Daily News 09/23

Daily News 09/23

While it will not lead to human extinction, the combination of LLMs and brute-force scaling represents an extraordinarily wasteful and dangerous approach to building artificial intelligence. Instead of rationally integrating these models into the economy at the service of human needs, the market-driven AI race is accelerating the worst tendencies of capitalism; deepening our alienation from our labour, driving down wages and working conditions, creating ever more efficient war machines, and skyrocketing energy demands that compound the climate crisis. Even the collapse of the AI boom threatens us with a worldwide recession! Never before has the need for economic planning by the vast majority of society been posed so starkly. It must be emphasised that AI does not have to be built this way. Under a democratically planned economy, many different forms and uses of AI would make possible the planning of the economy far more harmoniously than under capitalism, and at the service of goals defined by the great majority of humanity, not unelected tech executives. The problem that stands before us is that you cannot plan what you do not control, and you cannot control what you do not own. A revolution is necessary to take the data centres out of the hands of the doomsday cult that owns them and begin the task of redesigning both AI and our whole economic system under the conscious control of human beings. — Is AI going to kill us all?

Superpowers cannot solve world’s problems, UN chief says in final general assembly address António Guterres says humanity faces unprecedented convergence of threats but mechanisms for collective action are under growing strain The world’s fault lines have turned from cracks into canyons as superpowers show that they alone do not have the military, economic and technological power to guarantee security or solve the world’s problems, the outgoing secretary general of the United Nations has said in his final address to the general assembly. In a speech laced with despair but also glimpses of defiant hope, António Guterres said that over the last decade, largely spanning his 10-year period in office, “wars erupted with devastating consequences and dragged on with despicable cruelty. Civilians were targeted. Human rights trampled. Hunger weaponised. Humanitarians killed. International law cast aside.” He continued: “Geopolitical divides have deepened. Inequalities have intensified. Trust has frayed. The climate crisis went from distant warning to daily reality. And artificial intelligence moved at a speed that has blindsided even those who created it.

NOAA: Monitoring the U.S. Temperature and Precipitation in August 2026

Warmest summer on record for the contiguous U.S. Key Takeaways

Warmest summer on record: The average temperature for meteorological summer (June–August) 2026 was the warmest for the contiguous United States (CONUS) in the 132-year record, exceeding the previous records, set in 1936 and 2021, by 0.4°F.
Warmest August on record: August 2026 averaged 75.6°F, the warmest August on record (1895–present) for the CONUS. Daytime maximum temperatures averaged 88.6°F across the CONUS, which was also the warmest on record.
August precipitation contrasts: While portions of the Midwest and Ohio Valley regions recorded much-above-average August precipitation totals, large areas of the southern Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley received much-below-average precipitation.
Hawaiʻi exceptionally wet: Hurricane Lala brought heavy rainfall to Hawaiʻi, contributing to its second-wettest August on record (1991–present). Year-to-date precipitation averaged across the island chain was more than three feet above the 1991–2020 average (91.7% above normal), making it the wettest January–August period on record.
Drought expanded: Drought covered 59.1% of the CONUS on September 1, an increase of more than 10 percentage points from early August.

Planetary Health Check: Mounting pressure on life support systems‘Our margin for error in tackling these problems is shrinking’ Seven breached Planetary Boundaries continue to worsen as record ocean heat, droughts, floods, wildfires and extreme heat reveal an Earth system under strain, according to the latest Planetary Health Check. The annual update is authored by more than 60 scientists and produced by the Planetary Boundaries Science Lab at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT STATE OF CALIFORNIA PROCLAMATION OF A STATE OF EMERGENCY

WHEREAS in the past several years, California has experienced increasingly severe and destructive storms, including atmospheric river events that have caused widespread flooding, mud and debris flows, landslides, high winds, power outages, road and highway closures, evacuation orders, damage to homes and critical infrastructure, and disruption of essential services; and

WHEREAS climate change is intensifying these weather and hydrologic extremes in California, contributing to increasingly severe swings between drought and flooding, and heightening the risks that extreme storms pose to communities, infrastructure, natural resources, and the economy; and ….

WHEREAS under the provisions of Government Code section 8625(c), I find that local authority is inadequate to cope with the magnitude of the extreme peril posed by the developing El Niño event; and WHEREAS under the provisions of Government Code section 8571, I find that strict compliance with various statutes and regulations specified in this Proclamation would prevent, hinder, or delay the mitigation of the effects of the developing El Niño event. NOW, THEREFORE, I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, in accordance with the authority vested in me by the State Constitution and statutes, including the California Emergency Services Act, and in particular, Government Code section 8625, HEREBY PROCLAIM A STATE OF EMERGENCY to exist statewide due to the developing 2026–2027 El Niño event. IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT: 1. All agencies of the state government are to utilize and employ state personnel, equipment, and facilities for the performance of any and all activities consistent with the direction of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and the State Emergency Plan. The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services shall coordinate statewide preparedness activities for potential severe weather, flooding, coastal flooding, erosion, mud and debris flows, and related impacts associated with conditions resulting from the El Niño event, including atmospheric rivers and other severe storm systems. The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services shall work with local and tribal governments to support emergency planning, resource coordination, and requests for state assistance. To protect their safety, all residents are to obey the direction of emergency officials with regard to this emergency. . . . .

The Effects of Climate Change The effects of human-caused global warming are happening now, are irreversible for people alive today, and will worsen as long as humans add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

Antarctica’s Doomsday Glacier Is Making Headlines Again – And It’s Alarming

Donald Trump Will Soon Have New Ways to Start a Nuclear War Hawks inside and outside the Pentagon are preparing secret plans that would make nuclear war far more likely.

After OpenAI Cyberattack, UN Panel Warns Current Guardrails Are ‘Unraveling’“We need to adapt existing safeguards and develop new ones to provide system-level assurance, covering both the AI itself and the system around it,” one expert said. As warnings from within the artificial intelligence community fuel growing worldwide calls for regulations on AI, a panel established by the United Nations General Assembly stressed Monday that “the traditional model of safeguarding is unraveling.” On the eve of the first day of the assembly’s high-level general debate, the Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence released a thematic brief that points to one of several recently revealed incidents involving the rapidly advancing technology that have led to people around the world demanding swift action from policymakers.

Sinking the Empire: How Western Militarism surrendered the Arteries of global Trade