Victor Galaz
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vgalaz.bsky.social
Victor Galaz
@vgalaz.bsky.social
1.3K followers 1.7K following 430 posts

🇸🇪 🇨🇱 🌎 Associate Prof Pol Sci Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm Uni + Beijer Institute at Royal Swe Academy of Sciences. Politics, AI, nuclear and new tech in the Anthropocene.
👨🏽‍💻ibland för Svenska Dagbladet Kultur.
https://linktr.ee/victorgalaz .. more

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Environmental science 35%
Physics 10%
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vgalaz.bsky.social
Victor Galaz @vgalaz.bsky.social · Nov 25
This took me a while to finish. My new book "Dark Machines - How Artificial Intelligence, Digitalization and Automation is Changing our Living Planet" can now be pre-ordered at Routledge (UK/US).

www.routledge.com/Dark-Machine...

vgalaz.bsky.social
Victor Galaz @vgalaz.bsky.social · 2d
Symptomatiskt för Sverige ändå att vissa blir eld och lågor över att Bruce Springsteen skrivit en ny rocklåt i protest om Trump, men helt missat att de absolut bästa motståndssånger mot vansinnet i USA redan funnits ett tag - signerade Bad Bunny.

vgalaz.bsky.social
Victor Galaz @vgalaz.bsky.social · 3d
The sound of the world’s smallest violin 🎻 🎶

vgalaz.bsky.social
Victor Galaz @vgalaz.bsky.social · 4d
"Driven by the artificial intelligence frenzy, Microsoft is internally projecting that water use at its data centers will more than double by 2030 from 2020, including in places that face shortages."

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/t...
Microsoft Pledged to Save Water. In the A.I. Era, It Expects Water Use to Soar.
www.nytimes.com

vgalaz.bsky.social
Victor Galaz @vgalaz.bsky.social · 4d
People exposed to messages about AI as a labor-replacing (instead of labor-creating) technology end up distrusting democracy and show less willingness to engage politically with future AI developments. Interesting in @pnas.org

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Perceiving AI as labor-replacing reduces democratic legitimacy and political engagement | PNAS
AI is expected to reshape society and labor markets, yet experts remain divided on whether AI will primarily displace human labor or generate new e...
www.pnas.org

Reposted by Valerie M. Delmotte, Sonia I. Seneviratne, John Kennedy , and 8 more

peterthorne.bsky.social
Peter Thorne @peterthorne.bsky.social · 4d
New discussion paper just dropped that’s taken shall we say a little work to get this far … essd.copernicus.org/preprints/es... please be kind. Not on an at all sensitive topic in the slightest.
How well can we quantify when 1.5 °C of global warming has been exceeded?
Abstract. Parties to the 2015 Paris Agreement agreed to limit the long-term increase in global average temperature to well below 2 °C and pursue efforts to keep temperatures below 1.5 °C relative to p...
essd.copernicus.org

vgalaz.bsky.social
Victor Galaz @vgalaz.bsky.social · 4d
Over 10,000 doctoral-trained experts left their jobs last year as President Donald Trump dramatically shrank the overall federal workforce. The National Institutes of Health tops the list with more than 1,100 departures.

www.science.org/content/arti...
U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office
A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies
www.science.org

vgalaz.bsky.social
Victor Galaz @vgalaz.bsky.social · 9d
Oh, how kawaii!
jael.bsky.social jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 9d
The Trump administration today announced a new government-backed fossil fuel industry mascot.

Meet Coalie the lump of coal!
Drawing (AI Gen?) of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum next to an anthropomorphic lump of coal wearing an OSM vest

Reposted by Fabián Muniesa, Daniel W. Drezner, Lilian Edwards , and 6 more

jael.bsky.social
jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 9d
The Trump administration today announced a new government-backed fossil fuel industry mascot.

Meet Coalie the lump of coal!
Drawing (AI Gen?) of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum next to an anthropomorphic lump of coal wearing an OSM vest

vgalaz.bsky.social
Victor Galaz @vgalaz.bsky.social · 10d
Have only read the abstract, but this looks like a quite bold call!

Reposted by Garry Peterson

vgalaz.bsky.social
Victor Galaz @vgalaz.bsky.social · 10d
As an immigrant myself, this photo truly breaks my heart.
anniemleonard.bsky.social Annie M Leonard @anniemleonard.bsky.social · 10d
Every day more lines are crossed & more people say “enough” and join their neighbors in resistance.

Seeing a 5 year old child detained by ICE is breaks my heart & supercharges my commitment to end this horror. Look at his face-there is no way we can just sit by. #enough!
ICE detains five-year-old Minnesota boy arriving home, say school officials
Superintendent says Liam Ramos and his father were taken into custody while in their driveway and sent to Texas
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Victor Galaz

anniemleonard.bsky.social
Annie M Leonard @anniemleonard.bsky.social · 10d
Every day more lines are crossed & more people say “enough” and join their neighbors in resistance.

Seeing a 5 year old child detained by ICE is breaks my heart & supercharges my commitment to end this horror. Look at his face-there is no way we can just sit by. #enough!
ICE detains five-year-old Minnesota boy arriving home, say school officials
Superintendent says Liam Ramos and his father were taken into custody while in their driveway and sent to Texas
www.theguardian.com

vgalaz.bsky.social
Victor Galaz @vgalaz.bsky.social · 10d
“Make China great again”?

Mind-blowing visuals in NYT about how China is winning the clean tech revolution.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Reposted by Wim Thiery, Victor Galaz

ember-energy.org
Ember @ember-energy.org · 10d
NEW | Wind and solar generated more power than fossil fuels in the EU for the FIRST time ever.

🌪️ and ☀️ made up a RECORD 30% of 🇪🇺 electricity, up from 20% just five years ago.

https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/european-electricity-review-2026/

Reposted by Victor Galaz

matsengstrom.bsky.social
Mats Engström @matsengstrom.bsky.social · 11d
Bra samtal med @vgalaz.bsky.social och Sveriges Radios reportrar i #Klotet, även om vad som nu händer i EU, under skicklig programledning av @mlkristola.bsky.social. www.sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/usa-...
USA siktar på Grönlands och Latinamerikas råvaror - Klotet
USA lämnar en rad globala överenskommelser och organisationer på klimatområdet. Fram stiger en stormakt som obunden vill kunna säkra olja och mineraler. ...
www.sverigesradio.se

vgalaz.bsky.social
Victor Galaz @vgalaz.bsky.social · 12d
This is extremely interesting, and in need of deeper conversations amongst scholars and policymakers - yes, looking at you research funders and agencies.
jayvanbavel.bsky.social Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 12d
Social media research has a conflict of interest problem:

“these findings suggest industry influence in social media research is extensive, impactful, and often opaque”

A real concern is that this may incentivize scholars to minimize the harms of social media platforms
arxiv.org/pdf/2601.11507

Reposted by Victor Galaz, Cailin O’Connor

jayvanbavel.bsky.social
Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 12d
Social media research has a conflict of interest problem:

“these findings suggest industry influence in social media research is extensive, impactful, and often opaque”

A real concern is that this may incentivize scholars to minimize the harms of social media platforms
arxiv.org/pdf/2601.11507

Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Stephan Lewandowsky, Sander van der Linden , and 9 more

kakape.bsky.social
Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 13d
One of the issues that has come up again and again in my reporting on misinformation and social media is the massive influence social media companies have on research in the field.

Last night a preprint dropped that tries to get at this with some numbers. My piece in @science.org (and 🧪🧵 coming):
Nearly a third of social media research has undisclosed ties to industry, preprint claims
Industry-linked studies were also more likely to focus on particular topics, suggesting these ties may be skewing the field
www.science.org

vgalaz.bsky.social
Victor Galaz @vgalaz.bsky.social · 14d
I’m not crying you are… 🥹

www.billboard.com/music/latin/...
Bad Bunny Pays Tribute to Late Protest Singer Víctor Jara & More Uplifting Moments in Latin Music
Uplifting Moments in Latin Music: Bad Bunny tributes Víctor Jara, Xavi kicks off U.S. tour, & Latin Grammy Foundation launches new scholarships.
www.billboard.com

vgalaz.bsky.social
Victor Galaz @vgalaz.bsky.social · 16d
Source: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
How to Make Sense of the Federal Forces on the Streets
As President Trump deploys ICE, Border Patrol, the National Guard and other forces to U.S. cities, here’s how to tell them apart — and what their powers are.
www.nytimes.com

vgalaz.bsky.social
Victor Galaz @vgalaz.bsky.social · 16d
NYT landing page right now. Just insane that a major US newspaper needs to put together a graphic and article like this.
Illustration showing men in uniform, showing differences between ICE, Border Patrol, FBI and more.

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Shannon Vallor, Daniela Gabor , and 15 more

alondra.bsky.social
Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 16d
🧵 Trump administration AI policy is widely described as deregulatory. This description is misleading. What's happening is not the absence of governance but its rearrangement--intensive state intervention operating through mechanisms we don't typically call regulation. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The mirage of AI deregulation
One of the most interventionist approaches to technology governance in the United States in a generation has cloaked itself in the language of deregulation. In early December 2025, President Donald Tr...
www.science.org

Reposted by Steve Peers, Tom Griffin, Victor Galaz , and 2 more

janrosenow.bsky.social
Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 17d
This is huge: For the first time since the early 1970s, coal power generation has fallen in both China & India.

It undercuts claims that decarbonisation is pointless while they expand coal. Renewables are no longer just adding capacity — they’re displacing coal.

www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Coal power generation falls in China and India for first time since 1970s
‘Historic’ moment in biggest coal-consuming countries could bring decline in global emissions, analysis says
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Victor Galaz

nature.com
Nature @nature.com · 20d
Popular AI models often reproduce harmful stereotypes about Indian castes

go.nature.com/455Sz1N
AIs are biased toward some Indian castes — how can researchers fix this?
Benchmarks reveal how artificial-intelligence systems reinforce discriminatory social hierarchies.
go.nature.com

Reposted by Kurt Vandaele, Aaron Sojourner, Michael Zimmer , and 1 more

apnews.com
The Associated Press @apnews.com · 20d
BREAKING: Thousands of nurses go on strike at several major New York City hospitals after weekend negotiations over contract disputes fail.
Thousands of nurses go on strike at several major New York City hospitals
Thousands of nurses at several major New York City hospitals have gone on strike. Nurses were to start walking off the job Monday starting at 6 a.m. after negotiations through the weekend failed to yield a breakthrough.
bit.ly

vgalaz.bsky.social
Victor Galaz @vgalaz.bsky.social · Dec 18
Oh dear...

El Salvador to provide Grok to "5,000 public schools, delivering personalized learning to over one million students and empowering thousands of teachers as collaborative partners in education."

x.ai/news/el-salv...
xAI and El Salvador Pioneer the World's First Nationwide AI Education Program | xAI
Announcing Our Transformative Partnership with the Government of El Salvador.
x.ai

Reposted by Lars Gamfeldt

vgalaz.bsky.social
Victor Galaz @vgalaz.bsky.social · Dec 17
“[M]otsvarande produktionen från fem kärnkraftsreaktorer”.

Alla de organisationer som hajpat användningen av AI i Sverige får hemskt gärna återkomma med en plan på hur detta ska gå ihop med mänskliga elpriser och klimatmål.

sverigesradio.se/play/artikel...
Varningen: Stora datacenter kan höja elpriset - Ekot
I år är ansökningarna om stora datacenter i Sverige som vill ansluta sig till elnätet fem gånger högre än förra året.”Vi har ansökningar på över 5000 megawatt ...
sverigesradio.se

vgalaz.bsky.social
Victor Galaz @vgalaz.bsky.social · Dec 16
Heat and humidity doesn’t stop the expansion of data centres for AI.

restofworld.org/2025/data-ce...
We mapped the world’s hottest data centers
In 21 countries, all data centers are located in climates that are too hot.
restofworld.org

vgalaz.bsky.social
Victor Galaz @vgalaz.bsky.social · Dec 16
Yes to this 👇🏽

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
We need transparency standards for social media research that involves companies | PNAS
We need transparency standards for social media research that involves companies
www.pnas.org

vgalaz.bsky.social
Victor Galaz @vgalaz.bsky.social · Dec 16
Crypto-money-laundering, weapons programs, and rogue nations. This is dark, even for someone who wrote a book about "dark machines"...

theconversation.com/how-rogue-na...
How rogue nations are capitalizing on gaps in crypto regulation to finance weapons programs
North Korea was behind a $1.5 billion digital bank heist in February 2025. Other countries are similarly stealing crypto to fund nefarious activities.
theconversation.com

vgalaz.bsky.social
Victor Galaz @vgalaz.bsky.social · Dec 16
Alltså någon/några måste ju ha godkänt detta i något steg. Verkar helt vansinnigt annars.