Why AI has probably reached the point of no return. Why fairness must be part of the decarbonizing process. Why geopolitical ‘swing states’ like India are likely to play a determining role in the new world order. Why eating beans makes nutritional and ecological sense. Why it’s proving difficult for employers to get everyone back into the office.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK
Mauricio Gaona, Entering the singularity: Has AI reached the point of no return?
(The Hill, 15 May 2023)
(Tech) singularity is when humans lose control over their tech inventions and therefore their superior intelligence. This is why, in the eyes of many AI researchers and practitioners, reaching singularity constitutes AI’s greatest threat to humanity. In this short, highly readable piece, the scholar argues that AI singularity is already underway. His arguments in short: (1)We are providing AI machines with attributes that are foreign to human nature (unlimited memory storage capacity, lightning processing capability, emotionless decision-making) while hoping to control the product of our most unpredictable invention. (2) Since AI development is concentrated in very few countries with designs protected either by intellectual property laws or national security laws, controlling it is an illusion (metered paywall – reads in 5 min).
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Net Zero+: Climate and Economic Resilience in a Changing World
(OECD, May 2023)
Raises a key issue too often overlooked: decarbonizing can only succeed if it goes hand in hand with considerations of fairness and equity. This executive summary of a just released OECD report provides comprehensive policy recommendations (across many different domains) for ensuring a resilient transition to net-zero emissions that simultaneously bolsters resilience to climate impacts (in terms of designing policies that fully consider the socio-economic implications of climate change). It’s worth looking at the table with the 12 steps necessary for governments to build climate and economic resilience (free access – the whole report can be consulted in the link below).
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Jared Cohen, The rise of geopolitical swing states
(Goldman Sachs Intelligence, 15 May 2023)
Goldman Sachs’s president of Global Affairs explains that, as China and the US confront each other to determine who sets the geopolitical rules, they either court or thwart an emerging group of countries to gain an edge. In his mind, this new class of influential nations are the ‘geopolitical swing states’ of the 21st century (in US politics, swing states can be won by either party, and they decide presidential elections). They will often choose multi-alignment, a strategy that will make them critical, and sometimes unpredictable, forces in the world’s next stage of globalization, and the next phase of great power competition. “India stands out as the paradigmatic example of a country with a newly influential and complex geopolitical role” (free access – reads in 15 min).
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Julieta Cardenas, Eat more beans. Please.
(Vox, 12 May 2023)
In a world rightly concerned with climate and food security, beans are the food of the future – they should get their due. In the rich world, we don’t like them very much, yet beans are not only delicious, but also protein-rich and sustainable. To slow down global per capita meat production that is growing faster than ever, why don’t we eat more beans? They cost so much less than conventional or new plant-based meats, are efficient to grow and even improve soil health. Raising cattle, pigs, and chickens uses 77% of the world’s agricultural land, while providing only 37 percent of the global protein supply. For beans, the ratio is almost the inverse: just 23 percent of land is used to grow plants for human consumption, from which the world gets 63 percent of its protein (metered paywall, 6-8 min).
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Stefan Stern, Back-to-Office Battles Underscore a Change in Workplace Authority
(The New York Times, 12 May 2023)
Ever since the pandemic came to an end, WFH (Working From Home) has been a hotly debated issue. It now seems that most business executives want their employees back in the office, but workers are resisting, forcing business leaders to wrestle with a new, post-pandemic identity. The efficiency of the hierarchy effect, already weakened before the pandemic, is now being undermined even further by the living experiment of hybrid work. In the current environment, business leaders who demand attendance risk creating greater presenteeism rather than better results. Advisers to corporate executives seem to believe you can’t impose authority or presence: “People choose to follow you — or not. Talented people will vote with their feet and leave”(gifted article – reads in 5-6 min).
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