iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by advait

Nathaniel William Horadam @horadam.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I joined Georgia Tech's Energy Policy and Innovation Center as a research fellow in April (right before everyone skipped town for the summer!), and today I'm pleased to share my first commentary for them. This one's all about aluminum. 🔌💡🚗 epicenter.energy.gatech.edu/2026/09/29/h...

epicenter.energy.gatech.edu

Hot wars and trade wars remind us why aluminum is a critical mineral – Energy Policy and Innovation Center (EPIcenter)

1166

advait @advaitarun.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Caravanserai Volume 2 is all done!! We published over 20k words this year on all manner of policy and culture topics, with so much more to come! Our editor's note concludes Volume 2, questioning the perceived instability of our political moment: caravanseraiforum.substack.com/p/closing-vol2

caravanseraiforum.substack.com

A wave that may turn out to be a tide or a tsunami.

The Caravanserai Editorial Board closes out Volume 2.

120

Reposted by advait

Brendan Pierpont @brendan.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The UK's prime minister is proposing a public option for grid transmission investments, to compete with private players and speed up grid connections: www.bbc.com/news/article...

bbc.com

GB Grid: Andy Burnham says public body will invest in electricity grid

The prime minister said he wants to reduce energy costs in his first conference speech as Labour leader.

2207

Reposted by advait

Daniel Driscoll @danieldrisc.com · 29/09/2026

Why Carbon Taxes Failed is on the road! See book talk dates below (more to come). Next week is Central European University and Copenhagen Business School! Can't wait to see some dear friends at both places <3

2199

advait @advaitarun.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Times Square on Wednesday had ad for COP31 followed by an ad for the Dangote Refinery lmao climate week is insane now

1276

Reposted by advait

David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

DOGE has been memory-holed, but the savagery of that time still lingers in legislation Republicans now have to explain away. In particular: one bill that put $500 billion in federal spending *per year* at risk. Several threatened House Republicans supported it. From me: prospect.org/2026/09/18/e...

prospect.org

DOGE Bills Could Come Back to Haunt Republicans - The American Prospect

One bill in particular would threaten $500 billion in federal spending every year. Several House Republicans in tough races supported it.

29338

advait @advaitarun.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Caravanserai Volume 2 Issue 13: letters to the editor! Three of our writers returned to comment on previous issues: the first on China, the second on coalitions, the third on the humanities. We've also included a table of contents to the whole volume! caravanseraiforum.substack.com/p/letters-vol2

caravanseraiforum.substack.com

The bar really is in hell these days!

A table of contents to Volume 2, featuring letters to the editor.

010

Reposted by advait

William B. Fuckley @opinionhaver.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

A minimum population size for local government in general would solve literally hundreds of problems. Lots of cities should be annexed or disincorporated.

461129136

Reposted by advait

Jjinandtonic @jjinandtonic.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Circumventing the government-as-pocketbook simile with the government-as-shared-costco-card simile

192

Reposted by advait

advait @advaitarun.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I'm especially proud of how this report connects transmission buildout to decarb and climate change. Of course, more transmission means more clean energy (incl OSW and geo!). But, just as importantly, more transmission means more grid resilience--IF the public sector can coordinate it.

1268

Reposted by advait

advait @advaitarun.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

NEW CPE REPORT on the urgency of building an interregional transmission macrogrid! @cthelala.bsky.social and I argue that only the federal government can get it built; no other actor on the grid is capable of doing so! Really, this is a paper about the theory of transmission as an asset class:

47127

Reposted by advait

Doctor Memory @blank.org · 15/09/2026

This pretty much covers the basics: idlewords.com/talks/superi... Various people have retconned more “reasonable” worries into the discussion but the social core of it is very much that we invent a mind that is Vast, Cool and Unsympathetic, and it decides that we are more useful as raw material.

idlewords.com

2573

Reposted by advait

Doctor Memory @blank.org · 16/09/2026

I believe it was @dsquareddigest.bsky.social who noted that the only way to survive an argument with Milton Friedman was that when he said “let us assume” to immediately interject “no, we will not assume that” and it’s an equally valid approach to discussing “AI risk”.

445392

Reposted by advait

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Going forward, the US National Science Foundation research budget for all atmospheric, ocean, and Earth sciences is $110 million per year. Trump's illegal war with Iran cost the Department of Defense (i.e., the American taxpayers) $38 billion in the first 5 months, or $220 million per day.

cbo.gov

Estimating the Cost of Combat Operations Against Iran

CBO assesses the Department of Defense's costs for the current armed conflict against Iran, as well as the conflict's economic and budgetary effects.

7361157

Reposted by advait

Adam Mongrain @adammongrain.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Advait (also a fan of the Protomen's Act II: The Father of Death) is working on some of the smartest, most important stuff I know about. Everyone should read this.

121

Reposted by advait

Nina Eichacker @ninaecon.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

New paper (open source!) out with the Cambridge Journal of Economics: it's about what Keynesian oriented supply-side policies might look like in our weird moment of climate change and other challenges: I hope you have a chance to check it out! t.co/yIZnjdIova

t.co

https://academic.oup.com/cje/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cje/beag026/8796073?utm_source=authortollfreelink&utm_campaign=cje&utm_medium=email&guestAccessKey=0be597c1-99e8-4a5b-b035-2d57a417f73b

2176

Reposted by advait

John Smillie @johnsmillie42.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

SPP should be the beating heart of a national grid, with millions of acres of wheat and corn sheltered from their semi-arid conditions with gobsmacking amounts of vertical bifacial solar.

4223

Reposted by advait

John Smillie @johnsmillie42.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Interregional Transmission! Because the energy is here and here, and the people are over there

67218

Reposted by advait

alex williams @atwilliams.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

[extremely secretary of the treasury voice] okay everyone, all of you, i want you to reach into you purse or briefcase or backpack and take out your checkbook. now write a check for $5000 and address it to yourself.....BOOM #Share To Save A Life

515718

Reposted by advait

Kelly Hereid @kellyhereid.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

And you tie in @jlappen1.bsky.social @gruberte.bsky.social minimum viable scale paper?? Love this so much

121

Reposted by advait

Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

You could absolurely use this framework to upfront finance lines and wait a long time before recovering any costs (that’s the idea!) . But I don’t think it’s conservative at all to ensure public lines have a clear path to recovering costs. Gives them more options!

121

Reposted by advait

Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The cost allocation framework is also a big help to subnational public developers (federal or state) who want to leverage their cost of capital and expertise on interregional projects but are held at veto point by counterparties beyond their reach.

131

Reposted by advait

isaac @sevier.io · 15/09/2026

Nice. Did you guys consider an argument that the federal government should itself be the cost bearer, rather than the enforcer of a common cost allocation framework? I'm curious about if and why you did or didn't and can think of a handful of reasons to stick to a more conservative solution.

131

Reposted by advait

isaac @sevier.io · 15/09/2026

Need to read a little closer but it's a good review on why we are the way we are today.

041

Reposted by advait

JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Planning the transition away from carbon is as important as ever. And the grid is still an important part of it.

0185

advait @advaitarun.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

1268

Reposted by advait

worst-case scenario engineer @worstcaseeng.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Alright I gotta read this later, as a longtime advocate for this

011

advait @advaitarun.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

47127

Reposted by advait

Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

More here. There’s a ton of great papers out recently on grid authorities, planning, and funding. We hope this paper will be a complement to those efforts by identifying key investment barriers interregional transmission faces on today’s electricity system. publicenterprise.org/report/down-...

publicenterprise.org

Down to the wire

No developer, utility, large load customer, or grid planning institution today has the legal permissions or balance sheet space to proactively build new, necessary interregional transmission infrastru...

072

Reposted by advait

Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

We identify core functions for federal policy: 1) pipeline planning 2) anticipatory finance that bears “overbuilding” risk 3) preemptive cost recovery We should also reform permitting and siting, defray impacts on ratepayers, and retain the option to federally develop lines.

163

Reposted by advait

Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

NEW CPE report on building an interregional macrogrid! @advaitarun.bsky.social & I argue that the U.S. lacks the mechanisms to turn national and regional planning into a pipeline of interregional transmission projects. Federal leadership is critical to close this gap.

1156

Reposted by advait

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

"Pfas companies are launching a “tidal wave” of forever chemicals production to meet demand from the AI industry, a campaign organisation has warned...a survey of the 10 biggest manufacturers found most had plans to increase production." www.theguardian.com/environment/...

theguardian.com

‘Tidal wave’ of Pfas being launched to satisfy AI industry, campaigners warn

Big manufacturers planning to produce more of the forever chemicals to meet demand from datacentres

12332214

Reposted by advait

Pride Ott 🦦 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @hikoukihikouki9.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

It's kinda bleak that the new right critique of neoconservatism fp was that jingoistic, overly ambitious, outcome dubious foreign intervention only fails when you care about cuck lib shit like "democracy" and can only good happen when you do light war crimes and plundering.

222026

Reposted by advait

alex williams @atwilliams.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

so much of trump policy is about kneecapping the growth equation of the 2030s so that we have to continue reorganizing the economy and society around the rich and the aging

013425

Reposted by advait

advait @advaitarun.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Over the summer, our housing fellow Tyler Stark wrote this great note on how networked geothermal heating can support new multifamily housing—and assessing the kinds of financing structures available to developers. @publicenterprise.bsky.social publicenterprise.org/report/resea...

publicenterprise.org

Research note: Geothermal Investment as Housing Capital

Read the full research note here. Geothermal Investment as Housing Capital Geothermal technology is gaining momentum as a clean source of heating and cooling capacity that competes with traditi...

022

advait @advaitarun.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

BIG NEW TRANSMISSION PLANNING / FEDERAL GRID GOVERNANCE PAPER TOMORROW from @cthelala.bsky.social and me @publicenterprise.bsky.social

061

Reposted by advait

Better Things Are Possible @internethippo.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

“Abolish ICE” was immediately met with eye rolling condescension and after events proved that policy correct, and support *among Democrats* for it exploded to like 80%, it didn’t move party leaders at all. How is this tenable

382912355

advait @advaitarun.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

publicenterprise.org

Research note: Geothermal Investment as Housing Capital

Read the full research note here. Geothermal Investment as Housing Capital Geothermal technology is gaining momentum as a clean source of heating and cooling capacity that competes with traditi...

022

Reposted by advait

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

If you're wondering where The Washington Post found this bright young talent who absolutely does not understand history and who writes in bland and boring cliches, well, look no further.

Dominic Pino
Washington, D.C.
Editorial writer
Dominic Pino is an editorial writer for The Washington Post Opinion section. Before joining The Post in 2025, he was the economics editor at National Review. He holds a master’s degree in economics from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
Education: M.A. in Economics, George Mason University

4248556

Reposted by advait

Dan Davies @dsquareddigest.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Yes! The super intelligent, super human being that still can't shift its fixation on office supplies.

6335

Reposted by advait

tweety fish oh wow like a chimera or something spoooky @sifu.tweety.fish · 13/09/2026

one of the things I appreciate about this thread is that I don't think you can really understand the infosec stuff without understanding the ideological commitments the people making these have; like for them sandboxes and guardrails are a cop-out /

411738

Reposted by advait

tweety fish oh wow like a chimera or something spoooky @sifu.tweety.fish · 13/09/2026

and, really, they just inherently don't buy the idea that sandboxes or deterministic guardrails could possibly work against the power they impute to these things, right? it's hard to effectively implement something you don't believe can possibly work.

3708

Reposted by advait

tweety fish oh wow like a chimera or something spoooky @sifu.tweety.fish · 13/09/2026

their goal is to have "an intelligence" which is "aligned" to doing things that are prosocial. They don't want to put in rules that STOP it from doing things: they see it fundamentally teleologically and to them the only solution that is worthwhile is to get it to not WANT to do those things.

88415

Reposted by advait

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 13/09/2026

Abdul El-Sayed: "Weijia, with all due respect, this is the third time you've asked about a Twitch streamer ... their whole game is to make us fight culture wars so that we don't pay attention to the fact the president has made $2.2 billion ... "

1377339648303

advait @advaitarun.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I’m back in @phenomenalworld.bsky.social with @70sbachchan.bsky.social and @katemac.bsky.social taking stock of the disaster in Nepal and how global austerity will constrain its recovery—with pessimistic implications for global climate adaptation challenges. phenomenalworld.org/analysis/dis...

phenomenalworld.org

Kate Mackenzie, Tim Sahay, & Advait Arun | Disaster and Constraint

How can Nepal and other countries facing climate catastrophe recover and rebuild amid rising borrowing costs and reduced aid?

0168

Reposted by advait

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I wrote this quickly at a bus stop and didn't realize it would go viral, or else I would have worded it better. But the point is that the media is too credulous about AI killing everyone in 10 years (how?) when climate change is killing people now and will only get worse (we know exactly how).

4156781561

Reposted by advait

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I resigned from ExxonMobil today. I spent the last three years doing fossil fuel extraction research at both BP and ExxonMobil. Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing to maximize extraction while the window to act closes, and gambling with our lives. More below.

145136924893