My newest article - what went so wrong with Woolworth's Olive AI Agent and what lessons can we learn about friction in human-machine networks?

This reminds me of the scene in 'The Big Short' where the shorts realise that the investment banks knew there was going to be a bailout.

I've started a Substack, it's called To Build A Fire (title taken from my fav short story by Jack London) and it's about social machines, human-computer interaction, AI governance and business development, amongst probably other things. Happy to be back writing in the Web Science space after years.

The death of (some of) the Trump tariffs looks like it's going to work out well for clean energy, at least for now.

Sometimes I'm not sure if we actually live in a true 'cost of living crisis' or if we really just live in a world where the barriers to purchase are so eroded we're overwhelmed with the ability to spend. www.stuff.co.nz/money/360939...

Dawn Chorus out: One dead, highways closed, culverts washed out & power cuts hit thousands in North Island; Climate Change barely mentioned; US set for 'weeks' of Iran strikes; Scoops, deep-dives & cartoon of the day #nzpol open.substack.com/pub/thekaka/...

In the midst of the angst about the repealing environmental law, it's important to remember that the economics of renewable energy doesn't care.

I recently learned about NZ's farm subsidy repeal in the late 1980s; by removing subsidies overnight the government drove (after a rocky decade or so) far more productivity in the farming sector. Can't we do this for housing by removing the current housing subsidy (no capital gains tax)?

A decade a go, NZ was a world leader in renewable energy for electricity generation. Now we're lagging countries in Europe, South America, Africa. This gov's decision to lock in LNG for another several decades is ridicuolus and seems driven by a fossil fuel industry desparate to hold onto profits.

This great research by @nmalhotra.bsky.social, Yotam Margalit and Saikun Shi found that Small Business Owners skew politically right (check NZ's position here). AI is predicted to grow SMEs, while also reducing labour participation. Will future AI driven business owners support welfare policies?

HUGE moment for the EU car market as battery EVs overtake petrol cars for the first time ever But there's no "natural" demand for EVs amirite? Article by @mollylempriere.carbonbrief.org www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-evs...

Question I pondered this morning: Will AI create more independent businesses and traders who will skew more politically right, as independent businesses and traders tend to do, by reducing the cooperative framework (accountants, marketers, web design) needed to create a small business?

Keen to read any current research/polling that focuses on community level trust or democratic engagement in the USA currently. All I see from my distant vantage point are national level polls aimed at satisfaction with the administration.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the Climate Change debate is over in NZ. Every single person I've talked to. regardless of political leaning or age, about the recent North Island rains has displayed awareness of the fact that there are going to be more extreme weather events.

This is literally the plot for The Last of Us www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-f...

Heard a new phrase this morning on RNZ: "When the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow...and it doesn't rain" - that's when they'll take more water. Feels like incumbent energy is still trying to do anything other than promote the obvious solution of rooftop solar + home battery solutions.

NEW – Analysis: India’s power-sector CO2 falls for only second time in half a century ✍️ Anubha Aggarwal @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social Nandikesh Sivalingam Read here: buff.ly/2OHaLGM

Preliminary data from @electricitymaps.com showing Aotearoa New Zealand running at 99% renewable as at 9am. Proving that when hydro output is strong, coal and gas aren't needed for firming. Wind and solar will only increase hydro storage by reducing its need, so lets get more of it in place.

I'm going to do a deep dive on @ember-energy.org electrotech revolution report, there's so much brilliant info in there. Do yourself a favour and have a read: ember-energy.org/latest-insig...

🌞 Australian households and small businesses are powering ahead with rooftop solar! In H1 2025: 🔹 Rooftop solar generated 12.8% of all electricity 🔹 Battery sales hit 85,000 units, up 191% YoY thanks to rebate schemes 🔹 Queensland leads NSW in new rooftop solar installations Full report below

Encouraged to hear that Labour NZ will likely be heading into the next election with a capital gains tax proposal on second homes and residential land. Should go further but it overcomes that first barrier around CGT in NZ. Via @bernardchickey.bsky.social and his great thekaka.substack.com

Brazil and Australia have for a long time been on my list of countries to watch re Energy transition. Both doing it very well. ember-energy.org/latest-insig...

NEW – Analysis: UK foreign aid for nature hits £800m record due to cash for carbon credits | @joshgabbatiss.bsky.social Read here: buff.ly/Ug7Znf9

📉 Russian revenues from the sale of fossil fuels have fallen almost by half compared to the 2022 level. The main buyers of Russian energy resources remain China, India, Turkey, the EU and South Korea. Hungary and Slovakia are far ahead among the EU countries.

FACTCHECK: No, North Sea gas is not "four times cleaner" than LNG imports After Kemi Badenoch pledged to extract every last drop from the North Sea, we've been engulfed by waves of long-dead zombie factoids. "Four times cleaner" is one of the silliest. www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-no...

@ember-energy.org Just released their China Electricity review 2025 - showing positive signs that China's fossil fuel use in electricity production is plateauing. ember-energy.org/latest-insig...

The cost of living crisis is as much a mental state as it is an economic one. We've stopped buying eggs (too expensive) and we dilute our milk with water to make it last longer. But we're happy, healthy, and hey, at least we don't have polio! Still never a better time to be alive.

I've just discovered @transitionzero.org and their open data for mapping countries solar assets. It's an amazing free tool to track how the solar transition is going in your country. Here's NZ: solar.transitionzero.org/explore#5.11...

I stand by my consistent prediction that Australia is going to be the renewable energy super-power of the second half of this and next century. Making strong moves to unlock renewables and feels like the first country where the penny has fully dropped re:societal and environmental gains.

Loved this graph from the latest Ember report on electrification showing where countries sit on the "renewables/electrostate" scale. China a dominant electrostate, Mexico not far off (cool) but many western countries pushing their electricity sector hard but final demand sector not enough.

The car’s out of the bag 🤯 Live at the #EnergyTechSummit, @gjuk.bsky.social launches Britain’s first EV vehicle-to-grid bundle with BYD. Power Pack Bundle gives a car lease, two-way charger, and a smart tariff for £299/m with 100% FREE smart charging - saving £1,000/yr on fuel vs petrol.

Always enjoy starting my day by checking in on the Peregrine chicks on @stalbanscathedral.bsky.social - glad to see they seem to be coping with the heat so far, the parents are doing great with feeding and keeping them cool. Webcam: www.stalbanscathedral.org/peregrine-li...

This is *potentially* huge news. If NZ is indeed sequestering more carbon than expected AND that increase in sequestration is due to native forest regeneration after invasive mammal control, then this is a story all NZ can get behind. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

🚨 Oversized SUV fronts = danger on our streets. Thanks to the insights of a @transenv.bsky.social and @cleancitiescampaign.org report we have signed a joint letter to the @ec.europa.eu demanding action to cap bonnet heights and protect pedestrians. #BonnetHeight #PedestrianSafety

Britain's energy intensive businesses are being battered by energy prices. Our factories and data centres have 50% higher prices than French and German factories, and 3-4x higher than Norway and Sweden. But it doesn't have to be this way 👇

The Labour gov spending review promises lots of long term infrastructure dev, but it's no secret that Labour need some quick wins this parliament with the electorate. Zonal pricing could be one of those. If implemented quickly it could be a political win in many of the northern regions Lab needs.

I'm seeing more and more evidence (anecdotal in YouTube comments) of people who lean politically right advocating solar as a way to go "off-grid". Comments like "screw the gov, get solar and go off grid". I think this is the start of the end of mainstream weaponising solar as a lefty tech.

So British DOGE's search for wasteful spending discovered that... councils need more money to update their IT systems? www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Before the 1970s, a child diagnosed with leukemia had a 90% chance of dying within 5 years. Today, those odds are flipped: they have an almost 90% chance of survival. My colleague @scientificdiscovery.dev's article on progress against childhood cancer. ourworldindata.org/childhood-le...

Hey New Zealand! @ember-energy.org has a cool new tool that allows you to visualise electricity generation change. Remember how 2024 was a dry year for hydro and we had to import all that fossil fuel to fill the gap? Imagine if there was a sun based source of electricity that we could have used!

Hey @ember-energy.org - loving the new look data explorer!

NEW ANALYSIS: UK's solar power surges 42% to a new record, after the sunniest spring on record * For the first time, solar was >10% of UK generation in consecutive months (April/May 2025) * In 2025, solar has already avoided gas imports that would've cost £600m www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uks...

The more I learn about Operation Spiderweb the more I realise that it will be a defining moment for warfare and non state aggression. Flexible, unpredictable asymmetric warfare. Every modern state is taking note. It's comparable to LRDG/SAS in North Africa during WWII #OperationSpiderweb

Listening to “Determined” by Robert Sapolsky — it’s reigniting my love for social science. The book explores how societies reward certain genetic traits: Western societies value individualism, Eastern ones value family cohesion.

Not sure I fully believe the polls here. They adjust for population demographics based on Stats NZ demographic data on who is living in a region (2023 Census), but so many young, working and non-home owning Kiwi's are leaving and going overseas. They're still eligible to vote. Is that factored?

‘Chilling and dangerous’: Grassroots groups sue over Louisiana law that censors air quality data #Climate

This is absolutely the case, and appears to be happening in NZ. But thanks to groups like Rewiring Aotearoa the economic fallacies of fossil fuel preservation are increasingly being exposed. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Is there any modelling out there on the expected impact of the Home Battery Subsidy being introduced by the Australian gov? I'm reading uptake levels are extremely high so curious to know what the predictions are for downward pressure on coal/gas during peak times.

Could this be the biggest climate story of the year? For the first time on record, China's emissions are falling due to clean energy growth, not slow power demand Full analysis + outlook by Lauri Myllyvirta: www.carbonbrief.org/... 1/7