No safety net: Insurance starts to go away
The increasing costs of climate-change linked disasters is pushing the insurance industry to the brink.
Kurt Cobb
Trade war vise grip: China is squeezing rare earth supply and it’s hurting
I warned in March that in response to the Trump administration’s trade war, China would likely resort to squeezing supply of critical materials it controls. Now it’s happening.
The lure of convenience: Why a national digital ID system is a really, really bad idea
Convenience has become a central selling point for practically every consumer product or service. But it can be a perilous lure when it comes to our online interactions with government.
Infrastructure failure in America: Will we find a fix before the unimaginable happens?
Aging, crumbling transportation and electrical infrastructure in America is exposing us to possible catastrophic, cascading failures.
“Better” AI has more “hallucinations”
As AI is “improved,” it has more “hallucinations.” When will the public and investors realize that reliability will always be a problem when there is no judgement based on lived experience?
Climate change and the Overton Window
Our political discourse is actually far narrower than our total public discourse which makes addressing big problems such as climate change very difficult.
Second- and third-order effects: Immigration, bird flu and climate
It’s difficult to see the knock-on effects of our actions and it can be very dangerous not to.
America First: Can it be squared with proposed ‘annexation’ of Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal?
Is there a contradiction between the Trump administration’s America First policy and its actions? Maybe not.
DOGE and (mis)understanding AI
Will AI solve all of our major problems or cause the extinction of the human race? Extreme views can lead to extreme and unwarranted actions.
Scented dangers: Who regulates scented products?
Most of us think very little about the artificial scents that buffet us every day. They are often filled with hazardous substances and only very lightly regulated
Trade war danger: China could quickly strangle American tech with metals cutoff
The United States may soon find that those it has targeted with tariffs can fight back in ways that could cripple American industry.
No matter what Elon Musk thinks, government cannot and should not be run like a business
Those telling you that government can be run like a business are either ignorant or trying to trick you.