Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Peter Howitt

Robin Ince @robinince.bsky.social · 11m

What horrifies me about this is that it is highly unlikely intelligence services etc didn’t know about Epstein’s activities long before this which means that child abuse is just something to turn a blind eye to (see also Cyril Smith, Al Fayed etc etc)

Guardian story - Tony Blair
Tony Blair met Jeffrey
Epstein in No 10 on advice of Peter Mandelson, documents reveal
National Archives papers show how then MP pushed for 2002 meeting between PM and
'young and vibrant' financier

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Peter Howitt @peterhowitt.bsky.social · 57m

AI: Ethics, Governance, Law & Society:
compossible.blog/2025/10/11/a...

AI: Ethics, Governance, Law & Society

compossible.blog

Peter Howitt @peterhowitt.bsky.social · 1h

Says the Nobel Committee...

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Peter Howitt @peterhowitt.bsky.social · 2h

deepmind.google/discover/blo...

Millions of new materials discovered with deep learning

We share the discovery of 2.2 million new crystals – equivalent to nearly 800 years’ worth of knowledge. We introduce Graph Networks for Materials Exploration (GNoME), our new deep learning tool...

deepmind.google

Peter Howitt @peterhowitt.bsky.social · 2h

ai.google/societal-imp...

Google AI - Societal impact of AI and how it's helped communities

The social impact of Google AI has helped highlight drive positive change in society. Learn more about the societal benefits of AI.

ai.google

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Peter Howitt @peterhowitt.bsky.social · 2h

deepmind.google/discover/blo...

Demis Hassabis & John Jumper awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs Sir Demis Hassabis, and Google DeepMind Senior Research Scientist Dr. John Jumper were co-awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The...

deepmind.google

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Peter Howitt @peterhowitt.bsky.social · 2h

It wasn't a personal attack on you. Just interested in understanding what I perceive to be overly negative framing on AI. Everyone is selling something, just not always for money.

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Peter Howitt @peterhowitt.bsky.social · 2h

Jump in and query it (chat feature) to see if it's useful to you :)

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Peter Howitt @peterhowitt.bsky.social · 2h

I will add additional resources on how AI can help and harm the biosphere and biodiversity. Ethics is not just about humans!

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Peter Howitt @peterhowitt.bsky.social · 2h

Featuring:
- Video: AI as Tool or Flawed Human Mirror
- A Student's Primer on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
- An Introduction to AI: From Learning Games to Changing the World
- The Global AI Landscape: A Comparative Analysis of US, EU, and Chinese Strategies
- The State of AI: Social Impact

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Peter Howitt @peterhowitt.bsky.social · 2h

It should be a useful tool for analysts, technologists, AI developers, journalists, students, policymakers and anyone with a general interest in AI & Ethics. LMK below if I should add any key resources to it that are missing (videos, texts, articles).

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Peter Howitt @peterhowitt.bsky.social · 2h

AI: Ethics, Governance, Law & Society: I have created a public notebooklm as a resource to provide people with an accessible way to learn about AI as a technology and its ethical implications for humans. It includes most of the existing AI laws & guidance.

notebooklm.google.com/notebook/8db...

androgynous android head, computer generated by author

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Reposted by Peter Howitt

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 3h

Number of wild bee species at risk of extinction in Europe doubles in 10 years

Number of endangered butterfly species also surging amid habitat destruction and global heating, finds study The number of wild bee species in Europe at risk of extinction has more than doubled over the past decade, while the number of endangered butterfly species has almost doubled. The jeopardy facing crucial pollinators was revealed by scientific studies for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list of threatened species, which found that at least 172 bee species out of 1,928 were at risk of extinction in Europe. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Peter Howitt

Tom Killick @killicktom.bsky.social · 3h

"The annihilatory fervour that has taken hold among a large segment of Israeli society will not dissipate overnight, which is why the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has warned that the genocide could just as easily pivot to the West Bank." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Beware Netanyahu: he is a master of self-interest – and that’s why he signed the Hamas ceasefire deal | Ben Reiff

The Israeli PM wants to bolster his position and ward off global pariah status. But he has shifted gears before and may do so again, says Israeli journalist Ben Reiff

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Peter Howitt

Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 5h

Ever since I finished Question Time, Reform have massively been on the attack.

Including a rant from Richard Tice entirely designed to distract from Reform and Russia.

Everyone should know about Nathan Gill, the bribes from Russia and the link to Reform.

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Peter Howitt @peterhowitt.bsky.social · 3h

Everyone's selling something. It doesn't make a man a liar just because he dreams of a better future. Discernment and discrimination are needed to navigate the poles of technofacsist & technofeudal tendencies and those motivated to build technologies that could be positively game changing.

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Reposted by Peter Howitt

Nikkolas Smith @4nikkolas.bsky.social · 15h

after millions of views and shares of my Portland Frog art. (thank you all🙏🏾) I got requests to highlight priests, and chickens, and Chicagoans, and T-Rexes, and more… all of us who refuse to bend the knee. so this is for US.
𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚕.
𝚆𝚎 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚆𝚒𝚗.

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Peter Howitt @peterhowitt.bsky.social · 15h

Agreed we need to be realistic about the motives and BS of the many snake oil salesmen pushing their bubble/messiah narratives but people like Demis show that it's a serious space trying to solve real problems too. It's like nuclear technology (or any tech), it can be a benefit and a weapon.

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Reposted by Peter Howitt

@dlp. @umadlp.bsky.social · 1d

Imogen Cunningham - Capturing Spirit.

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Peter Howitt @peterhowitt.bsky.social · 16h

That's an incredibly negative perspective. You attribute no value to the technology as a tool that can help us fix what is broken and see it only as a capitalist weapon....?

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Peter Howitt @peterhowitt.bsky.social · 16h

Good news for the @greenparty.org.uk

Lewis Goodall @lewisgoodall.com · Jul 8

New YouGov polling shows 75% are in favour of a 2% tax on wealth above £10 million.

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Peter Howitt @peterhowitt.bsky.social · 16h

There's never a great time for the West to swing towards fascism but right now is particularly acute for the other animals we share the planet with...

More than half of world’s bird species in decline, as leaders meet on extinction crisis

Biodiversity losses are growing, the IUCN reports as summit opens, but green turtle’s recovery ‘reminds us conservation works’

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Peter Howitt

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 19h

The purging of the federal bureaucracy of nonpartisan civil servants is a central component of Project 2025.

You can read more about this in my newsletter. If you like the piece, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber:

Trump & Russell Vought Plan To Exploit The Shutdown To Accelerate Project 2025

The Trump Administration is using the government shutdown as a pretext to speedrun their planned purges of federal workers, executing a key goal of Project 2025 - which Russell Vought helped craft.

www.ahmedbaba.news

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Peter Howitt @peterhowitt.bsky.social · 17h

I doubt they choose someone supported by America to spite him, more to placate him. They would have chosen Greta if they wanted to be really brave. This was a careful political choice.

'Peace' Has No Meaning When Right-Wingers Like Maria Corina Machado Win the Nobel Prize | Common Dreams

As Venezuelan-American, I know exactly what Machado represents: the smiling face of Washington’s regime-change machine, the polished spokesperson for sanctions, privatization, and foreign intervention...

www.commondreams.org

Peter Howitt @peterhowitt.bsky.social · 17h

A bad apple from a rotten tree

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