A company that allegedly knew PFAS dumping was bad for 50y. A greenwashing case on carbon offsets. And a datacentre that may not have the right permitting to burn methane The companies caught up in climate and environmental controversy this week include: Marathon, 3M, Delta, DuPont, Chemours, EIDP, Corteva, NextEra Energy, Anthropic, RWE, Ecopetrol. Take a look at this week's newsletter on corporate involvement in sustainability controversies, with a focus on Climate and Environment

With another summer of wildfires across Europe and North America, and increasingly encroaching on urban areas, the climate is finally hitting home to those of us who may previously have been insulated from it. As a result I am resurrecting my weekly newsletter on corporate involvement in sustainability controversies

Training models with books is fine, we are all getting the benefit. But Big AI could at least pay for the books to be put back together and given to libraries rather than pulp them.

The case for open weight AI has become incontrovertible. Anthropic increasingly resembles the futile Xerxes whipping the sea. Pulling some threads together from 3 recent events.

Anthropic is approaching philosophers and theologians and earnestly asking their views on whether AI could possibly exhibit consciousness. I truly believe AI is the transformational tech of our generation. But it cannot have consciousness. Period.

This debate is now seriously hotting up. The array of companies that has written to the US government arguing against a ban on Open Weight AI is astounding. Let's call it for what it is. The anti-Open Weight, or more precisely anti-Chinese Frontier movement, is driven by Anthropic.

My one liner: The Breath of Night by Michael Arditti digs deep into the Philippines, its culture, people, and politics, to give us a thorough examination of the conscience and appetite of the Church to help the poor and disenfranchised through armed struggle. A morality tale that sits in the grey area between good and evil.

My one liner: How do societies adapt to Disruptive Change? Exerting discipline through fear. Labour skills reflect society’s needs. Why “National Patrimony” matters. Being local versus global depends on society’s current needs. We are crucially dependent on our modern communications networks. Opportunity Cost determines Resource Allocation. Life Experiences give us important intuitive skills. Just some of the lessons learned from World War Z.

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