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Reposted by Nick Taylor

Nick Srnicek @nsrnicek.bsky.social · 11d

Today is the official UK publication day for Silicon Empires! I'm excited to have it out and hear what people think.

There's an enormous amount happening every day in AI, and it's difficult to gain a stable perspective. I wrote the book to try and get some secure hold on that constant flux. 🧵

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Nick Taylor @ntaylor.bsky.social · 19d

And here was me walking around warning people of the 8-9% success rate 😮‍💨

ana valdivia @anavaldi.bsky.social · 21d

After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results:

- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%

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Nick Taylor @ntaylor.bsky.social · 19d

Taps previous post sign

bsky.app/profile/ntay...

Nick Taylor @ntaylor.bsky.social · 21d

I feel like this one is talked about, tho it could always be more so. The question is rather why not enough change is happening despite the fact that we know how bad things are. In many ways the answers got more obvious recently.

Dr Charlie Gardner @charliejgardner.bsky.social · 21d

Here's something that's not talked about enough

The air pollution from burning fossil fuels kills an estimated 10 million people a year

1 in 6 deaths is caused by fossil fuels

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Nick Taylor @ntaylor.bsky.social · 19d

Chief Economist at Nesta, the 'innovation agency', seems to have run out of innovative ideas...

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 20d

Let’s fall in love with cars again on.ft.com/47nn6IG

Let’s fall in love with cars again

Investing more into roads will only mean higher economic returns for the UK

on.ft.com

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Nick Taylor @ntaylor.bsky.social · 21d

On it being talked about, for e.g. 2 popular books, Tim Smedley's Clearing the Air & Beth Gardiner's Choked, both came out in 2019. Deaths from air pollution are also a well established part of the public discussion on e.g. low emissions zones or new road infrastructure.

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Nick Taylor @ntaylor.bsky.social · 21d

I feel like this one is talked about, tho it could always be more so. The question is rather why not enough change is happening despite the fact that we know how bad things are. In many ways the answers got more obvious recently.

Dr Charlie Gardner @charliejgardner.bsky.social · 21d

Here's something that's not talked about enough

The air pollution from burning fossil fuels kills an estimated 10 million people a year

1 in 6 deaths is caused by fossil fuels

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Reposted by Nick Taylor

Ryan Katz-Rosene, PhD @ryankatzrosene.bsky.social · 27d

“[Last year] CO2 in the global surface atmosphere increased by 3.5 ppm, the largest one-year increase since modern measurements began... This increase was driven by continued fossil CO2 emissions, enhanced fire emissions and reduced terrestrial/ocean sinks… which could signal a climate feedback.”

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Reposted by Nick Taylor

Common Wealth @cmmonwealth.bsky.social · 26d

🎉 Just launched!

We’ve collaborated with @cplusc.bsky.social to launch @transitionsec.bsky.social — a new research centre that will develop alternative approaches to security and investigate the US & UK military industrial complexes as economic, climate and geopolitical threats.

Find out more. 👇

Transition Security Project @transitionsec.bsky.social · 26d

While the US & Europe ramp up military spending, millions live in poverty.

Today, we launch Transition Security Project, investigating how militarisation makes us poorer and less safe amid climate crisis — and what genuine security could look like. 🧵

transitionsecurity.org

Transition Security Project

transitionsecurity.org

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Reposted by Nick Taylor

Climate Social Science Network @cssn.org · 28d

It's finally here! 100+ scholars, global scope, practical insights. “Climate Obstruction: A Global Assessment” shows how organized interests stall policy—and how governance can respond.

Open access available now! Or order for paperback and hardcover. cssn.org/wp-content/u...

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Nick Taylor @ntaylor.bsky.social · 28d

techpolicy.press/generative-a...

Lots of good stuff in this article on AI and productivity, including the concept of 'workslop':

“AI generated work content that masquerades as good work, but lacks the substance to meaningfully advance a given task.”

Generative AI’s Productivity Myth | TechPolicy.Press

People may be using artificial intelligence, but that doesn’t mean it’s useful, writes Eryk Salvaggio.

techpolicy.press

Reposted by Nick Taylor

Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · Oct 12

Every day is a good day to point out that 92% of Reform's donations were found to come from figures and groups linked to the fossil fuel industry. @desmog.com

Nigel Farage’s Reform Party Has Accepted £2.3 Million from Fossil Fuel Interests, Climate Deniers, and Polluters Since 2019 Election

Reform UK has received more than £2.3 million from oil and gas interests, highly polluting industries, and climate science deniers since December 2019, amounting to 92 percent of the party’s donations...

www.desmog.com

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Reposted by Nick Taylor

Doug Parr @dougparr.bsky.social · 29d

Insurance industry maps millions of UK homes at increased risk of flooding as climate change impacts ratchet up

Obviously, the insurance industry needs to make money and can't afford claims likely to result from higher flood risks

So... no insurance for some?

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Millions more homes in Great Britain at risk of flooding, investigation finds

Every constituency projected to be at greater risk, with many areas likely to be uninsurable

www.theguardian.com

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Nick Taylor @ntaylor.bsky.social · 29d

bsky.app/profile/infl...

InfluenceMap @influencemap.bsky.social · Oct 8

📢 🚨New Report - How the UK oil and gas industry spent 15 years pushing for subsidies & incentives for Carbon Capture and Storage rather than regulatory accountability or science-based emissions reductions; maintaining a funding pipeline for a technology yet to deliver on its promises 👇

The UK Oil and Gas Industry's Advocacy on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)

New analysis from InfluenceMap suggests that for more than 15 years, the oil and gas industry has systematically pushed the UK government to adopt a costly, emissions-intensive energy policy agenda de...

influencemap.org

Nick Taylor @ntaylor.bsky.social · Oct 13

And yes CDR and CCS are different. But often rely on similar technologies and processes.

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Nick Taylor @ntaylor.bsky.social · Oct 13

An important reminder in the context of:

1. The UK gov's pledge to invest £22bn in CCS;
2. the surge in fossil fuel lobbying in advance of that pledge.

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · Oct 13

A reminder.

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Reposted by Nick Taylor

Jessica Green @greenprofgreen.bsky.social · Oct 9

Very important paper by @gregorsemieniuk.bsky.social that shows, as I have argued, that tax policy is climate policy. We cannot phaseout #fossilfuels without attacking their wealth.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Reposted by Nick Taylor

Giulio Mattioli @giuliomattioli.bsky.social · Oct 9

Interesting-looking article on how technological developments are used as a "technofix" is used to delay real action to reduce emissions in the aviation sector doi.org/10.1080/2158...

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Nick Taylor @ntaylor.bsky.social · Oct 9

Interesting that AI firms are looking to set up captive insurance arms. Also used by big oil & gas firms, they are typically located in offshore jurisdictions & allow companies to boost profits, reduce tax liabilities & mask how financial liabilities are managed.

on.ft.com/46Voxh5

Insurers balk at multibillion-dollar claims faced by OpenAI and Anthropic

Companies struggle to assess scale of financial risks emerging from artificial intelligence

on.ft.com

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Reposted by Nick Taylor

CLaSP @clasp-qmul.bsky.social · Oct 8

Interested about financialisation and why states foster policies that lead to the dominance of financial capital? Come to CLaSP's seminar:
Event: Financial Capital, the State, and Politics
When: 30th October, 2025; 4-530 PM
Where: Graduate Centre, QMUL Mile End Campus
Speaker: Dr. Nicholas Bernards

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Nick Taylor @ntaylor.bsky.social · Oct 8

Stranded assets.

Duncan Lamont @duncanlamont2.bsky.social · Oct 8

🫣 Profits are for wimps. Revenues are for losers. Ideas sell, not fundamentals

Over half the Nasdaq market is loss making. About 1-in-8 companies have no revenues

There are a lot more in these camps than in the past

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Reposted by Nick Taylor

Lea Ypi @leaypi.bsky.social · Oct 8

no words

Young lives cut short on an unimaginable scale: the 18,457 children on Gaza’s list of war dead

Every name on a list compiled by health authorities in Gaza of the child victims of Israel’s offensive

www.theguardian.com

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Nick Taylor @ntaylor.bsky.social · Oct 7

"According to the report, between 2017 & 2019, insurers claimed a net loss of $432 million while somehow paying out $680 million in dividends to their stockholders. During the same period, their affiliates pocketed roughly $14 billion in profits." Creative accounting by Florida insurance companies!

Nick Taylor @ntaylor.bsky.social · Oct 7

A great article that also highlights how profitable insurance remains for investors, and makes a nice contrast to insurance as solidarity/interdependence. The moral economy of climate change, risk and responsibility, as Rebecca Elliott et al. have written about so well.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse @whitehouse.senate.gov · Oct 6

The New Republic chimes in on climate danger to insurance markets, mortgage availability, and property values.

How McKinsey and Climate Change Wrecked Insurance

A secret report shows that Florida underwriters were banking massive profits while stiffing customers. Welcome to insurance in the era of climate collapse.

newrepublic.com

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Jessica Green @greenprofgreen.bsky.social · Oct 7

Today is the day!!! Existential Politics is out in the world!

Read about why we’re doing climate policy wrong (too focused on measuring emissions) & what we should do instead (focus on $$ to constrain fossil asset owners & expand green asset owners). Just in time for #COP30.

Existential Politics

A new way to tackle the real politics of climate change through asset revaluation

press.princeton.edu

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Reposted by Nick Taylor

Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · Oct 7

One of the more incredible stories out of LA this year has been how a taco review blog became the best on-the-ground coverage of ICE raids in the city.

They do a dispatch every day, follow-up on the kidnapped people (which almost no media outlet has done), and fact-check government claims.

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · Oct 6

@lataco.bsky.social first began as a blog documenting local Mexican cuisine. Now, it’s an essential reporting powerhouse to the city as Trump’s mass deportation plot unfolds.

Check out the latest from our friends at Reveal: tinyurl.com/4cm2bsdr

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