Links
A Croakey post by me: Calls for action to stop public health cuts at University of Technology Sydney
Me š«“ The Center for the Alignment of AI Alignment Centers š¦ is this real? (Itās very well done)
Three influential policy groups that together receive almost $20m in donations a year refuse to reveal their key donors, including those whose commercial interests may overlap with their public advocacy campaigns. The progressive Australia Institute, the right-leaning Centre for Independent Studies and the conservative Institute of Public Affairs argue they cannot reveal their donors without exposing them to attack from political opponents.
Slack. Good on Grattan, CEDA and Per Capita for being more honest about their funding.
Reported by Henry Belot for _The Guardian _
Prof Michelle Arrow is one of the finest writers on Australian society and how we’ve ended up where we are. In this piece for The Conversation she tackles a timley issue: what are Australian universities for?
David Strattonās impact
Very sad to hear about David Strattonās death, he had an outsized influence. I read his words almost every day via the David and Margaret - At The Movies Letterboxd account, which lovingly documents their reviews of almost 9,000 films (thanks to user Beaver for this amazing reference).
‘Giant in his field’: Legendary film critic David Stratton dies aged 85 ā ABC
Leaked Treasury advice focuses on cutting red tape and āgreen tapeā as outcomes of Labor's upcoming productivity round table - ABC News
This is in contrast to the measures that might actually boost productivity rather than simply returning companies to operating profits (not that they ever left).
The Future of Climate Change Is on Mauritius
I think of the carbon emissions of each plane that lands here. The emissions of each of our 106 hotels. Air conditioning units struggling to cool rooms in peak season. Tourists pouring themselves a bath, cleansing themselves of their 12-hour flight. Ignorant that the rest of us have to live on only four to eight hours of water flowing through our taps most days in high summer. Tourists, their sunscreen-coated bodies plunging into the lagoon, leaving a film on the water, poisoning corals. Tourists, delighting in our bathwater lagoon, look itās so crystal-clear you can see the bottom, a dead zone framed in buoys, cleansed of most of its creatures.
The Future of Climate Change Is on Mauritius by Ariel Saramandi for The Dial
Deskilling through A.I. use a real issue, and probably occurs more quickly than we perceive as users.
Erin Cook’s _Flat White, Kopi Susu_ newsletter is fantastic.
Iām not enjoying this Temu version of Minority Report weāre living in:
ICE Is Buying Mobile Iris Scanning Tech for Its Deportation Arm
A million calls an hourā: Israel relying on Microsoft cloud for expansive surveillance of Palestinians ā The Guardian
[Israelās military surveillance agency] informed Microsoft that it planned to move over time as much as 70% of its data, including secret and top secret data, into Azure.ā¦ ā[Microsoft Chief Executive] Satya [Nadella] suggested that we identify certain workloads to begin with and then gradually move towards the 70% mark,ā one record states. It adds that Nadella said ābuilding the partnership is so criticalā and āMicrosoft is committed to providing resources to support.ā
This is a fantastic case study in the perils of vibe coding, via Adam Kent:
Now hiring ā Head of State (remote):
āAccording to the office, NausÄda plans to continue combining work and rest in a similar manner in the future.ā
Really interesting reporting by Julian Fell, via The Sizzle
āWe are witnessing a massive move [by the World Bank] to consider financing a range of large projects expected to have huge impacts on river basins, or that have already provoked huge, historic controversiesā¦ The World Bank is revisiting projects it once dropped because of obvious challenges and risks, but those risks did not go away.ā
In a Major Reversal, the World Bank Is Backing Mega Dams ā Yale Environment 360