Human-Like Chatbot ChatGPT Says We Should Prepare for the Impact of AI

“ChatGPT’s fluency is an illusion that stems from the combination of massive amounts of data, immense computing power, and novel processing techniques—but it’s a powerful one. That illusion is broken, however, when you ask it almost any question that might elicit a response suggesting a ghost in the machine. “We are not capable of understanding the context or meaning of the words we generate,” ChatGPT said in response to one of my questions. “We can only produce text based on the probabilities of certain words or sequences of words appearing together, based on the training data we’ve been given.””

Human-Like Chatbot ChatGPT Says We Should Prepare for the Impact of AI
https://time.com/6238781/chatbot-chatgpt-ai-interview/
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COP27 flinched on phasing out ‘all fossil fuels’ — what’s next?



As the dangers of extracting and burning fossil fuels have become increasingly apparent, many experts, campaigners, international organisations and, increasingly, governments have contested the moral legitimacy of these activities. In a recent journal article, we argued that the Glasgow agreement represented a breakthrough (albeit a modest one) in the emergence of international anti-fossil fuel norms.

An international norm is a morally appropriate standard of behaviour among states (for example, prevailing norms prohibit foreign aggression, piracy, or the testing and use of nuclear weapons). International conferences such as COP27 catalyse emerging norms by specifying them in formal declarations.

COP decisions are not binding and the language on fossil fuels at COP26 was watered down during negotiations. But the Glasgow text reflected a growing sense among governments that certain activities relating to fossil fuels (like generating electricity from coal without capturing the CO₂ and policies which make fossil fuels cheaper to extract and consume) are becoming illegitimate.”

COP27 flinched on phasing out ‘all fossil fuels’ — what’s next?
https://www.salon.com/2022/12/06/cop27-flinched-on-phasing-out-all-fossil-fuels--whats-next_partner/
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What Is the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty?

“We need both. When it comes to transitioning away from fossil fuels, we need to cut with both arms of the scissors—demand and supply,” Michael Poland, campaign director for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, told Sierra in an email from Sharm el-Sheikh, where this year’s climate talks are taking place.”

What Is the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty?
https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/what-fossil-fuel-non-proliferation-treaty
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What is the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty?

“For 30 years we have been making emissions reductions targets but the fossil fuel industry has been continuously expanding production,” Tzeporah Berman, chair of the initiative, said at Cop27. “We are trying to reduce the demand for fossil fuels without reducing the supply, which is like trying to cut with one half of the scissors. There is no treaty on what governments can produce and where and, without a treaty, we will be unable to bend the curve on emissions.”

What’s the problem with more fossil fuel production?

The problem is that there is far more coal, oil and gas in company and government reserves, and planned for production, than can ever be burned if global heating is to be kept to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. Put another way, burning all the fossil fuel currently on companies’ books would guarantee climate catastrophe.

Many major studies support this conclusion, including one that found 90% of coal and 60% of oil and gas reserves could not be extracted. In May, a Guardian investigation revealed that the world’s biggest fossil fuel firms were planning scores of “carbon bomb” oil and gas projects that would result in catastrophic global impacts.”

What is the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/11/what-is-the-fossil-fuel-non-proliferation-treaty
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Climate Change from A to Z

“When it comes to global warming, we know that the real problem is not just fossil fuels—it is the logic of endless growth that is built into our economic system,” Jason Hickel, an economic anthropologist at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, has written. Climate change can’t be dealt with using the tools of capitalism, because it is a product of capitalism. It can be dealt with only by throwing off capitalism in favor of something else—a system aimed not at growth but at “degrowth.”

“The difficult truth is that, to prevent climate and ecological catastrophe, we need to level down” is how the British environmental writer George Monbiot recently put it.”

Climate Change from A to Z
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/11/28/climate-change-from-a-to-z
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Another Billionaire's Plan to Rebuild Social Media

“McCourt believes that the dominance of a few Golathian social media platforms will give way to “a thousand Davids” that better cater to smaller communities with more specific interests and needs. This has already begun, with apps like BeReal and Mastodon gaining huge interest in the past half-year.

Larkin boldly predicts that within five years, most social media users will be on a decentralized social media graph; McCourt says three. “We have an ambitious timeline in terms of creating real change fairly quickly, because I don’t think we have time,” Larkin says. “Social media is the main driver of undermining democracies, so we can’t wait around.”

Challenges to Overcome

Technologists who have worked in the decentralization space far longer than McCourt are cautiously optimistic about Project Liberty. “I’m really excited that Frank McCourt and Project Liberty are bringing a different level of resources to this space than has typically been here. And I think that that could accomplish a great deal,” says Glen Weyl, an economist and a researcher at Microsoft Research. “At the same time, there are really challenging technical problems that can’t be solved theoretically. They have to be resolved through actual experiments, with real user bases—and they’re at the beginning of their journey of exploring that landscape.””

Another Billionaire's Plan to Rebuild Social Media
https://time.com/6235171/frank-mccourt-project-liberty/
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Taxing frequent flyers

“The richest 20 percent of people worldwide take 80 percent of the flights, according to estimates by the International Council on Clean Transportation, a nonprofit think tank. The top 2 percent of frequent fliers take about 40 percent of the flights.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/07/climate/aviation-emissions-net-zero.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/07/climate/aviation-emissions-net-zero.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
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Inside the Saudi Strategy to Keep the World Hooked on Oil

“Saudi representatives pushed at the United Nations global climate summit in Egypt to block a call for the world to burn less oil, according to two people present at the meeting, saying that the summit’s final statement “should not mention fossil fuels.” The effort prevailed: After objections from Saudi Arabia and a few other oil producers, the statement failed to include a call for nations to phase out fossil fuels.”

Inside the Saudi Strategy to Keep the World Hooked on Oil
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/21/climate/saudi-arabia-aramco-oil-solar-climate.html
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Deglobalization Is a Climate Threat | by Raghuram G. Rajan - Project Syndicate

“The key inputs for batteries – lithium, nickel, and cobalt – are projected to be in short supply within the decade, as are the rare earths used for electrodes. Global battery production will suffer if manufacturers have to “friend-shore” these commodities. After all, most of these resources are mined in unstable or conflict-ridden countries, like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and much of the existing refining is done in China and Russia.”

Deglobalization Is a Climate Threat | by Raghuram G. Rajan - Project Syndicate
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/deglobalization-threatens-fight-against-climate-change-by-raghuram-rajan-2022-11
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