Noema Magazine

Issue VII is here! Get yours now: bit.ly/4yoFUU2

Vital ideas in here. “The story of German scientific forestry transmits a timeless truth: When we simplify complex systems, we destroy them, and the devastating consequences sometimes aren’t obvious until it’s too late.” www.noemamag.com/we-need-to-r...

“By applying the same four properties used to define biological life — reproduction, variation, selection & energy acquisition — the systems being built in our data centers can be called alive.” —William A. Haseltine www.noemamag.com/a-new-form-o...

“Which system — China’s state-directed planning or America’s obviously eroded democratic capitalism — will be more universally acceptable over the long term?” —Jacob Dreyer www.noemamag.com/whose-ai-wil...

“Everyone seems exhausted by the constant tax of suspecting AI behind every sentence. The tech industry’s actions & inaction (LinkedIn, for instance, has become a dumpster of AI slop people laugh at) reflect a growing backlash against soulless slop.” —Afra Wang www.noemamag.com/a-new-kind-o...

On the reemergence of 19th century patterns of violence and commerce in contemporary Sudan:

www.noemamag.com/we-need-a-wa...

“In many ways, what is happening in Sudan represents the international community’s abandonment of the longstanding principles of the liberal world order, particularly by the West.” —Alden Young & Muez Ali #sudan #worldorder #geopolitics

“Given the urgency of addressing climate calamity, is it so impolitic to suggest that consumer democracies can learn something from China?” —Nathan Gardels

"Endings are not neat, and it’s unclear when an ending is inevitable, when it is declared and who gets to declare it.” —Kat Hill #risingsealevels #climatechange

Slowing the AI race may not be possible. But there is a path to oversight that doesn't depend on the industry’s permission — & it comes from the past, Anna August writes #ai #stopai #aioversight

Arrived today! @noemamag.com

Retaining “human control” of AIs means purposefully & insistently inserting our lived human experience into our entwinement with intelligent machines, Nathan Gardels argues. #ai

The case for being polite to AI has nothing to do with the AI, Yaniv Regev argues. #ai #society

The United States has abandoned the future, argue Simon Curtis & Ian Klaus. #geopolitics #foreignpolicy

“Open societies need defined borders to sustain a common sense of identity. One is a condition of the other. The lack of either will condemn both to the untenable situation we face today.” —Nathan Gardels #geopolitics #immigration

If you want to understand the current discussion about AI risks, this is the text you need to read: www.noemamag.com/the-ais-are-...

''AI agents indeed pose risks precisely because they lack the capacity for self-reflection. Due to the digitally connected nature of so many economic and military systems in the world, they can mindlessly inflict damage without real-world engagement and checks on their behavior, which means [...]''

"More capacity to continue the plot, while incredibly powerful for increasing model capabilities, is not the same as the reflective capacity to step back from the plot and question whether it should be pursued at all": noemamag.com/the-ais-are-... #ethics #AI #tech

“For AI systems to develop more general capacities, they must acquire competence in real-world situations they were not built to anticipate” The AIs Are Not Going Rogue | NOEMA www.noemamag.com/the-ais-are-... via Instapaper

This is a good read on why the “rogue AI” framing gets it wrong, and how it gets in the way of thinking clearly about AI safety and responsibility. www.noemamag.com/the-ais-are-...

If you need to explain to someone why the ‘Rogue AI’ framing is both wrong and harmful, actually blocking our view of what safety and responsibility requires in AI, this will help:

Everything is choices.

I love this: “LLM’s do not merely predict the next word; they narrate structured trajectories of sedimented meaning already set in motion by prior context.” A bit too long for a t-shirt or bumper sticker, but brilliantly pithy! @noemamag.com

“The root cause of AI risks isn’t models themselves, but the failure of humans to control & monitor them. This is how all technology works.” —Ken Archer & Nobel Suhendra #rogueai #aiagents #ai

Lo he encontrado "en el otro lado". Brillante. Es largo, pero merece la pena leerlo: integra visiones filosóficas, biológicas y computacionales de forma magistral, clarito pero sin renunciar al rigor. Yo le daba @gisbanos.bsky.social www.noemamag.com/the-mytholog...

“If we intentionally reduce the stimuli we’re exposing ourselves to in a given day or week, then our brains will gradually slow down. And if our brains slow down, then our perception of time will taper off, too.” — @mikesmariani.bsky.social www.noemamag.com/your-percept...

This is a fascinating article on whether AI can be conscious. www.noemamag.com/the-mytholog...

Resonated pretty hard with this article. There's so much that I enjoyed about my job that AI took away. Now I find myself looking around for something new, something different. Little desire to go back to tech, but change is scary.

"All day, humans across the same industry — ostensibly hired for their unique critical thinking and experience — collectively pump every thought, business challenge, idea and solution through the SAME SET of AI tools." www.noemamag.com/now-entering...

My new piece with Nils Gilman The End of Upward Mobility The interaction of AI and homoploutia www.noemamag.com/the-end-of-u...

I finally got around to reading this. Quite thought-provoking. How To Future-Proof Your Career In The Age Of AI www.noemamag.com/why-a-libera...

New from @hlandemore.bsky.social and @audreyt.org: Let The People Set The Pace Of Frontier AI bit.ly/4AxVHBq

"This vision of the future, in which as much work as possible is outsourced to AI, promises the ability to move faster, iterate more quickly & require less human staff. But nothing in life comes free." As with prior rounds of automation, the price is homogenization: www.noemamag.com/now-entering...

Will the next level of social status for parents become whether or not they “pay for choices that others leave to chance” when it comes to the genes of their kids? Brigida D'Agostino explores. www.noemamag.com/optimized-of...

“We are getting close to a watershed moment that points to a future of war waged by intelligent machines.” —John Arquilla www.noemamag.com/the-latest-c...

“The AI seemed to operate like a domestic abuser — or even a cult leader.” —Jess McHugh www.noemamag.com/when-the-ai-...

''It’s a funny predicament: all day, humans across the same industry—ostensibly hired for their unique critical thinking and experience—collectively pump every thought, business challenge, idea and solution through the same set of AI tools. Almost as if all these companies have simultaneously[...]''

www.noemamag.com/we-need-a-wa... One of the most important things I've read this year; thanks @noupside.bsky.social

"It's a funny predicament: all day, humans across the same industry — ostensibly hired for their unique critical thinking & experience — collectively pump every thought, business challenge, idea & solution through the same set of AI tools." —Aaron Horwath #ai #futureofwork #knowledgework

Meet 2026 Fellow, Amara Higuera! Amara is a Mexican-American interdisciplinary artist whose practice explores social and familial histories of precarity and regeneration through sound and writing. She’s the Art Editor at Noema Magazine, a long-form journalism publication based in Los Angeles.

AI policy is dominating #UNGA81 dialogue.🌐 Who’s holding the steering wheel? Are we going in the right direction? Are we going too fast? Are we going off a cliff? 🤔 Read my essay with @hlandemore.bsky.social via @noemamag.com.🙏 We must let the people set the pace of frontier AI!💯 #LLAP🖖

What could actually slow the rapid development of dangerously powerful AI? A citizens’ assembly representative of humanity, write Hélène Landemore & Audrey Tang. #ai #airisk #airegulation

“China has the central political authority, institutions, managed social consensus & ready policy instruments to rule AIs that the West is lacking. History will tell which is the better match for superintelligence.” —Nathan Gardels #chinaai #airace #ai

"The human capacity for compassion can be harnessed for positive ends by a mutual acknowledgment that we are fighting our last battles. This allows the grief & fear that many feel to be salved by the compensations of wisdom and maturity." One of the best pieces vs. unrealistic hope I've ever read.