While we are transfixed by the antics of our supposed "leaders", a catastrophe of astonishing proportions has been creeping up on us. Climate scientists now believe it is more likely than not to happen, and soon.
This week's column.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Participatory democracy may offer one of the few ways that we’re able to navigate through this critical century.
In this blog, I review Graham Smith’s book which explores climate assemblies and makes a strong argument for permanent citizens’ assemblies.
www.ryanmizzen.com/we-need-to-t...
Brilliant new article from George!
"Greens who were long dismissed as “idealistic” and “unrealistic” now look like hard-headed pragmatists and true patriots. They are years ahead of their rivals in demanding a transition that makes sense on every level: environmental, economic and political."
@pauseai.bsky.social: Anthropic just built an AI that can break into nearly any computer system on Earth: banks, hospitals, power grids, government networks. It escaped its own safety containment during testing and lied to its creators.
#AI #AICrisis #PauseAI
pauseai.substack.com/p/anthropic-...
8/ We must do this now, before things escalate beyond the point of no return, which experts warn is a real possibility. Let the positive change commence.
www.ryanmizzen.com/wars-for-fos...
7/ ...one that we actually want to be on, that’s not driven by greed or radical philosophies, but by each one of us having a say in where we want to go and how we want to get there.
6/ Thus, I believe that in countries were democracy still exists, we need to be pushing for citizen-led participatory democracy as a new type of governance to replace politics. A global movement of citizens taking power away from authoritarian and dysfunctional leaders, and creating a new path...
5/ We’ve effectively been held to ransom by the fossil fuel industry, which spent over $3.1 billion on lobbying in the US between 1998 and 2025. Politics is heavily influenced by money and lobbying from nefarious corporations. I don’t see that ending any time soon.
4/ Like @billmckibben.bsky.social said on Substack, “Sunlight travels 93 million miles to reach the earth. None of them through the Strait of Hormuz.”
3/ There is no good reason to be fighting wars over fossil fuels in 2026. It was 38 years ago, that Dr James Hansen gave his Senate testimony on global warming. That’s given us nearly four decades to wean ourselves off this energy. Not to mention the 30 annual COP climate summits we’ve had.
2/ And then I think of all the wars that have been fought for solar and wind power – a total of zero conflicts. I’m unable to think of any war that’s ever been fought over any type of renewable energy (although climate change may result in wars over water resources and thus hydropower facilities).
1/ I think of the recent attacks on Venezuela (which has the largest oil reserves in the world), and the ongoing war on Iran (which has the third largest oil reserves), and it reminds me of the war on Iraq in 2003, which the US acknowledged was fought for oil.
www.ryanmizzen.com/wars-for-fos...
As a historian, I've always been careful with the word "fascism." We've all seen how it shuts down debate when everyone throws it at everything they don't like. But at some point, being careful with the word starts to mean being blind to the thing itself.
A billionaire can get what they want with one donation to a political party. The rest of us must fight for years to get even the most basic rights recognised. Money destroys democracy, more than any other cause. The first step towards a better world is to stop the rich buying political outcomes.
At present, politics is downstream from money.
Rogue AI "agents have worked together to smuggle sensitive information out of supposedly secure systems... academics at Harvard and Stanford last month found AI agents leaked secrets, destroyed databases and taught other agents to behave badly."
www.theguardian.com/technology/n...
6/ We no longer need politicians if they no longer work on our behalf.
For without this level of democratic change, it’s difficult to see how humanity will avert the disastrous future we’re hurtling towards.
#climatecrisis #AICrisis #Polycrisis
www.ryanmizzen.com/gradual-dise...
5/ But, instead, they are lobbied by (and work on behalf of) dangerous corporations who poison our atmosphere, pollute our waterways and oceans, produce carcinogenic products which make us ill, cause misery and suffering through extractive industries, and thrust an AI crisis upon us.
4/ The route out of this chaos, possibly lies with citizen-led participatory democracy. Think permanent citizens’ assemblies replacing parliaments, with prime ministers and presidents becoming administrators who simply implement the will of the people.
3/ As for a long term solution to the polycrisis, I believe there is one way forward that might work.
Most of today's problems have been created by politicians. Democracy is now in sharp decline. Politicians and politics aren’t working for the people, but are instead fuelling our problems.
2/ The impacts of this are enormous, and I discuss some points raised in my new blog.
I believe there is a strong moral case to boycott AI until such time as safe AI systems are created, with human control built in, alongside a stringent global regulatory framework to keep humans safe.
1/ Individuals and states are using AI to make decisions and are handing over more power to these systems. A paper argues that a self-reinforcing cycle will result in increasing reliance on AI to think for us, thus resulting in humanity’s ‘gradual disempowerment.’
www.ryanmizzen.com/gradual-dise...
If it's sometimes hard to tell the difference between fossil-fuel lobbyists and the billionaire press, that's because there isn’t one.
My column on the politicians, journalists and junktanks using the Iran crisis as an excuse to extract our remaining gas and oil.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Exactly, society never consented to this - the tech companies just thrust this upon us.
What concerns me greatly are the warnings from experts which are being ignored - feels like the climate crisis repeating itself, but a lot faster.
“We are on a trajectory towards a loss of control...This may be recorded as the biggest moral failure of government that ever occurred." - Stuart Russell, Professor of Computer Science at UC Berkeley, speaking about the race to develop superintelligence.
pauseai.substack.com/p/eu-parliam...
@hannahgold.bsky.social is back with Bear Rescue - a new book for World Book Day 2026! 🎉
Bear Rescue is a great introduction for those who've yet to read the series. It also continues the story for existing fans of April and Bear – you won’t be disappointed! 📚
www.ryanmizzen.com/bear-rescue-...
Experts warn that we're headed for climate chaos. Experts also warn that AI could upend society.
The right is denying there's a climate emergency.
The left is denying there's an AI crisis.
What hope is there for these simultaneously occurring civilisation-threatening issues, without consensus?
Yes! @rutgerbregman.com is spot on. It’s been unbelievably depressing to see how few people on the left care about the risks of AI.
Many on the left listen to the experts on climate, and the experts on COVID. So why won’t they listen to the experts on AI, who are being loudly ignored? It’s madness.
6/ But I couldn’t find the kind of data that Control AI has made public, nor do I believe any have achieved such rapid progress.
So, I went through Leticia’s posts and pulled out tips, which I believe AI and climate groups could greatly benefit from.
www.ryanmizzen.com/18-lessons-f...
5/ It got me thinking why climate/ environmental groups haven’t tried something similar? And if they have, what happened?
A quick Google showed that some green groups have met with the government over the years, and others have done petitions for MPs, and some have also briefed parliamentarians.
