as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) has long worried climate scientists. But has their use of the term “tipping points” to instil some urgency into the climate debate and foster more urgent […] Read More
One of the problems with conventional nuclear power plants is that they rely on an extremely hazardous fuel which persists for thousands of years. What if we could engineer a reliable and simple solution for dealing with these nuclear power hazards? By using a radically different engineering approach, a California-based start-up, Deep […] Read More
There are multiple signs that the urgency of climate action in developed countries is receding. Is it because of growing geopolitical unrest? Concerns over the economy? Trumpian claims of a hoax? Or just plain climate fatigue? Whatever the reasons, it is reminiscent of the period straight after the Global Financial Crisis when […] Read More
Weaving themes as diverse as oceanography, social divides, artificial intelligence and many others, the genius of Richard Powers is on show again in his latest novel Playground. Powers’ main characters are a Quebecoise marine specialist, a nerdy computer entrepreneur from northside Chicago, his bête noir a literary genius from the southside, and […] Read More
Human progress has largely been achieved during cycles of open societies which institute dramatic and transformative change followed by cycles of closed thinking which stills or even reverses progress. We are currently in an ‘open’ phase which is under threat from forces wanting to return to ‘simpler’ times. That is the well-argued […] Read More
Economist Kenneth Boulding once said that “anyone who believes that exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.” Despite this warning, the mantra that “growth is good” remains barely questioned today. Christopher Jones’ book The Invention of Infinite Growth provides an insightful review […] Read More
Most older people today are unaware that in their lifetimes the population of the planet has tripled and we have burned nearly 90% of all the fossil fuel ever consumed. Did the population boom cause the explosion in fossil fuel use or the other way around? Author Vaclav Smil gives some clues […] Read More
After organizing a successful meeting between blue urban liberals and red conservative rural folk in 2017, journalist Monica Guzman began to see political polarization in the USA as “the problem that eats other problems, the monster who convinces us that the monsters are us”. She vowed to do something more about it. […] Read More
Why did Homo sapiens triumph over other Homo species? And then how did we become the dominant species on the planet? Academic Hanno Sauer addresses these questions and more in his insightful book “The Invention of Good and Evil: A World History of Morality.” One reason for our success is that we, […] Read More