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The new "science golden age" looks suspiciously like a grift
This edition of PN is made possible by paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️ 🚀 Subscribe to PN 🚀 The Trump regime is trying to usher in a “Golden Age in Science” where scientific research is run like a Trump family business, artificial intelligence is all that matters, profit is everything, and expertise is for chumps. Or at least that’s the vision emerging from a new 123-page “Report to the President” from Michael Kratsios, the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. In a normal administration, you could probably skip over learning about a science policy document — but this is no normal administration, and this is no normal science policy document. Instead, it’s Trump’s attempt to end the actual golden age of science that was kicked off in 1945 with the publication of '“The Endless Frontier” by Vannevar Bush. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/harmeet-dhillon-portland) [ Harmeet Dhillon demonstrates danger of posting through it ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/harmeet-dhillon-portland) Liz Dye · Jul 29 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/harmeet-dhillon-portland) Bush, at President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s request, laid out a vision of federal support for science that centered on funding universities to do basic research, saying that as long as those institutions were “vigorous and healthy and their scientists are free to pursue the truth wherever it may lead, there will be a flow of new scientific knowledge to those who can apply it to practical problems in Government, in industry, or elsewhere.” Kratsios’s report is supposed to be the successor to Bush’s, and even apes the format, but this isn’t really a document about science policy. It’s one about ending science research as we know it in favor of shoveling cash at big tech companies. While it might be temping to wave this away as an aspirational policy document, Trump has already begun to shift billions in research funds to AI projects and has taken a hatchet to science funding across the board. He’s teed up the shift Kratsios proposes here, and since neither Congress nor the Supreme Court seem inclined to stop him from doing whatever he wants with taxpayer money, it isn’t doomering or hyperbole to say we are staring down the barrel of a world where the only “science” the government intends to support is for-profit tech and defense advancements. Science for dummies Part of how you can tell this isn’t a document about science is that you are immediately faced with an absolute wall of business-speak of the worst sort. Did you know we must “tightly couple our science and technology enterprises to ensure that groundbreaking ideas invented in the United States are rapidly prototyped, tested, manufactured, and scaled domestically”? You do now! That tone isn’t surprising, because Kratsios has no background in science or research. He has a bachelor’s in political science and spent most of his career working for Peter Thiel at Thiel Capital. After a stint in the first Trump administration as Chief Technology Officer, where he also did not do any science, Kratsios was tasked in 2020 with overseeing the Pentagon’s research budget for a brief time, a position that, as the Wall Street Journal put it, “carries a great deal of power in terms of dictating investment allocations.” He spent the Biden years at Scale AI as “head of strategy,” which you will also note is neither a science nor a research job. But Scale AI has contracts with the Department of Defense and, as the Washington Post wrote in 2023, “has been aggressively pitching itself as the company that will help the US military in its existential battle with China.” And now you have the necessary background for our new golden age, which is going to be a golden age of taking money away from scientists and universities and giving it to companies like Scale AI. A note from Aaron: Working with brilliant contributors like Lisa takes resources. If you aren’t already a paid subscriber, please become one to support our work. 👇 Subscribe In a genuinely galling move, Katsios spends a lot of time slamming universities because of “administrative burdens on researchers” and the “well-documented inefficiencies” in academia, the message being that those damn universities waste the time of amazing researchers with paperwork. Except it’s the administration that is attempting to impose inefficient, unnecessary burdens on those researchers with a proposed Office of Management and Budget rule that would require senior political appointees to approve every science grant and ensure it aligns with Trump’s personal priorities. Researchers would also have to seek prior government approval to attend conferences or publicize their research. And political appointees could terminate any grant at any time if they feel like it. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/omb-rule-science-funding) [ The murder of expertise ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/omb-rule-science-funding) Lisa Needham · Jun 11 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/omb-rule-science-funding) But when it comes to AI, we’re going to “restore permissionless innovation.” The report proposes to give lucky ducky innovators a pile of cash up front for grants lasting five years or longer, saying “awards should be fully-funded in year one, with all resources earmarked upfront, to minimize administrative burdens and reduce pressure for researchers to generate intermediate results to secure continued funding.” Yeah, wouldn’t want to have to make the Very Special Tech Bros show results or get money parceled out year by year like the plebes at universities. The report also proposes that we should have “fast grants” with “simplified applications requiring just a few pages of writing” because that is definitely how science works, just writing a bit off the dome and getting some cash. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ai-action-plan-altman-llms) [ Tech elites are turning AI into ChatGPTrump ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ai-action-plan-altman-llms) Paul Waldman · July 29, 2025 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ai-action-plan-altman-llms) Oh, and we should have prizes and challenges, where multiple teams compete. The proposed prizes include incentives like “advance procurement commitments,” which means the federal government agrees to buy whatever is being developed. There’s also “regulatory fast-tracking,” making sure all those great AI thingies don’t have to wait too long to be unleashed on a market. These aren’t incentives to do science. These are incentives to develop things with tax dollars that you can then sell to the government for more tax dollars. In the suggestion that might be the most unhinged, the most very opposite of how both government and research work, our new age will include “golden tickets.” That’s where an individual reviewer in an agency — yes, just one person — can “recommend unconventional proposals that may not pass consensus-driven review panels” because somehow this will “surface valuable ideas too divisive for committees and attract higher quality reviewers by empowering them to exercise independent scientific judgment.” Yes, that’s saying that a random person in an agency should be able to shovel money at some idea even if it can’t pass a review panel, and that the opportunity to do so will attract better employees because apparently all the best minds in science are chomping at the bit to be allowed to unilaterally fund AI research based on their personal vibes. But that isn’t at all how actual science works, and actual scientists aren’t unhappy about review panels. They work collaboratively, not siloed in some secret race to create the next AI chatbot. A 2020 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research examined whether peer review panels succeed in helping agencies predict which research ideas will best advance science. Peer review was better at finding “diamond in the rough” applicants than a single government program official. How about that. Trump always wants a taste It’s painfully clear that what Katsios is trying to do here is turn the whole of government science research and funding into the sort of “move fast and break things” paradigm that is the hallmark of big tech. That method works to line the pockets of tech executives, but it isn’t science. There’s a reason the government funds different kinds of research than private tech companies do. What Katsios either fails to understand or deliberately ignores is that the federal government is the main funder of basic research precisely because it can take a long time for it to bear fruit and is not intended to be profitable as such. “Basic” here does not mean rudimentary or simple, but rather research that is designed to advance scientific knowledge instead of achieving a specific outcome or product. Big tech companies don’t widely fund that sort of research, because it doesn’t make them money. Industry dollars account for only about 20 percent of basic research funding, while the government contributes around 60 percent. Big tech companies and startups do, however, rely on and benefit from that basic research. A 2019 study found that 35 percent of all patents obtained by venture-backed startups from 1976 to 2016 cited federally supported research. Basic research funded by the NIH contributed to every single drug the FDA approved from 2010 to 2016. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-saudi-nuclear-deal) [ The Saudi nuclear farce and governance by whim and meme ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-saudi-nuclear-deal) Noah Berlatsky · Jul 27 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-saudi-nuclear-deal) Unlike inventing the next ChatGPT, actual science is slow and iterative. Government funding of research that, on its face, would not appear to lead to any big new invention is actually what underpins those big new inventions. If the government hadn’t funded research into desert lizard venom, we wouldn’t know about semaglutide, and we wouldn’t have Ozempic. If research scientists hadn’t studied how bees optimize nectar foraging within a colony, we wouldn’t have the algorithm that assigns internet traffic across computer servers. The report assiduously ignores that a symbiotic, profitable relationship between the federal government, universities, and private companies already exists. Each federal research dollar generates about $1.50 to $3.00 in long-term economic benefits. The $36 billion the government awarded in NIH research funding in fiscal year 2025 generated $94 billion in new economic activity. Trump’s proposed new golden age is intended to strip those billions from universities, resulting in the dismantling of departments and the shuttering of labs. But Katsios has a plan for that: Universities should just become trade schools to churn out no-show STEM degrees! “Require universities and community colleges to embed practical technical training and externships into STEM curricula. Let hands-on experience and industry credentials count toward degrees.” It’s quite the feat to, on the one hand, strip schools of funding for scientific research while simultaneously demanding to control what is taught and, oh, also, colleges need to give degrees to employees at big tech companies just for being employees at big tech companies. The new golden age would also exacerbate the brain drain Trump’s policies have already caused. Nature found that in the first quarter of 2025, US scientists submitted 32 percent more job applications abroad than in 2024. A March 2025 poll by Nature of roughly 1,600 scientists found that over 1,200 said they were considering leaving the country. Europe is investing $565 million to make it a “magnet for researchers” and provide funding for scientists who relocate. The new golden age is also about embedding Trump’s xenophobia into the fabric of American science. The report complains of an “over-reliance on foreign students” that “creates a security challenge our institutions are ill-equipped to address” and that a “reliance on foreign talent sidelines American students.” This is, to put it mildly, nonsense. International students pay far higher tuition and often receive no financial aid. Their tuition dollars are what make it possible for American students to get financial aid. In the 2023-2024 school year alone, international students contributed $43.8 billion to the US economy and supported over 378,000 jobs. Those 1.1 million international students accounted for only six percent of the total number of students in higher education that year, but were such an economic engine that for every three international students, one job was created or supported. It’s impossible not to wonder whether part of Trump’s loathing for universities and their leading role in scientific research is that there is no way for him to corrupt the process and make money off it in the same way he can by giving millions and billions to Silicon Valley types who, in turn, give him millions in cash. There’s no way for his children to invest in universities that the government then gives no-bid contracts to, fattening the family’s bottom line, which is pretty much the Trump sons’ current venture capital practice. Trump and Katsios’s view of science is narrow, cramped, and wrong. We’re not in a crisis, we’re not a failed state. We’ve been a science superpower for decades, and the only thing that threatens that is Donald Trump. Tech bros are already living high off the hog in this administration. They don’t need any more of our tax dollars. Hopefully this new golden age never comes to pass. Thanks for reading Public Notice. This post is public so feel free to share it. Share We’ll be back with more tomorrow. If you appreciate today’s PN, please do your part to keep us free by signing up for a paid subscription. 🚀 Subscribe to PN 🚀 Thanks for reading, and for your support.
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The US ‘golden age’ science strategy: what Europeans need to know
The US has unveiled what officials claim is the most radical overhaul of the public R&D system in a generation, which if implemented could have significant implications for transatlantic research collaboration. Science: A New Golden Age derides universities as “legacy institutions” and instead wants to prioritise funding on technological challenges, new research labs and funding that follows individual scientists, rather than being linked to their institutions. “Too much of our research enterprise has come to serve itself rather than the scientists within it,” writes Michael Kratsios, director of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the only named author of the report. “Federal funding agencies should support a broader range of performers.” But some critics argue that the strategy is a smokescreen, using genuine problems in academia as an excuse to further weaken US universities, which US vice-president JD Vance has labelled “the enemy..”Even as it talks of a “golden age” for science, the White House has proposed halving the 2027 budget of the US National Science Foundation (NSF), and has put forward double-digit cuts for other funding bodies, such as the National Institutes for Health. It asked for similarly steep savings in 2026, but Congress stopped them going through. Science: A New Golden Age says success will be measured by the extent to which scientists are “free” to pursue the most “vital questions,,” painting academia as currently hidebound by bureaucracy, sluggishness and consensual conservatism. And yet the Trump administration is simultaneously planning new rules that will hand political appointees unprecedented powers to screen and cancel grants. The report has pretentions to be the successor to Science: The Endless Frontier, the seminal 1945 document in which presidential science advisor Vannevar Bush set out the case for post-war government funding of basic research, helping to spur the creation of funders such as the NSF. Even the title page font is the same. But it remains unclear if the latest report will leave anything like as lasting a legacy.Here, Science|Business explains some of the biggest proposed changes in Science: A New Golden Age, and how Europeans think it might change the landscape of their biggest science partner.Universities under fireA key target of the report are US universities, which it repeatedly suggests are outmoded as research institutions. It criticises the NSF for channelling resources “overwhelmingly to a single type of performer, the university-based, principal investigator-led research group..” Universities “extract” money from researchers’ grants to support “growing administrative bloat,” alongside legitimate uses. The Trump administration has been trying to cut the overhead costs in federal research grants that flow to universities. Instead, new institutions are being built. In May, the NSF announced it would spend $1.5 billion on two new so-called X-Labs, focused on scientific instrumentation and quantum systems. The idea is that they fill a niche in the landscape, tackling problems that are too big for a university lab, but too early stage for private start-up funding. Parallel with Europe?This shift to new research organisations parallels moves in Europe to set up new innovation agencies, such as Germany’s Sprind, the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency, and the EU’s European Innovation Council. The Dutch and French governments are looking to set up their own entities too. There’s now an emerging consensus, evident in a number of new strategies, that public R&D needs to be shaken up, Charles McIvor, an economist at the OECD, has written in response to Kratsios’s plans. “What stands out for me across these strategies [in the US, Germany, South Korea and Japan] is that governments are realising that the old ways of delivering STI [science, technology and innovation] programming no longer works,” he said in a LinkedIn post. Metascience wins?The document is, at least on the face of it, also a big win for some policy thinkers in the US who want far more experimentation with new forms of research grant and institution.It name-checks a litany of new public R&D ideas, from focused research organisations and advance market commitments to “golden tickets,” which allow grant reviewers the power to hand applicants money without requiring the consensus of other review panellists.Related articlesEuropean researchers sound the alarm that Trump rule changes will hit cooperationFocused research organisations: what are they, and how do you set them up? NIH turmoil risks reciprocal EU-US access to health research funding In addition, every federal research funding agency should set up a metascience unit, the strategy says, “with authority to run controlled experiments on review and funding mechanisms.” The UK has already set one up, the strategy points out. This mirrors recommendations to the European Commission. In 2024, a report led by former Portuguese science minister Manuel Heitor also advised the EU to set up an “experimental unit” to test out new methods of funding research. So far, however, Brussels hasn’t put forward any plans to do so. Bypass universitiesBut there’s a worry that the Trump administration is using the metascience movement to justify an overhaul of public R&D that punishes universities, which it sees as centres of political resistance. Last year, it threatened to cut Harvard University’s federal funding unless it hired and admitted a “critical mass” of new faculty and students to create “viewpoint diversity” across campus. It’s also attempted to strip academics of funding for working on politically forbidden areas, like LGBTIQ people’s health.The new strategy appears to be a “move to bypass the power of universities full stop and allow funders and political bureaucracies to handpick the projects and people who will execute them,” said Jean-Claude Burgelman, a former senior official in the Commission’s research directorate, on LinkedIn.The EU’s science counsellor in Washington, Florent Bernard, wrote that the plans risk diverting public research funding so that it “solely serves private interests.” “Who, if not independent universities, will do research that demonstrates the impact of tobacco on lung cancer or the role of human activities in our current climate crisis?” he wrote.Should we take it seriously?“I would view the overall document as a bad faith argument,” said Cole Donovan, director of science policy at the campaigning group Stand Up for Science, and a former OSTP official. “I don’t see the project itself as something that can be isolated from the broader attack on the system.” He thinks the argument that academia has become dysfunctional and in need of radical reform is being deployed as part of a “PR argument” to legitimate moves against US scientists. The strategy presents ideas like metascience units as new, whereas there were moves to set them up at the NSF during the previous administration of Joe Biden, Donovan said. The other caveat here is that the OSTP has limited power to carry out any of these recommendations. While Kratsios has issued a memo to research agencies telling them to implement the recommendations in the report, he doesn’t have direct budgetary control. “As a former OSTPer myself, this does not seem like a document that is realistic,” said Donovan.
After Hobbes vs Rousseau: Politics must move beyond human nature
Since the great debate between Hobbes and Rousseau, our political theory has been organised around a single question: is human nature essentially good or essentially corrupt? Graham Harman, the philosopher behind object-oriented ontology, argues that this is simply the wrong question to be asking. The real forces governing our collective fate - climate change, artificial intelligence, geography, and pandemics - are non-human; therefore, questions about human nature are not the central ones. Instead, Harman proposes a politics reorganised around our relationship to non-human objects and environments, in which quasi-government institutions incentivise and deter actions with the aim of extending the survival of the human race. “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” This has become one of the most popular phrases among twenty-first-century intellectuals. Often misattributed to Fredric Jameson, it has been warmly embraced by such influential authors as Slavoj Žižek and the tragically departed Mark Fisher, and has fueled the notion that the major problem with the political Left is that it simply needs to become more speculative and creative. Naturally, this is never a bad idea in any human pursuit. But what if the political distinction between Left, Right, and Center itself results from a failure of imagination? SUGGESTED READING Hobbes vs Rousseau: are we inherently evil? By Robin Douglass This particular division has been with us only since the summer of 1789. During the simmering prelude to the French Revolution, it referred originally to the physical position in the National Assembly of radical figures on one side and loyal monarchists on the other. These positions are linked with two entirely different camps of modern political theory. On the Left we find a series of authors ranging from the moderate (Locke) to the supercharged (Rousseau) to the truly radical (Marx), all of them contending that exploitation of the many by the few justifies revolutionary overthrow of the existing order. On the Right they are countered by the likes of Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Schmitt, a group of thinkers convinced that corrupt human nature can be tamed only by force. In the words of the Nazi supporter Schmitt: “One could test all theories of nature and state and political ideas according to their anthropology and classify these as to whether they consciously or unconsciously presuppose [humans] to be by nature evil or by nature good.” This is the division we continue to face today, even in the daily retail politics of Western democracies.___Our species has regularly proven itself capable of both the noblest gestures and the most scathing cruelties, making it hard to define us as essentially either emancipatory or brutal in our aims.___The most refreshing feature of David Graeber and David Wengrow’s 2021 book The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity was their awareness that the forced choice between Rousseau and Hobbes (as they put it) is no longer sufficient. Our species has regularly proven itself capable of both the noblest gestures and the most scathing cruelties, making it hard to define us as essentially either emancipatory or brutal in our aims. Far from being stationed “beyond good and evil,” we seem to be fully entangled with both. We are not naturally good or evil, Graeber and Wengrow contend, but naturally experimental and imaginative. They rest their case on the archaeological record, which seems to bear witness to numerous episodes of seasonally shifting governments and festivals, which vacillate in the same society (even in the same year) between the egalitarian and the dictatorial. Such praise of political experiment makes a good fit with the generally anarchist position defended by these authors. Yet it is also what I find most disappointing in their position. Although they are right that the forced choice between Hobbes and Rousseau falls short of what our new situation requires, the authors simply replace it with praise for the human being as a political tinkerer and performer. In other words, they give us just another theory of human nature, one that would not have been out of place in the sixteenth or seventeenth century. What other options might we have?___The time is ripe for a retheorization of politics on the basis of something other than human nature… We are not just alienated and limited by objects, but also empowered and unleashed by them___One fresh approach would be to treat politics within a broader framework than human nature, given that the polis does not exist in a vacuum filled exclusively with people. When Bruno Latour went to observe the baboons of Kenya with the San Diego anthropologist Shirley Strum, they jointly concluded that these primates were more socially interdependent than our own species. Each baboon is so reliant on the dynamics of the group that they find themselves locked into constant surveillance of their potentially dangerous peers. The group structure turns out to be inherently volatile. Humans, by contrast, are able to stabilize their societies to a large degree through the mediation of inanimate objects. Although one’s position in society may seem to fluctuate over time, considerable stability is produced through such items as apartment keys, wedding rings, and identification cards, all of them serving to secure us a place distinct from that of our fellows. The Italian philosopher Maurizio Ferraris has written at length about the crucial role of documents in establishing social relations, making him a hero among notaries in his country. Proper names and license plates cement our position amidst other humans, as do symbolic achievements such as graduation from a top university or distinguished wartime service with its various medals and ribbons. None of this is found among baboons, despite their closeness to us on the evolutionary tree: after all, we did share a common ancestor just 25 to 30 million years ago. SUGGESTED VIEWING The goodness paradox With Richard Wrangham The time is ripe for a retheorization of politics on the basis of something other than human nature, whether understood in the manner of the Left or of the Right. We are not just alienated and limited by objects, but also empowered and unleashed by them. But initially, it is true, we face non-human things primarily in the form of constraints. It would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to form a human civilization underwater, deep underground, atop Mount Everest, or in outer space. Human dependence on the non-social background takes on subtler form in discussions of political geography, especially unloved on the more idealistic Left. Consider the luckless position of Poland during World War II, sandwiched between Hitler on one side and Stalin on the other. By contrast, note the good fortune of the United States in not having a military peer positioned on any land border. Anglo-American geopolitics, since the writings of the American naval commander Alfred Thayer Mahan and the British geographer Sir Halford Mackinder, has been wedded to the notion that one or more liberal offshore naval powers should prevent any authoritarian “heartland” regime from gaining effective control of Eurasia. That remains the case whether the opponent is the impatient Napoleon, the swashbuckling German Kaiser, the villainous Hitler, the murderous Stalin, or the industrial juggernaut Chinese. In their current Foreign Affairs article “Heartland vs. Rimland,” Michael Beckley and Hal Brands analyze the current and coming state of the world on the basis of these same rather durable principles. In recent years a similar outlook has been embraced, in inverted form, by the Putin-loving Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, an icon of the Rightist intellectual underworld. For Dugin, the Anglo-Saxons are an evil force bent on destroying the spiritually superior people of the land: much like Athens in its failed war with Sparta, or Carthage in its eventual collapse against Rome. But the shared notion on both sides is that any strategy that fails to take geography into account is likely to end up as a defeated form of excessive optimism.___When dealing with environmental degradation, then, we are doing business with forces that promise dire effects on our species as a whole.___More striking for us today than geography is the non-human object called climate, which threatens rimland and heartland equally. Even if we contend that humans are one hundred percent responsible for triggering the climate crisis, it remains non-human in the sense of being an independent force beyond our effective control. In a major work published just before his death in 2002, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, the American paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould noted the tendency of evolutionary theorists to focus too closely on the fate of individuals in view of their successful or failed adaptation to circumstances. With climate change, however, we confront a force that goes well beyond the scope of any individual life. Whereas Richard Dawkins extended evolutionary questions downward from individuals to the sub-individual gene, Gould pushed it upward, speaking of entire species or clades as impacted by environmental change. The asteroid that struck the Yucatán 66 million years ago is only the most famous example of this sort. In the wake of that catastrophe, large animals needing abundant supplies of food were at a fatal disadvantage by contrast with the smaller birds and mammals of the planet. When dealing with environmental degradation, then, we are doing business with forces that promise dire effects on our species as a whole. The effect is to shift our attention away from individual beings towards the survival of the group.In the United States in particular, the COVID-19 pandemic sparked considerable backlash among those who asserted a nearly absolute degree of individual freedom. In California I encountered those who demanded that their businesses be allowed to reopen, that it was enough to cover their mouths but not their noses, or that they should have the right to enter any public area despite refusing vaccination. Yet public health is probably the clearest argument against libertarianism, which often merely asserts the autonomy of individuals against any claims of the commons. In normal times the individual is worth defending; under conditions that threaten the survival of part or all of our species, compulsion may be our only resort, as with perfectly reasonable blackouts and rations in wartime. To rebuild human society under the constraints of climate change will be one of the great challenges of the century to come, as will our improvised grappling with artificial intelligence. Such phenomena pose existential risks for humanity, and leave far less room for tolerance of individual brattiness. Cases are mounting of devastating wildfires caused by arson. Recently it was reported that there is even a website where one can bet on the location of coming wildfires, raising the specter of deliberate blazes set to collect on wagers. The death penalty has steadily lost support in a world where many stress the infinite value of human life. But if we focus instead on entire ecosystems, those who purposely burn the forests may begin to look worse than serial murderers.___The politics of the future may be splintered by disagreement over such topics as how to manage our environing background and how to permit or restrict the entry of new objects into the political sphere.___So far I have spoken of force, authority, and punishment: measures sure to have greater appeal to those who identify with what we know as the Right. But other implications of the post-anthropocentric world are likely to have different backers. If non-human objects are seen as structuring political space, it stands to reason that they can no longer be introduced solely by the pace of technical breakthrough. Fields ranging from cybernetics to energy will demand increased politicization once they are reconceived not just as products of individual human investment, but as renovations of collective political geography. This need not involve world government, with its inherent risk of tyranny, but may involve quasi-governmental enforcers of prestige along the lines of a less corrupt FIFA or International Olympic Committee, punishing deviant states not with violence but with less tangible incentives.Politics will never lose its historic links with conflict and faction. But rather than factions aligned by differing theories of human nature, the politics of the future may be splintered by disagreement over such topics as how to manage our environing background and how to permit or restrict the entry of new objects into the political sphere. This will prove just as incommensurable with the modern Left/Right spectrum as a globe is with a two-dimensional map.
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Zuffa Boxing’s Business Model Is Already Shifting
Shakur Stevenson is the promotion’s latest star seeking to box non-Zuffa fighters.
Pokémon Red And Blue Mod Turns Games Into A Gorgeous 3D Diorama
The Recompilation Project lets you look at the old games in a new way
The latest trailer for Jumanji: Open World brings its avatars into the real world.
This time around, Jumanji’s avatars, played by Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Kevin Hart, and Jack Black, escape the game in “demo mode,” before a family jumps into their bodies to fix things. The trilogy’s final film is set to release in theaters on December 25th. [Media: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhApeaHMvfs]
Gemini for Mac Adds System-Wide Voice Dictation and Screen-Aware Commands
Google today updated Gemini for Mac to add a new quick keyboard shortcut that activates voice mode. By long-pressing the Fn key, users can speak naturally to Gemini from any window on their desktop machine. Gemini supports intelligent dictation, so users can speak to the chatbot using natural language and Gemini will transcribe their words to text. Ums, ahs, and other filler words are removed during the process, and it can catch mid-sentence corrections, dropping formatted text at the cursor.
Game AI Expert on Where AI Actually Belongs in Game Development
Luke Dicken has been researching AI technology for gaming for decades, and he joined us to share his perspective on the history of AI in games, modern generative AI, game development, production pipelines, player personalization, and why the industry's biggest opportunity doesn't lie in replacing human talent.
Agent Business Models May Be Shifting: What I Fear Will Happen
When the new AALA Canon of Ethics goes into effect, authors must be more diligent and sharp in evaluating who they partner with.
Pokémon Red & Blue mod transforms the RPG into a sick 3D voxel game
A new mod for the original Pokémon games adopts a new perspective, alongside a wealth of other neat graphical features
New AMD Linux patch boosts low-end gaming performance on Steam Deck
Improved efficiency in EPP mode leads to ~32% jump in "1% low" frame rates.
Op-ed: A community banker’s case for New York’s digital infrastructure
Our grid needs modernization whether or not another data center is ever built.
Logan Square's La Placita A Boon For Nearby Businesses
The plaza — part of the massive remodel of the Logan Square traffic circle — is driving foot traffic to shops and restaurants near Kedzie and Milwaukee avenues, some business owners say.
Florida sixth grader Naboshree Santra developed biodegradable soilshade balls designed to reduce evaporation and retain moisture; the 11-year-old is now competing for a $25,000 science prize
An 11-year-old schoolgirl from Oviedo, Florida, has created a simple tool to help farmers save water during dry weather. Naboshree Santra, a sixth grader at Jackson Heights Middle School, made special soilshade balls that break down naturally.
Wellby Financial’s Path to Modernizing Its Security Foundation with AT&T Business and Palo Alto Networks
To advance their cybersecurity and resilience strategy, Wellby turned to AT&T Dynamic Defense® with Palo Alto Networks.
MLB’s Upside-Down Playoff Picture Undercuts Owners’ CBA Messaging
The Tampa Bay Rays are providing an inconvenient counterweight to MLB owners’ framing of modern baseball. Owners have long held up the financial disparities in the sport, and their subsequent impact on competitive balance, as a reason to overhaul its cost structure and implement a salary cap. Yet the low-spending Rays have the best record …
Scientists look to shark DNA for the genetic signature of time
Aging leaves telltale marks on DNA, and for the first time, scientists have used those molecular signatures to create a model that predicts the age of sharks.
Xabi Alonso's Chelsea rebuild: How Bayer Leverkusen glory explains the plan to recruit role models at Stamford Bridge
Following the news that Chelsea are looking to sign Danny Welbeck and Jordan Henderson this summer, Adam Bate reflects on whether there are lessons from Xabi Alonsos spectacular success at Bayer Leverkusen that offer clues to explain his thinking...
Bret Bielema’s SEC shot highlights college football’s new NIL reality
Bret Bielema took a shot at the SEC while telling the harsh truth about modern college football.
Construction season hinders seasonal business in Avon
As Avon attempts to accommodate rapid growth in the city, a longtime family farm market said construction season has been interfering with their business season.
Vermont drops ‘AHEAD’ healthcare model; shifts to $195M rural health fund
Vermont is abandoning a federal health care reform program started last year because of changes in federal funding.
Apple says iOS 27 ‘Restricted Mode’ isn't for new Upgrade program leases
Apple has told The Verge that missed lease payments will not activate the “Restricted Mode” system currently under development in iOS 27.
Nexus Mods New Boss Wants To Make Modding As Easy As Using Spotify
The new guy in charge doesn't want players digging around for hours on Reddit to get a Skyrim mod working
'President Curtis' Star Keith David on Why He Loves Science Fiction
The POTUS himself and his co-star, Jim Rash, talk about their new 'Rick and Morty' spin-off.
Another Pixel 11 leak all but confirms Google's disappointing battery choice
Pixel 11 could get a slight upgrade, while the Pro and XL models may have batteries with lower capacity than their previous models.
Galaxy Z Fold 8’s wide new design is reportedly selling faster than Samsung expected
Samsung reportedly increased Galaxy Z Fold 8 production prior to launch, but it appears the smaller foldable model is still...
Scientists look to shark DNA for the genetic signature of time
Aging leaves telltale marks on DNA, and for the first time, scientists have used those molecular signatures to create a model that predicts the age of sharks. This tool, known as an epigenetic clock, was developed for the zebra shark (Stegostoma tigrinum) and could soon be expanded to more species,
Framework Laptop 13 Pro review: The king of repairability is back
After five full years with the same Laptop 13.5 model, Framework has finally developed a successor worthy of the "Pro" name. The much-needed update doubles down on everything that made the original so special while addressing many of the common concerns.
Google's New Pixel 'Dynamic' Pricing Sounds A Lot Like 'Surge' Pricing
Google could rethink Pixel 11 pricing as memory costs rise, with a more flexible model that may leave buyers paying more at key moments ahead.
New data suggests layoffs will affect 14,259 people by the end of 2026, up 78% from first forecast of the year
"The pace of layoffs is accelerating faster than our models initially predicted"
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NFL offseason power rankings: No. 7 Baltimore Ravens had a tough season and got a makeover
India’s 'looksmaxxing' economy: More science, more spending, fewer taboos
What’s in your latest beauty haul?
TCL launches fourth-generation WOLED monitors with up to 480Hz refresh rate
TCL has launched two fourth-generation WOLED gaming monitors in China. The 32-inch model supports 4K 240Hz and FHD 480Hz modes.
Microsoft is launching its first cybersecurity AI model at half the cost of rivals
MAI-Cyber-1-Flash, paired with GPT-5.4 inside Microsoft's MDASH harness, outperforms models from Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI on a key benchmark
MCP just got its biggest update ever — here’s what changes for AI agents
The Model Context Protocol’s biggest update yet makes MCP stateless, strengthens security and governance, and positions AI agents for large-scale enterprise deployment across cloud and Kubernetes environments.
Poll: Who Gets Into Hall of Fame Next Year?
The Pro Football Hall of Fame will enshrine its Class of 2026 one week from Saturday, on August 8. The five players being inducted are modern-era candidates Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Luke Kuechly and Adam Vinatieri, and senior committee choice Roger Craig. For Brees and Fitzgerald, this was their first year on the ballot.
VERITAS project could change the way scientists secure AI
VERITAS is an NSF-funded project bringing AI security to research infrastructure, screening models and data for hidden risks.
A Two-Person Startup Has Fixed One of the Most Hated Sounds in Modern Life
A couple of enterprising sound designers have taken on the challenge of producing more pleasant beeps for the humble microwave.
Amazon winds down most flagship AI models in strategy overhaul, Business Insider reports
Amazon.com is revamping its AI strategy, winding down many of its in-house AI models and sharpening focus on a new frontier-model effort, Business Insider reported on Tuesday citing people familiar with the matter.
Amazon rethinks its AI strategy and winds down many in-house models
Amazon reshapes its AI strategy by deprecating most Nova AI models and shifting resources to Pieter Abbeel's Frontier Model Research initiative.
'World models' are the future of AI, but how do they work?
Scientists are increasingly looking at building world models to get AI equipped to handle and interact with our physical reality.
A steward’s view on how business can rebuild Earth systems
Business is one of the most powerful levers for transformation when it comes to climate and nature, and needs to rethink how modern systems are designed.
CMS evaluates one year of health tech progress, announces eight new pledge categories
One year after launching the CMS Health Tech Ecosystem, officials convened in D.C. to celebrate the Trump administration modernizing health technology.
After World War II, a few snakes reached Guam; they now number up to 30,000 per square mile, and scientists found 19,000 hidden genetic changes
After World War II, a small number of brown tree snakes somehow made it to Guam, likely hidden in cargo, and the island has been dealing with the consequences ever since. Today, the snakes are so widespread that in some parts of the U.S.
Microsoft Says New Cybersecurity AI Model Helps MDASH Hit 95.95% at Half the Cost
Microsoft launches MAI-Cyber-1-Flash inside MDASH, routing up to 90% of tasks to the model while GPT-5.4 handles the hardest 10%.
Hugging Face Has a Deepfake Nudes Problem
Researchers tested top image editing models on Hugging Face and found they could easily create explicit deepfakes—and 1,000 image editing prompts show how people use the software.
3 years ago an Israeli hospital modeled extreme disaster response. Here are 4 takeaways for US healthcare.
Hospital leaders who want to be ready should a mass casualty incident arise nearby would do well to look for insights—and inspiration—from Samson Assuta Ashdod Medical Center.
Dario Amodei clears the air on banning open-weight AI models
Amodei said he never advocated for banning open-weight AI models and doesn't believe a ban to be effective in making AI safer.
Can we stop AI from flooding scientific journals?
AI detectors may never beat fraud. Changing how science rewards its researchers might be the only fix that does
Microsoft touts cost-saving AI model for cybersecurity
Microsoft says that when integrated with OpenAI's GPT-5.4, its new cybersecurity model can beat Anthropic's new Mythos 5.
Apple's 2026 and 2027 Mac Roadmap: Every Model and When It Ships
A shortage of memory chips has impacted the entire computer market, affecting Macs and PCs alike. Apple and other companies have raised prices, but Apple is better positioned than its competitors. Machines like the Mac mini and the Mac Studio are in demand for on-device AI agent use, and Apple plans to take advantage by refreshing its Mac lineup across 2026 and 2027.
Lamborghini Designed A Halo-Themed Urus You Can Drive In 'Forza Horizon 6' (More Importantly, I Got To Meet Master Chief)
You can't buy the real-life Master Chief Lambo, but you might be able to win a model version, and in just a few days, you can drive the video-game version.
Vanderbilt Football 2026 Position Preview: Quarterbacks
The Commodores will have a new man under center in 2026.
MLB trade deadline buzz: Cubs and White Sox in on Reid Detmers, Marlins not in full sell mode and more
The Future of AI in Sports Is Not What You Think It Is
AI in sports is only as powerful as the data behind it. Learn why connected data, not AI models, will define the future of performance.
Microsoft launches its first cyber model and a new agentic cybersecurity system
Microsoft bolstered its AI cybersecurity offerings this week with the launch of its first AI security model and a new security platform.
Why China is giving away its best AI models
Chinese labs like Moonshot are forcing OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic to rethink what they lock away.
Chevron CEO ignores history, science and modern economic realities
Nostalgia for oil wells is an odd look.
Framework Laptop 13 Pro review: Much better battery, much worse price
Framework's latest modular laptop trades one set of problems for another.
Indie Game Suddenly Becomes Popular Due To Undertale Mod
Take care of yourself kid, ‘cause someone really cares about you (because you enable them to play Undertale together online)
Framework Laptop 13 Pro: Aiming To Be One Of The Best Upgradeable Linux Laptops Review
Back in April, Framework Computer announced the Framework Laptop 13 Pro as a ground-up re-design of their modular/upgradeable laptop.
Our expanded partnership with NBCUniversal: Redefining the modern entertainment subscription
YouTube Premium is expanding its partnership with NBCUniversal to give subscribers access to ad-supported Peacock Premium streaming.
Baldur's Gate 3 players on PC can't decide if the latest third-person camera mod is a revelation or a crime against Larian's original vision
A new cinematic third-person camera mod for Baldur's Gate 3 is sparking debate among fans of Larian Studios' massive RPG.
New Baldur's Gate 3 Mod Has Given Me All The Excuse I Need To Play The Game Again
Oh no! A third-person camera mod that makes it feel just like Dragon Age? Guess I'll just have to spend another 100 hours testing it out.
Even China’s A.I. Powerhouses Can’t Figure Out How to Profit Off A.I.
Chinese A.I. models are gaining ground. But the companies behind them do not have a clear strategy to make money from that success.
Soil carbon effectively measured by new, efficient AI model
A new model offers a proof-of-principle for how AI might be used to shed light on obscure biological processes.
Strategy buys preferred stock in past week instead of bitcoin, hit to business model signaled
Strategy (MSTR) was trading higher as the bitcoin treasury company announced a repurchase of its preferred stock instead of buying bitcoin in the past week.
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Nvidia and tech giants advocate open AI for cybersecurity
Nvidia and dozens of tech firms form the Open Secure AI Alliance to advocate for open AI models as cyber defense tools after Hugging Face breach.
Baldur's Gate 3 True Third-Person Camera Mod Goes Viral, Sparks Debate About Whether It Erases the Game's Identity
Baldur’s Gate 3 might be three years old, but it’s still the subject of much debate — and many new mods. One mod in particular has gone viral, leading some fans to say developer Larian should keep it in mind for its future games. Others, though, believe using it to play Baldur’s Gate 3 essentially amounts to heresy.
Can a Progressive Win in a Purple State? Abdul El-Sayed Wants to Find Out.
Michigan’s Aug. 4 primary is a critical front in the fight between Democrats’ progressive and moderate flanks and a preview of the 2028 presidential primary.
Town Square looks to bring new health care model to Rochester
The primary care practice catering to seniors expects to begin accepting patients this month, and to open in September.
Investment in energy efficiency can strengthen your business
Discover how DTE Energy rebates support modernization, operational performance and long-term business value.
Hubble finds four hidden stars just 65 light-years from Earth that astronomers could never see before
Astronomers have directly detected four previously hidden white dwarfs orbiting nearby red dwarf stars, solving a long-standing observational challenge and improving our understanding of how close binary star systems evolve. The newly confirmed stellar remnants lie within 20 parsecs (around 65 light-years) of the Sun and had remained concealed because their faint light was overwhelmed by the much brighter glow of their companion stars.
The current state and future promise of inpatient care inside patients’ homes: 5 things to know
The hospital-at-home model is known to please patients, clinicians and administrators alike. Why is it stuck in a holding pattern rather than flying high?
Apple Is Reportedly Worried About Its Non-Creepy Reputation as It Prepares to Enter a Creepy Product Category
Can Apple's hard-fought reputation for privacy survive the release of a glasses product?
‘The Odyssey’ earns $87M in its second weekend, Christopher Nolan’s best second weekend yet
“The Odyssey” continues to captivate audiences in its second weekend, raking in $87 million in North American theaters. This marks a modest 30% drop from its opening weekend, making it
What to Expect From Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today outlined what to expect from the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 this year. Spoiler: not very much. While it was rumored that Touch ID may be coming to the Apple Watch Series 12, Gurman said he does not expect the Series 12 or Ultra 4 to have any major design changes compared to the current Series 11 and Ultra 3 models. Touch ID probably counts as a major design change, so the rumor now sounds increasingly unlikely.
Nolan’s ‘Odyssey’ an epic emotional outburst of present politics, pains
Rather than a dry historical retelling, Christopher Nolan's mammoth take on "The Odyssey" is an emotional, messy, and angry statement of modern politics and posturing.
Can Wisconsin’s health apprenticeships become a national model? UW Health thinks so
by Natalie Yahr / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch July 23, 2026 Click here to read highlights from the story UW Health leaders created a new company