iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 16h

I'd say that *stopping* climate change largely involves the adoption of technologies (and, crucially, the abandonment of other technologies!), but that doing so presents large social challenges!

020

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 16h

Technology "largely solving" ocean acidification, glacier loss, unknown tipping points, heatwaves, storm damage, flooding, etc, seems pretty unlikely to me. But technologies can help us be resilient enough to avoid worst case scenarios like societal collapse? Maybe! 🤞

120

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 16h

“technology will largely solve the problems caused by climate change” 44% disagreed 29% neither agreed or disagreed 27% agreed The question seems ambiguous - but maybe that's the point, so that respondents have to just vibe with it or not?

100

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 16h

I read the question [“technology will largely solve the problems caused by climate change”] as being about adaptation, but I've always viewed this schism as being (mainly) about mitigation 🤔 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

theguardian.com

Scientists who put faith in technology less likely to take climate action

‘Techno-optimism’ may lead to reliance on unproven solutions at expense of societal changes needed

130

Reposted by Keith Alexander

Jaap Burger @jaapburger.eu · 04/10/2026

An interesting piece on the social leasing of EVs in France. What began as a double-edged sword of industrial policy and social policy has now reached a point where it is the car manufacturers who are no longer so keen on it: the market is ‘taking off’ of on its own,

numerama.com

Renault et Stellantis traînent des pieds pour le leasing social, et ce n’est pas sans raison

Le gouvernement veut des voitures électriques à moins de 150 € par mois. Les constructeurs, eux, ont quelques objections. Le vaudeville joué par le gouvernement contre les constructeurs français a été...

3249

Reposted by Keith Alexander

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 06/10/2026

Something worth adding is demand is political and social and malleable A car company wants to build an electric SUV and have you drive it, rather than have you take public transport. I love renewable energy + see it as precious + want it used to make my life safer, not to serve that company's ends

26418

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Excellent piece. Net zero by 2050 will be hard anyway, but if we expand Heathrow, we might as well admit now that net zero just isn’t where we’re headed.

030

Reposted by Keith Alexander

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

This is how we should see these magnificant animals, not hauled up on a boat or in fillets on a slab. We should no more catch or kill this rare and stunning megafauna than we should trap or kill tigers or whales. Here are some more of Rupert’s photos from yesterday, with his kind permission.

15844161

Reposted by Keith Alexander

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

There aren't many days when you can kayak off Start Point, renowned for one of Britain's most dangerous tidal races. But yesterday the stars aligned, so I bunked off work. Delighted to see Rupert Kirkwood (the Lone Kayaker) out there. He took this picture of me +1. Before you ask: yes, it's real. 🧵

In my kayak, watching a bluefin tuna leaping beside me.

872086335

Reposted by Keith Alexander

Kate Watson @loreandordure.com · 05/10/2026

It’s not merely the case that Greenland Sharks were eating halibut in Baffin Bay before white men started catching them from boats, but some of *these* Greenland Sharks were eating halibut in Baffin Bay before white men started catching them from boats, and this proposal is an abomination.

27132

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

It’s monstrous that people would consider trying to kill 1000 beings that are hundreds of years old and take 150 years to even reach sexual maturity, purely because they interfere with fishing for halibut. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

theguardian.com

To cull or not to cull: Greenland debates fate of world’s slowest shark

As trawlers compete with Greenland sharks for halibut and cod, conservationists and fishers clash over what to do about misunderstood species

14268111

Reposted by Keith Alexander

James Murray @james-bg.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Latest blog is on Burnham's promise of 'pragmatism' in the North Sea, why it's a weaselly word that is providing cover for deeply unpragmatic actions, and why the climate movement needs to talk more about the climate crisis. www.businessgreen.com/blog-post/45...

businessgreen.com

What does true pragmatism look like in an age of climate crisis?

Andy Burnham has promised a 'pragmatic' approach to North Sea drilling, but who gets to decide what that word even means?

44018

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Octopuses don't *see* colour, they feel it by touch! So (I think!) this colour matching through glass is impossible! (I learned this fun fact a couple weeks ago from the BBC radio show Rare Earth, presented by @helenczerski.bsky.social and @tomheap.bsky.social)

photo appears to show an octopus and child on opposite sides of an aquarium wall, with the octopus mimicking the stripes of a child's t-shirt.
A question below asks you is this photo real, or fake?

100

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Which could be fine if only the UK doesn't need to grow food, has become vegan, doesn't have a chemicals industry, has completely electrified road transport and heating, has a completely zero emissions electricity system, etc etc.

000

Reposted by Keith Alexander

Aviation Environment Federation (AEF) @theaef.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Why should aviation get a bigger share of the carbon budget? Other sectors are decarbonising, but aviation is projected to become the UK’s largest emitting sector by 2040. Is this fair?

253

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

That's true - maybe it's trained on TED talks!

001

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Ahhh, the relentlessly clickbaity idioms of generated text. I wonder if it is the natural product of the training data, or someone came up with this "punchy internet writing" formula for them to follow.

100

Reposted by Keith Alexander

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

'The Westminster government’s contribution to funding domestic undergraduates studying in England fell in real terms from £8.9 billion in 2012-13 to just £3.3bn in 2024-25, a drop of more than 60 per cent, an analysis has found.'

29694

Reposted by Keith Alexander

Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The Times - which has v much joined in the rightwing clamour to reduce immigration - now reporting that Mahmood’s “success” has cost the economy £4- to £7Bn. Would they like to now honestly confirm that fewer people = less spending power for all. There’s a high price to pay for this nasty obsession.

Patrick Maguire
Chief Political Commentator Oliver Wright Policy Editor

Falling migration numbers could cost the chancellor as much as £7bn in fiscal headroom as he writes his first budget, The Times has been told.
Government insiders believe that John Healey, who already faced an uphill battle to balance the books next month, is likely to have an even bigger challenge after immigration undershot projections from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
The Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank estimated last month that the success of Shabana
Mahmood's
reforms, which have cut net migration to the low hundreds of thousands, could cost Healey some £4bn.

631164454

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Stay relevant by building as many airports as possible because …reasons?

010

Reposted by Keith Alexander

Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Lewis Goodall thinks that the "delay" to Heathrow's third runway is a signifier of the UK "falling behind."

3154

Reposted by Keith Alexander

Adrian Hiel @adrianhiel.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Why electrification is inevitable: Heating costs as of Sept. 20th in France for a 100m2 home: Heating oil - €2300 Gas - €2100 Wood pellets - €1000 Heat Pump - €800 Only one of these technologies also let's you sleep during a heatwave.

109134

Reposted by Keith Alexander

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 26/09/2026

I wonder if I maybe don't say this enough: the gas-fired data centre boom is *planned* but not *inevitable*. In fact, the plans are fragile, and this petrotech dream only works if everything lands with perfect timing and poise. stand.earth/insights/wes...

418573

Reposted by Keith Alexander

404 Media @404media.co · 25/09/2026

Meta announced that its new AI agent, Muse could call businesses for you to do things like make reservations. But in reality, Meta is testing having these calls being made by human beings in call centers, 404 Media @jasonkoebler.bsky.social learned. www.404media.co/meta-tests-m...

53818317

Reposted by Keith Alexander

Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 24/09/2026

over the past few weeks several AI evaluation/cybersecurity experts have explained how what's happening is a result of human incompetence rather than "AI going rogue". I'm begging the media to show a shred of journalistic integrity and stop parroting what altman or amodei say

6537771489

Reposted by Keith Alexander

Federica Genovese @fgenovese.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Important public opinion patterns described here by Steve. The fragmented elite-level consensus on climate change and aggressive anti-net zero campaign on the (far) right is starting to show in UK public polls. Once again evidence that elites matter, leadership is lacking and apathy is a tragedy.

12920

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

It's like we let a vast herd of cats loose to walk across keyboards at the offices of all the central banks. "Oh no, the cats have crashed the global economy, why do the cats hate us!".

1130

Reposted by Keith Alexander

absolute horses @jcoglan.com · 24/09/2026

the reporting on this stuff is a form of pareidolia. all this is explicable by a set of automatons stochastically exploring a state space and host environment with whatever predictive capacity an LLM affords them. absolutely no intent is required, they do not "know" what they are doing

1297119

Reposted by Keith Alexander

The Green Runners @thegreenrunners.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Sportswashing is an oily stain on our sports. We campaign for all running events drop high-carbon sponsors. We’ve identified 41 races with high-carbon sponsors. 24 gas & oil, 14 airline & three car manufacturers. No doubt we’ve missed many more. @badvertising.bsky.social

thegreenrunners.com

Sportswashing: Drop polluting sponsors - The Green Runners CIC

The Green Runners say that taking sponsorship money from high-carbon industries to support a running event or fund local charities isn’t ethical. We’ve called

11914

Reposted by Keith Alexander

Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

If British politics had any decency left, party leaders would be queuing up to be photographed with lifeboat crews.

214542

Reposted by Keith Alexander

WillP @wiilp.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The constraint cost of turning off windfarms is only £30/MWh (most of the cost lies in turning on replacement gas power in England). So building artificial demand in Scotland to undercut that price and absorb excess power, is not a very lucrative idea afaics.

111

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

we get all agitated about extra AC demand, and then bam, along come 'hyper scale' data centres

010

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Just watched an advert for openai's gippity 6, and it's low-key dystopian vision of work/life where people are on their own in front of a giant screen in a windowless box of a room giving inane instructions to the bot. Why are we devoting such huge resources to the lonely production of mediocrity?

030

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Guy with tweed jacket + elbow patches: today I'm offering 20% off a 6 month subscription to DDC-200, the all natural supplement that will take your reading to the next level. Use the code PROUST-1921

100

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

"The puddles are truly not a big deal. I’m more concerned by how briefly I considered agreeing that they didn’t exist." 😂

010

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Men over 40, how long can you read a 400+ page novel before your forearms tire? Real men read it in hardback.

100

Reposted by Keith Alexander

flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I remember outrage about Just Stop Oil blocking a street, just in case an ambulance had to drive down it. Not because an ambulance was prevented from doing so, you understand. Just the abstract idea that one might have to.

5798297

Reposted by Keith Alexander

John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 18/09/2026

What on earth is happening?

This had become the new normal. RNLI crew members had been forced to take their permits off their cars after their tyres have been repeatedly slashed. Most of them have been pilloried at the school gates or turned away from local pubs. One man who worked in search and rescue had been beaten unconscious and hospitalised, recognised for TV interviews he had done.

23833101338

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

-0.5%! 😔 8 years on from "we must cut emissions 45% by 2030".

020

Keith Alexander @keithalexander.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

More drastic (and far less necessary) policies been done with ~50% of public support! I don't think it's unusual that you have support for a goal, and then a bit less support for the individual things that help achieve it.

100

Reposted by Keith Alexander

Tyron @tyron.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Public support for net zero is still close to two thirds of voters. The recent shift against it is almost entirely an elite thing! giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

giftarticle.ft.com

Cut ‘net zero’ from name of UK net zero department, MPs urge

Cross-party group says term has become ‘lightning rod for opposition to climate action’

812134