In this week’s Earthling, the weekend edition of @nonzeronews.bsky.social, I look at the striking scarcity of 'AI safety' advocates pushing for international regulation—and a few notable & laudable exceptions.

In this week's Earthling, the weekend edition of @nonzeronews.bsky.social, I look at the UN’s new push for AI governance, Trump’s rejection of global rules, and the risks that attitude poses for all of us.

In the weekend edition of @nonzeronews.bsky.social, I look at The American Conservative’s reporting on TikTok's emerging pro-Israel bias, the UN's baby steps toward global AI governance, Trump's sudden neocon turn, and more.

Two Visions of AI Doom | @robertwrighter.bsky.social and @davidskrueger.bsky.social —AI safety activist and machine learning professor at @umontreal.ca —discuss @esyudkowsky.bsky.social's new book on AI takeover and contrast it with David’s own theory of how a takeover could play out.

I had a great conversation with Glenn Loury about attempts to stifle criticism of Israel's war on Gaza--something Glenn knows about from recent personal experience. You can watch at the link below or listen via the NonZero Podcast feed.

In the latest Earthling, the weekend edition of @nonzeronews.bsky.social, I discuss 'conflict entrepreneurs,' people who exploit or inflame conflict to gain power or status or money.

In this week’s Earthling, the weekend edition of @nonzeronews.bsky.social, I compare JD Vance’s demagoguery with Utah Governor Spencer Cox’s plea for restraint after the Kirk assassination.

Congrats to @paulbloomatyale.bsky.social on winning his recent Substack-sponsored debate in Chicago w/ his teammate @aella.bsky.social. Condolences on losing the debates he had with me in this podcast. www.youtube.com/watch?featur...

I had a predictably illuminating chat with Glenn Loury about what the Kirk assassination says about the state of the nation and where we go from here.

This is among other things a way to create a more partisan military--the kind of military that could come in handy down the road if, say, a president wanted to go full-on authoritarian.

It would be an exaggeration to say that JD Vance and Stephen Miller are trying to turn Kirk's death into the burning of the Reichstag, but I wish it was more of an exaggeration than it is. Things could get very bad very fast if people of principle on the right don't speak out.

In this week’s Earthling—the weekend edition of @nonzeronews.bsky.social: A note on the blowback from 9/11, and a reminder that we have the agency to handle 9/10 with more wisdom.

Is Kisin right? Not entirely, I think: There are big differences between 9/11 and the Kirk assassination, as I argue in the latest NonZero Newsletter.

In this week’s Earthling—the weekend edition of @nonzeronews.bsky.social: Will Trump use this moment as an excuse to push the authoritarian envelope further than he’s already pushed it?

NEW – After the Kirk Killing Plus: South Park genius; AI vs. MAD; UN widely beloved! And more!

Trump’s Epstein Problem and His Authoritarian Slide | @robertwrighter.bsky.social and Nikita Petrov discuss Trump's birthday greeting to Epstein and what the broader story says about the media and US democracy. Plus: Trumpism vs Putinism, South Park, and more.

Another day, another egregious and violent violation of international law by Israel--with the weapons, as usual, obligingly provided by the US. #NoMoreArmsForIsrael

In the latest @nonzeronews.bsky.social: How Republican and Democratic presidents have both failed to provide the kind of global leadership the world actually wants.

In this week's Earthling, the weekend edition of @nonzeronews.bsky.social: A good example of how the New York Times, like other mainstream US media, engages in China threat inflation.

Epstein, AI, and the Xi-Putin Path to Immortality | @robertwrighter.bsky.social and psychologist @paulbloomatyale.bsky.social discuss what the Ghislaine interview really revealed—via Mickey Kaus' analysis. Plus: AI vs indoor plumbing, the Xi-Putin summit, and more.

I had a great chat with Seth Harp about his important & engrossing book The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces. The blowback from US foreign policy it documents is mindblowing.

I had a great conversation with Nikita Petrov, who offered a Russian perspective on Trump’s authoritarian tendencies, how they compare to Putin’s, and the current state of US democracy.

I had a great conversation with Joe Allen about why the logical/natural MAGA position on AI is deep skepticism, even if Trump himself, under the influence of Silicon Valley billionaires, is a de facto AI accelerationist.

"This is a very complicated situation. It would be hard for the Kissingers of the world to pull off." @robertwrighter.bsky.social highlights the gap between the complexity of Russia–Ukraine negotiations and the limitations of Trump’s hollowed-out foreign policy apparatus.

The new Earthling (weekend edition of @nonzeronews.bsky.social) gets into Israel’s one-state drive—more settlements, more ethnic cleansing by settlers, talk of relocating Gazans to South Sudan, etc. Also: the latest in Trump suckup tactics, AI news and, of course, the black-market ant trade.

I learned from this conversation that @paulbloomatyale.bsky.social is using AI more creatively than I am (and that one thing AI still can't do is heal the psychic wounds inflicted on Paul by Mickey Kaus. That part's at the beginning and is deeply poignant.)

Very good discussion between @connorechols.bsky.social and George Beebe (@quincyinst.bsky.social, former CIA) on Trump’s summit with Putin, what’s realistically on the table for Ukraine, and the future of European security. Taped right before summit but just as useful after.

Some weeks the news reads like satire. Trump wants to bomb drug cartels and host UFC fights on the Whitehouse lawn, while Starmer arrests priests for supporting a non-violent pro-Palestine group. More in this week’s Earthling, the weekend edition of @nonzeronews.bsky.social.

Some people say only open source AI can save us from a suffocating concentration of power, others say it could usher in chaos and catastrophe. It's a complex issue of vastly underappreciated importance, and I learned a lot from talking to @natolambert.bsky.social about it.

I figured there was only one way to get to the bottom of this Trump-Epstein thing: tap the expertise of Mickey Kaus. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bpd...

So is GPT-5 a big deal or not? This and other questions answered in the latest Earthling, the weekend edition of @nonzeronews.bsky.social.

Enjoyed quasi-debating @jordanschneider.bsky.social about whether America's hawkish quasi-consensus on China makes sense. I still don't think it does. You can watch here or listen on the Nonzero Podcast.

I'm afraid the answer to this question turned out to be yes. But @paulbloomatyale.bsky.social and I carried the discussion to wholly new levels of sociocultural and metaphysical significance. You can watch here or listen on the NonZero podcast. www.youtube.com/watch?v=61vV...

I recommend this conversation between @connorechols.bsky.social and Alex de Waal on how hunger is being weaponized in Gaza and what a successful aid response would look like.

Good piece by @connorechols.bsky.social on the absurdity of America's anti-terrorism laws.

Jeffrey Epstein, MechaHitler, and Other Ills | @robertwrighter.bsky.social and psychologist @paulbloomatyale.bsky.social discuss the Epstein files, Bob’s AI-guided (and misguided?) cancer journey, Grok’s Nazi-pornbot turn, AI companions, and more.

Is the New Syria Unravelling? | @robertwrighter.bsky.social and Middle East expert @joshua-landis.bsky.social discuss the mounting challenges facing the new regime, what’s really behind Israel’s recent attacks, what grounds for hope remain, and more.

I always learn a lot when I talk to Joshua Landis of @quincyinst.bsky.social about the Middle East. And his understanding of Syria is particularly deep. I really recommend this conversation. You can watch via the YT link below or listen via the Nonzero podcast feed. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgpo...

Really enjoyed talking to @ckayerawlings.bsky.social and @alexjordanatl.bsky.social of @quincyinst.bsky.social about the root causes of war. I think we figured it all out, so if enough people smash the like button, peace will almost certainly descend on the planet. www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0XS...

Had a great time talking to @alexgibneyfilm.bsky.social about the riveting documentary The Bibi Files, which helps explain why Netanyahu is always in the mood for war. www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG9Y...

Really enjoyed talking to Steven Adler about his time at OpenAI and his ongoing exploration of big AI safety questions. www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLtF...

Had a great time discussing, and sometimes disagreeing about, Trump's foreign policy record with my fellow anti-Blobsters Curt Mills and Andrew Day. You can watch here or listen on the NonZero Podcast. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUR6...

How to Not Lose Control of AI | MIT physicist Max Tegmark tells @robertwrighter.bsky.social how AI could take over the world, and how humans can prevent this.

Trump targets Chinese students’ visas, China courts Southeast Asia, and an AI model goes rogue. More news updates in this week’s Earthling: @robertwrighter.bsky.social @connorechols.bsky.social

Really enjoyed talking to Harvard professor Stephen Walt about Trump's attack on Harvard--and on academic/cultural/media institutions more broadly. You can watch here or listen on the Nonzero Podcast. @nonzeronews.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyNX...

In this episode of @connorechols.bsky.social's show NonZero World, we cover a lot: AI & bioweapons, Trump's star wars plan, scary JD Vance, link between foreign wars & domestic terrorism, pernicious 'Putin talking points' meme, etc. Plus check out the cool visuals. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9sc...

Important piece by @connorechols.bsky.social in @nonzeronews.bsky.social about how Blob rhetoric discourages diplomacy. www.nonzero.org/p/putins-par...

Always great to have Paul Triolo join me to assess tech developments that have big geopolitical implications. And theSaudi/UAE data center deals announced last week certainly qualify. You can watch here or listen on the @nonzeronews.bsky.social podcast. www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPui...

In this conversation I tried to set a new record for the number of times I annoyed @paulbloomatyale.bsky.social. I hope this doesn't sound immodest, but: I'm confident that I succeeded. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JZw...

"China hawk industrial complex" is a useful term. Powerful Silicon Valley players--not just Palantir and Anduril but Anthropic and OpenAI and others--are working to inflate our fear of China. This piece by @juliablack.bsky.social offers a valuable look at that milieu. www.nonzero.org/p/welcome-to...