Landslide; a ghost story: I'm writing this post to talk about what is happening to the way we know things. All this year, as I have chewed my way along the edges of this almost unfathomable problem, what happened in Valdez came to feel less like a metaphor and more like a model. That's how I'll work with it here. Not because the circumstances of megathrust earthquakes in fjords are literally the same as the societal problem of collective derangement, but because the model gives me new ways to take the problem apart and see how the pieces interact.
Is there any legal justification for the US attack on Venezuela? | Venezuela | The Guardian: The UN security council can impose sanctions on countries in an attempt to maintain peace. These can include trade restrictions, arms embargos and travel bans. However, five members of the council – the US, China, Russia, the UK and France – have a veto on this, meaning any action taken against the US is unlikely to come into force. Like many things, the UN is basically an honour system. Nothing can actually be enforced if the big players don't want to follow the "rules".
AI boom could falter without wider adoption, Microsoft chief Satya Nadella warns – The Irish Times: Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella has warned that artificial intelligence (AI) risks becoming a speculative bubble unless its use spreads beyond big tech companies and wealthy economies. Mr Nadella on Tuesday said that the long-term success of the fast-developing technology would depend on it being used by a broad range of industries as well as on uptake outside of the developed world. 'Risks' doing a lot of heavy lifting there.