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Tom Goldsmith

@tomgoldsmith.bsky.social
774 followers 2.4K following 486 posts

I write about building a fairer and more inclusive society and innovation's role in doing that on the Deep Dives newsletter: orbitpolicy.substack.com. Founder & Principal, Orbit Policy. Toronto via the UK.

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Tom Goldsmith @tomgoldsmith.bsky.social · 2h
On Truth and Reconciliation Day, it is crucial to recognize colonialism is not just a thing of the past. The same logic still prevails today as we can see so clearly in Bill C-39. It is time to break that cycle. orbitpolicy.substack.com/p/breaking-t...
orbitpolicy.substack.com
Breaking the Cycle
On Truth and Reconciliation Day, we need to reckon with the fact that Canada remains a colonial enterprise
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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 29/09/2026
automakers are some of the worst on privacy and security of any industry in America, which makes their push to ban Chinese EVs "for privacy and security" extra fucking annoying
theverge.com
Your car’s data privacy problems are worse than you think
“There’s a lot to be worried about,” the project lead said.
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 27/09/2026
Google finally updated some of its satellite images of Gaza and my god, it's horrific. The entirety of Rafah has been demolished. The majority of Khan Younis is in ruins. Entire towns completely leveled and erased of the map.
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Jared Yates Sexton @jysexton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Just helping with editing here. These bots aren’t sentient. They’re doing what they’re programmed to do. OpenAI, a private company supposedly bound by laws, committed federal crimes.
Screenshot of BBC article: OpenAI bots (struck through) meddled with multiple US government agency sites
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Sasho Todorov @sashotodorov.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
For context: Palantir isn't named that because he's a Tolkien fan. It's because he's a fan of the uber-reddit Russian fanfic "The Last Ringbearer" which recast Sauron as a progressive industrializing force.
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Evan Greer @evangreer.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
one of the stadiums that said they would cancel Ed Sheeran's show if he brought Macklemore with him "because something something antisemitism" is literally hosting a concert by Kanye West
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
A campaign for *MSF* to be banned as a terrorist group (on the paper thin basis of claims about 2 past employees) is the product of the UK Govt being willing to divorce any meaningful conception of societal threat from its use of proscription powers. Govt needs to wake up to the madness of this:
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Tom Goldsmith @tomgoldsmith.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I wish Toronto would do this too...
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Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
If I'm reading this correctly, the President is threatening the Fed with tariffs.
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Mike Konczal @mtkonczal.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
BLS this morning, with revised 2Q data: "The labor share, which is the percentage of output that accrues to workers in the form of compensation, was 52.8 percent in the second quarter of 2026, the lowest level in the series, which begins in the first quarter of 1947."
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Avi Lewis @avilewis.ca · 21/08/2026
Justin Ling is right: “If Ottawa is getting ready to kill the Online News Act, it would complete the dismantling of Canada’s meagre effort to rein in Big Tech.” www.thestar.com/opinion/star...
thestar.com
Justin Ling: Mark Carney may be on the verge of making an unwise concession to Trump
Chatter that the Online News Act is on the table in Canada-U.S. trade talks are an ominous warning sign that Mark Carney is giving up too much.
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Chris Neill 🐧 @chrisneill.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
OK, cities are not allowed to install speed cameras that only do anything if they register you speeding because privacy, but are allowed to install cameras that just generally surveil everything? Seriously, just say cities aren't allowed to enforce speed limits (except on ebikes, probably).
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Tom Goldsmith @tomgoldsmith.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I've written up a quick review of Ontario's draft Data Centre Playbook that was released yesterday. TL;DR: Some positives, some important detail lacking, and some crucial things missing. orbitpolicy.substack.com/p/a-quick-lo...
orbitpolicy.substack.com
A Quick Look at Ontario's Data Centre Playbook
Some positives, some detail lacking, and some crucial things missing.
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Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Exxon: carbon capture's potential is "limitless" and we are leaders in CCS! Also Exxon: suing the EU so as not to be forced to do CCS. This is the least surprising thing ever.
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I Travel Like Sound Dog @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 07/08/2026
People want an easy fix without challenging their previously held assumptions about surveillance, crime, and how the carceral state actually functions in practice.
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Tanya D. || Writer || Narrative Designer @cypheroftyr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Daaaamn. “AI is the asbestos we're shovelling into the walls of our technological society. Our descendants will spend generations digging it out again, and the longer the bubble goes on without popping, the longer it will take to repair the damage." www.thenerve.news/p/cory-docto...
thenerve.news
Cory Doctorow: The people who tell you ‘AI is changing everything’ are lying
It has become impossible to tell managers mesmerised by artificial intelligence that the tools are not, in fact, helpful. So employees just play along with the fiction to keep their jobs, writes our t...
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Ernie Smith @ernie.tedium.co · 03/08/2026
I feel like the tale of Chinese AI is going to play out more or less like the tale of Chinese electric vehicles. The U.S. is going to hold onto a model that doesn’t actually make sense anymore, and attempt to limit the better product instead of taking the necessary steps required to adapt.
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Tom Goldsmith @tomgoldsmith.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Why is this feature necessary? Why does Google's leadership feel the need to add AI slop generating tools to Google Earth?
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Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
School/university boards/administrators seem to make decisions about "AI" in the classroom solely on hype, tech FOMO etc rather than basing them on research on pedagogy and what works for classrooms and students. The only ones benefiting are AI companies. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
‘Really inappropriate’: teachers decry plan for humanoid robot in New York high school
Robot from company that acquired sex doll maker to be introduced in school with large Native American population
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Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 22/07/2026
You gotta hand it to OpenAI, billing this as a *partnership* between OpenAI & Hugging Face when what actually happened was Hugging Face finding out that OpenAI was using a bunch of bots to exploit security vulnerabilities. Talk about good marketing or whatever you want to call it, by OpenAI.
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Tom Goldsmith @tomgoldsmith.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I think @readtheorchard.org nails it with this. To use the heuristic "The purpose of a system is what it does," the purpose of Carney's government is quite clearly to advance a nakedly corporate agenda at the expense of Canadians (and the environment). open.substack.com/pub/theorcha...
"While it’s easy to write off Carney’s unrequited policy concessions as a failed negotiating tactic, I suggest it’s more helpful to understand them as part of a broader corporate authoritarian consensus that Carney is willfully facilitating, acting less as a head of state and more as the CEO of Canada Inc., maximizing value for shareholders."

Jeremy Appel
Mark Carney, CEO of Canada Inc.

www.readtheorchard.org
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Tom Goldsmith @tomgoldsmith.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
For all of the talk of bright futures powered by AI, with huge productivity growth, the reality has always been more of this. AI, developed in the way it has been with a relentless focus on scale, is a mirror that reflects the worst of us.
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The Breach @breachmedia.ca · 22/07/2026
Thanks to an AI program, Black prisoners in Ontario jails are being put in maximum security. @desmondcole.bsky.social reveals how the province is using an automated program that critics say is racially biased. youtu.be/s1HaG1p9p9g
youtu.be
AI is putting Black prisoners in maximum security
YouTube video by The Breach
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Tom Goldsmith @tomgoldsmith.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Two big themes in my writing are moving away from our extractive economic model and the importance of place. In today's newsletter I explore how the latter can be a path out of the former *IF* we keep sight of the importance of strategy and power. open.substack.com/pub/orbitpol...
open.substack.com
Building Beyond Extraction
Communities, power, and imagination
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Tim Hirschel-Burns @timhirschelburns.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
First country to hold the men’s and women’s World Cups at the same time. Europe’s strongest voice against militarism and genocide in Gaza. Actively expanding immigration and enjoying one of Europe’s best economies. A great country!
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TTCriders @ttcriders.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Toronto had the worst air quality in the world yesterday 🌎 In a world where transportation accounts for the largest share of CO2 emissions, getting more people to take transit instead of driving is a climate solution. Funding transit is a climate solution!
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G | Builds Stuff, Goes Places 🦀 @whereisgraeme.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Americans are obsessed with their rights but never discuss their responsibilities Conversely they foist “responsibilities” on others, without recognizing their rights - human and otherwise. They seem to feel owed but ovoid recognizing what they owe.
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Tim Bousquet @timbousquet.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
If we built more pipeline we'd be so rich we could afford to buy gas masks for everyone in Toronto.
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Sean Marshall @seanyyz.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
If you’ve ever taken the VIA Canadian train across Northern Ontario, you’ve passed through Collins, even if you didn’t know it. The train is the main way in and out of that community. When they escape by motorboat, it’s because it’s the only way left to go.
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Luke LeBrun @lukelebrun.ca · 15/07/2026
These photos of FNs community members fleeing their homes by boat are genuinely apocalyptic (Photo via Wayne Wastaken of Collins, Ontario, who says his “hometown is gone”) www.facebook.com/share/r/1ArN...
Photo via Wayne Wastaken

Fire clouds over Collins, Ontario as community members flee their homes by boat
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Revan @revan.eurosky.social · 15/07/2026
Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, they let Messi win.
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Jake Tobin @jaketobin.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Today vs a non-smoke day
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For Our Kids Canada @forourkidscanada.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Pipeline-loving politicians are choosing to fill our kids' respiratory tracts with toxic air. Reject dystopia. Reject the lie that nation-building requires plundering our children's right to breathe. Parents & caregivers - we must protect what we love. Join the movement! www.forourkids.ca
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Tom Goldsmith @tomgoldsmith.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Northern Ontario is burning, Toronto is blanketed by smoke, & Europe is melting. Yet governments are pushing more for more data centres and more fossil fuel use, often justified by ideas of growth and innovation. Sometimes, the real innovation is just to stop. open.substack.com/pub/orbitpol...
open.substack.com
The World Is On Fire And Innovation Won't Save Us.
Sometimes we need to just stop doing things, rather than do new and innovative things.
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Canadian Dimension @canadiandimension.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Why is Mark Carney earning praise from organizations that have spent years campaigning for two-tier health care in Canada? When the loudest applause is coming from groups pushing privatization, Canadians should be worried, writes Christopher Holcroft.
canadiandimension.com
Under Carney, is Medicare still a Canadian value?
American-funded dark money groups are applauding Mark Carney’s hands-off response to Alberta’s move toward two-tier health care. With Ottawa now embracing provincial “flexibility,” the federal governm...
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ر ت ت ت @raniawrites.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
People are fleeing burning towns & the now normalized "wild fire season" while the provincial & federal governments destroy climate protection & sell out to tech & extraction industries to make the rich, richer while human & non human life is irrevocably destroyed. Death merchants, all of them.
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WPGChief @wpgchief.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
From projects.propublica.org/why-carbon-c...
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sean minogue @seanminogue.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
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Julie S. Lalonde @julieslalonde.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Please stop voting for people who are horny for pipelines. I beg of you.
An image of the weather app for Ottawa showing it will be 37°, feels like 47° by 4 p.m today
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Adam Radwanski @aradwanski.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
I’m always reluctant to directly attribute any one weather event to climate change. But Canada’s current fossil-fuel boosterism does hit a bit harder while considering whether we have to keep our 6-year-old home from the baseball camp he’s been excited about, because of potential record heat.
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rax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
i’m sorry but ‘literally died of hard heartedness’ is the most hack writing yet in an already weak season
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Clare Blackwood @clareblackwood.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
"Deeply sad about the loss of Ringwraith #4. We might have disagreed on policy, such as stabbing hobbits and murdering innocent villagers and working for the Dark Lord Sauron, but he loved riding horses and supporting his fellow Nazgûl. Wish he'd had more time." -Canadian politicians, apparently
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Molly Knight @mollyknight.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Nobody celebrated human death with more glee than Lindsey Graham. Nobody.
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Blayne Haggart @bhaggart.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
"Imagine that Trudeau had announced...an extra $50 billion per year to fight climate change—he couldn’t say exactly how, or on what, but it was international obligation. ... "If he would’ve been laughed out of Ottawa... then maybe we should reserve at least a hint of that skepticism for Carney now."
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Tom Goldsmith @tomgoldsmith.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Wow. What a ridiculous, tone deaf, headline and statement. It is, of course, paywalled so I can’t read the full piece but the argument seems so symptomatic of a world view that thinks consumer surplus is the same as the chance for everyone to live a good and full life.
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Nora Loreto @nolore.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
It's incredible that we tolerate this as a society.
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Observing The City @observingthecity.ca · 02/07/2026
4 police and 7 security guards permanently stationed over 2 blocks of Church street. All because cars are now not permitted along this stretch. When anyone talks about “cost overruns” for pedestrianization, this is where it’s coming from. This cannot be the model going forward.
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Hannah Daly @hannahdaly.ie · 07/07/2026
Renewables only contribute to decarbonisation and energy security if they displace fossil fuels, but the rapid growth in data centres is severely limiting the extent to which this can happen
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David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Pervert glasses should absolutely be banned. And in the meantime, it should be considered socially unacceptable both to buy them, and to work at Meta.
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Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 04/07/2026
I’ve spoken with Jason Watson. He knew exactly what this would cost him. He gave up his military career to take a brave stand for democracy. Patriotism that only works with obedience isn’t patriotism.
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