1/2 Carney's speech is much needed, but very very very far from being original. The Non-Aligned Movement was created by Nehru, Tito, Sukarno, Nkrumah and Nasser for this very reason. Read the Bandung Declaration!

1/n There's a camp of analysts - Cosma Shalizi, Henry Farrell and Alison Gopnik are the most prominent members - who say that AI is a cultural technology. Let's say they're correct. The obvious follow-up question is: > What's the culture of which AI is a cultural technology?

Well, well, well….

Is 2026 the year Embodied Intelligence goes viral? I don't know, but I will be tracking it for sure. Also: this is the last #WeeklyPlanet of the year, and likely the last one for a while since I need to recover from all this daily/weekly posting.

And now for some official propaganda from the Chinese govt - not that we are averse to manufacturing consent ourselves - about how their rise will be good for everyone.

2025 was supposed to be the year of AI agents. I don’t think that prediction came true. Nevertheless, the article linked in today's Daily Planet gives us some insight into how China is thinking about the former.

Humanoid robotics is much more popular in Japan and China than it is here in the US. That plays into the AI rivalry between China and the US. #DailyPlanet

On embodied intelligence and the Chinese approach to AI. #DailyPlanet

While the U.S. chases AGI primarily through Large Language Models, China is diversifying. Instead of betting solely on LLMs, Beijing is investing in multiple, parallel pathways to achieve superhuman intelligence. It's a broad strategy vs. America's focused sprint.#DailyPlanet

@leaflet.pub posting is not working for me, either to Bluesky or quietly. Hasn’t worked all day.

I have known the author since childhood

I wish I had thought of these simple hacks to make America great again

In this last series of #DailyPlanets for the year, I want to talk about China's approach to AI, which concentrates on embodied AI such as robotics, and leans in on China's advantages in manufacturing.

Today’s #WeeklyPlanet is on the Second China Shock - China’s increasing dominance of renewable energy, batteries, EVs etc.

How many ways do I love this thread? Let me count the ways: 1. Scorching take-down of an annoying talking head 🔥 2. Calls out fossil fuel boosterism 🌇 3. By a sitting member of Congress! 🗳️ I wish there were more elected representatives like @seancasten.bsky.social

And to finish off this week, one more article about an industry that is a a) high tech b) in demand (and aspirational) across the world c) China dominates already and will likely do so even more in the future. #DailyPlanet

“I know few things about myself, but I know with absolute certainty that I do not want to be on the side of those who use weapons, money and culture to oppress farmers and shepherds.” - extraordinary essay by Natalia Ginzburg in @equatormag.bsky.social www.equator.org/articles/our...

It's clear that renewables will not lead to a common human goal of addressing climate change; in fact, renewables might be a better hedge against foreign sources of energy than for climate action. China is both a supplier of energy technologies and an adversary worth hedging against. #DailyPlanet

Continuing our #DailyPlanet exploration of China's energy futures, let's acknowledge that coal isn't going way anytime soon. China is the world's largest consumer of coal, burning nearly half of the global total in 2024.

I read some great books and essays in 2025. Here are some of my highlights. I love that Semble makes it so easy to share these reading lists! @cosmik.network semble.so/profile/rang...

I am far from the first person to report on this, but in today's #DailyPlanet I cover China’s dominance in the electric vehicle sector. Which is due to its ability to produce advanced technology at lower prices and its control over critical mineral supply chains essential for battery production.

Still feels like a critically missed opportunity for @leaflet.pub to not interop with Bluesky for comments. For someone who discovered this article via leaflet itself or any medium other than *sky, there’s absolutely no sign of the generative discussion that ensued on-feed, nor its likes/shares. 🧵

Wow. Quite the honor! Thanks!

A rogue United States might lead to greater cooperation between Europe and China on climate change, renewables etc. More in today's #DailyPlanet

This week's China Shock themed Daily Planets will all be on China's centrality to our planetary future, whether it comes in a climate action form or a renewable energy form. #DailyPlanet

China's rise-or more precisely, China's arrival, represents not merely the emergence of another great power, but a fundamental challenge to assumptions long embedded in Western thought about development, governance, and civilizational achievement itself. #WeeklyPlanet

To round out this week's #DailyPlanets on the China Shock, a primer on the man who has the mandate of heaven, Xi Jinping.

Today's #DailyPlanet is a primer on China's AI trajectory. I will cover this theme in greater detail the week after next.

Today's #DailyPlanet is a quick primer on China's renewable energy revolution. I will cover this theme in greater detail next week.

On strategic interdependence and US-China relations in today’s #DailyPlanet. Contrast that with Weaponized Interdependence…

sign of the Times

The metaphor of a "race" between the USA and China in artificial intelligence is misleading, for they are two ships navigating uncharted waters toward an uncertain destination. while engaged in a contest that reflect their unique strengths. #DailyPlanet dailyplanet.leaflet.pub/3m7lacgv2as22

Quite the pleasant surprise to be featured in the AAA. Thanks!

How can I disagree - of course you should drop everything else you're doing and subscribe this very instant!

Can't believe today's #DailyPlanet is the 100th such! Many thanks to @leaflet.pub for making it easy to create a publication & continuing to add features that make Leaflet a delight. PS: Issue 100 is on a fantastic essay by Kaiser Kuo. dailyplanet.leaflet.pub/3m7i4n2eof22b

The 100th #DailyPlanet is on a remarkable essay by Kaiser Kuo on China's rise and how it's prompting a "Great Reckoning."

With AI, the financial and technical bubbles are easy to see: hyperscaler capex + the faith that more compute = AGI. The cultural bubble is subtler: it's the sense that AI is about to rewire our shared life - how we imagine, create, argue, govern, and even who "we" includes. #WeeklyPlanet

And to round out this series on the AI Bubble, I am going to share one of my own pieces from a few years ago, from when I was speculating about the Interverse. #DailyPlanet

Culture has always been global, for stories, religions and music has traveled the globe for millennia. However, print culture dramatically accelerated the spread of culture, and novels, radio and movies brought distant people into our lives. How might AI expand our cultural circle? #DailyPlanet

I have talked about prediction and production as two AI strategies: if ubiquitous prediction is the better known path, what does ubiquitous production look like? People have been thinking about this for a while, just not in the context of AI. It's time to read Mark Weiser again. #DailyPlanet

Prediction's rise as a theory of everything isn't restricted to culture alone; it's also the most widely accepted theory of how minds work. Hohwy's book on the Predictive Mind isn't layperson friendly so I am posting a link to a Quanta article on predictive processing instead.

I liked this piece on "prediction" becoming the core idea animating our culture - it's from Andreesen-Horowitz, so there's definitely a commercial interest behind the take, but it's an intriguing take. #DailyPlanet

I am into the last week of covering the AI Bubble, starting with an article by Shalizi and Farrell on AI as the latest Shoggoth - a successor to bureaucracies, corporations and markets, i.e., institutions that aggregate and compress human knowledge and control our lives by doing so. #DailyPlanet

AI has captured our imagination. Skeptics counter that expectations outrun evidence. Neither fully explains why the hyperscalers are pouring extraordinary sums into data centers. To see the pattern clearly, it helps to place AGI inside the longer arc of cognitive capitalism. #WeeklyPlanet

I want to end this week's deliberations on AGI with a gesture towards next week's discussion of AI's impact on our general culture. #DailyPlanet

I think about Jevons' paradox & AGI. Once intelligence becomes a commodity, all current knowledge worker categories (think: doctor, lawyer, accountant, analyst, scientist) become available on tap. What will that world look like? #DailyPlanet

EscarGOAT

What's the difference between AGI and AI? The answer, of course, is G. haha, but behind this stupid joke is a point about do the "general" in AGI. Whether we reach AGI tomorrow or it takes us decades, we should never underestimate Sutton's bitter lesson. #DailyPlanet

AGI pilling seems like a Valley thing. Sitting in Boston, I don't hear as much about AGI nearby in comparison to Bay Area Substack. Not to lean too hard on anecdotal evidence, but it sure feels like AGI fervor decreases linearly with distance from Palo Alto. #DailyPlanet

@leaflet.pub I would absolutely love it if I can schedule posts; otherwise, I have to remind myself to publish the post several days after writing the post and leaving it as a draft - a much needed feature!