Power optimises, and absolute power optimises absolutely.

@mjd do you follow Vince Conitzer at CMU? If not, you might find him interesting: he works at the interface of econ/CS/AI.

@mjd factor this! https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cyvlpyve8vjo

The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Economics & Finance has just published my article on explainability and interpretability in AI & ML:

https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/61801/chapter-abstract/565744399?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Those of you in Tokyo may have seen me present versions of this.

Comments very welcome!

#xai #iml #explainableAI #interpretablML

https://theconversation.com/my-unsung-hero-of-science-william-adams-the-bombay-bureaucrat-whose-vision-of-a-solar-future-was-dashed-by-colonial-conservatism-283799

#solarpunk #steampunk #solarsteampunk #steamsolarpunk #nchoosek

At Gary Hauch's funeral today, the officiating minister told a story from when he studied under Gary. Noticing that Gary left his sermon notes on the pulpit after a service, he asked Gary if he could keep them. "Of course", said Gary, his eyes twinkling. The minister discovers a single piece of paper on the pulpit. With two words on it. In Hebrew.

The word 'soar' is a procope, reflecting birds' descent from dinosaurs.

#lowqualityfacts

Sheinbaum evoked the #Holocaust, saying “many of my relatives ... were exterminated in concentration camps.”

“I can only watch with horror the images of the Israeli bombing of #Gaza,” she wrote. “Nothing justifies the murder of #Palestinian civilians. Nothing, nothing, nothing, can justify the murder of a child.”

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2025-09-22/mexican-president-claudia-sheinbaum-calls-israeli-assault-on-gaza-a-genocide

London's Metropolitan Police arrest over 500 people under Terrorism Act "for displaying placards in support of #Palestine Action".

Their largest number of arrests "on a single day in the last 10 years".

"The average age of those arrested was 54, and the most arrests ... were of people aged between 60 and 69.

"The protest ... saw hundreds of people simultaneously pull out placards with the message 'I oppose #genocide. I support Palestine Action'".

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqjyyzlwk2go

NBER Digest goes hard this month:

Driving Chinese workers out of the US in 1880 led to a contraction in the white workforce as well, leading to "relatively slower growth in output and labor supply was broad-based in the affected counties ... until at least 1940".

Long, Medici, Qian & Tabellini (Oct. 2024), https://www.nber.org/papers/w33019

#economics #econsky #econtwitter

"The addition of a chief #economist is indicative of #OpenAI’s enormous ambition and where its executives see their company in the tech industry’s pecking order. #SiliconValley giants like #Google and #Facebook hired seasoned economists early in their transformations from promising start-ups into trillion-dollar companies whose technologies changed global markets."

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/22/technology/openai-chief-economist.html?unlocked_article_code=1.UE4.RUMe.qK43Cn_qukri&smid=url-share

#econsky #econtwitter

"#Strava Metro is launching a new grant program just for academic researchers and college and university students working on projects that improve human-powered #transport in their communities, both urban and rural. ... Strava Metro aggregates and de-identifies public activities ... we’re extending this resource to the #research community"

https://strava.app.link/p211iqA5RMb

Is it unfair to see this as Silicon Valley re-discovering #economics 101? "'I think a great place to start would be to have a guaranteed income when the going gets rough,' he says. To that end, [Facebook co-founder] Hughes suggests that automatic payments could kick in when an uptick in #unemployment signals a #recession.” https://www.npr.org/2024/07/19/nx-s1-5035263/basic-income-cash-aid-ai-sam-altman-silicon-valley-jobs

#econtwitter

One of the most poignant elements amidst this horror is to see how often it's those who've studied the #Holocaust most closely, sensitively who are working to ensure that "never again" means "for anyone". This morning, it's Philippe Sands who embodies this: documentary filmmaker about the legacy of the #Nazis who drove the Holocaust against his family; counsel for #Palestine in the #ICJ's recent occupation & #apartheid advisory opinion.

https://jfi.org/year-round/jfi-on-demand/a-nazi-legacy-what-our-fathers-did

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/19/israels-settlement-policies-break-international-law-court-finds

This most powerful statement I've seen on the dangers of #Germany suppressing ethnic minorities' civil rights: https://www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/freedom-for-the-one-who-thinks-differently #neveragain #Palestine #Gaza #Israel