Jan-Willem van Putten
jwvanputten.bsky.social
Jan-Willem van Putten
@jwvanputten.bsky.social
Co-founder at The School for Moral Ambition 🌍 Passionate about what top talent can do to vastly improve the world ✨ (Dog)father to Josie and Jip 🐾 Policy, systems change, big ideas and entrepreneurship for good
Reposted by Jan-Willem van Putten
To be clear, this doesn't mean that we shouldn't be skeptical of the industry and overhyped or poorly supported claims made by its members.

AI progress actually implies that we should be treating the industry with far more scrutiny!
February 28, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Reposted by Jan-Willem van Putten
Absolutely brutal reviews of the Paris AI Summit. (4 examples below, click to see the full images)

U.S. and UK are reportedly not planning to sign the proposed statement and @tegmark is urging countries not to sign.

Almost nobody seems to be happy.
February 10, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Beyond the 'chainsaw' approach to gutting bureaucracy, we need a 'Lina-DOGE' model: one that streamlines public services while tackling the private monopolies and corporate bureaucracies that strangle innovation and democracy.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
DOGE, Euro-DOGE, Ezra-DOGE... Lina-DOGE?
The era of state reform is just starting. To unleash innovation and growth, private bureaucracy must be reformed too.
open.substack.com
February 8, 2025 at 6:06 AM
Reposted by Jan-Willem van Putten
Oh dear. The outpouring of prejudice and nonsense in response to this thread makes my point all too well. By all means critique Small Modular Reactors, but please at least read about them first. If only on Wikipedia. The correct sequence is information > opinion. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_m...
February 7, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Reposted by Jan-Willem van Putten
Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia will tomorrow permanently disconnect from Russia’s power grid.

Russia can no longer use energy as a tool of blackmail.

This is a victory for freedom and European unity.
February 7, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Reposted by Jan-Willem van Putten
Wealth inequality in the USA has risen sharply in recent times and has reached a new historic record.

Sources: Forbes 400 Rich list; total wealth denominator: US Financial Accounts

via @gabrielzucman.bsky.social
February 6, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Reposted by Jan-Willem van Putten
EU are what EU eat 🍗 🥑 🥗

Protein diversification is a huge opportunity for agriculture in Europe. If we can support the diversification of our protein we will build a more resilient, sustainable, and future-proof agricultural sector

#europe #protein #farming
February 6, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Reposted by Jan-Willem van Putten
Land is limited. Both saving nature and farming in a non self destructive way are only possible if we use land more sparingly. That means moving away from over consumption of meat and dairy.

We can have diets that are fun, healthy, and ecologically compatible. But we need to work on it .
January 25, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Agents like OpenAI’s Operator Agent are set to transform how we work—massive productivity gains for those who master them, but a growing gap between those who do and those who don’t.
January 23, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Reposted by Jan-Willem van Putten
People often claim low-carbon energy is a *bigger* risk to energy security than fossil fuels because of the need for minerals.

I don't think so.

I explained why in an old Substack: www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/energy-sec...
January 22, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Reposted by Jan-Willem van Putten
U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a half-trillion-dollar project to build the infrastructure needed to cement U.S. AI dominance in the years to come, starting with a data center in Texas.
Trump’s $500B AI plan is ‘slap in the face’ for Europe
Massive U.S. investments in artificial intelligence leave EU ambitions in the dust.
www.politico.eu
January 22, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Reposted by Jan-Willem van Putten
Crazy — OpenAI, others pledge $100 billion on AI (data center) infrastructure in the U.S., $500 billion over the next four years.

openai.com/index/announ...
Announcing The Stargate Project
Announcing The Stargate Project
openai.com
January 21, 2025 at 10:57 PM
This is a major opportunity for Europe to lead in a new global beef market, so let’s make sure this works out. Producing our own meat this way males Europe more competitive and autonomous, reducing reliance on imports and strengthening the region’s position in this emerging industry.
January 22, 2025 at 5:30 AM
Reposted by Jan-Willem van Putten
"Businessmen became politicians and were acclaimed as statesmen, while statesmen were taken seriously only if they talked the language of successful businessmen."

— Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
January 21, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Reposted by Jan-Willem van Putten
Reminder on the first day of Davos: it's time to fund the police. The I.R.S., to be precise. They're in charge of auditing the billionaire class, who are avoiding and evading their taxes on a massive scale.
January 20, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Reposted by Jan-Willem van Putten
The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.
January 20, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Emerging AI behaviors highlight the urgent need for alignment and governance. Top talent must drive safety research, transparent design, and ethical policy to ensure AI serves humanity.
Evidence of Rogue AI
How do we get AI systems to do what we want them to do?
open.substack.com
January 19, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Reposted by Jan-Willem van Putten
Elon Musk is to masculinity what comic sans is to typography.
January 16, 2025 at 1:53 AM