Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Clayton Page Aldern

@compatibilism.bsky.social

9.4K followers 580 following 520 posts

🌎🔥🧠 Data reporter @grist.org. Thinking about climate change, brain health, active inference THE WEIGHT OF NATURE is out now: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/717097/the-weight-of-nature-by-clayton-page-aldern Signal: aldern.01

www.penguinrandomhouse.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Clayton Page Aldern @compatibilism.bsky.social · Feb 20

ICYMI, last week we published an interactive map of more than $300 billion worth of Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan infrastructure law funding. Enter your ZIP code or city and a search radius and find projects in your area:

grist.org/accountabili...

Where did billions in climate and infrastructure funding go? Search our map by ZIP code.

From clean energy projects to bridges, this interactive tool shows what projects lawmakers announced in your neighborhood.

grist.org

25 400 760

Reposted by Clayton Page Aldern

Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 16h

I write because I love writing. I love writing even when I'm struggling with a writing problem that is killing me. Finding a way through that problem is both intensely rewarding and also helps me become a better writer. There is no reason for me to ever outsource that.

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 16h

there’s this weird idea a lot of people seem to have about how all of us writers and artists must secretly want to use AI and are merely resisting temptation for ethical reasons, and like, no, it’s not hard for me to resist drinking the bowl of Piss With Glass In It actually

4 64 220

Clayton Page Aldern @compatibilism.bsky.social · 1d

Krasznahorkai wins the Nobel! Somewhat serendipitously, I am in the middle of Satantango right now and just found myself thinking yesterday: Surely this guy has won a Nobel. Off by a day! apnews.com/article/nobe...

Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai wins the Nobel Prize in literature

Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai has won the Nobel Prize in literature for his “compelling and visionary oeuvre.”

apnews.com

3 10

Reposted by Clayton Page Aldern

Gregor Semieniuk @gregorsemieniuk.bsky.social · 1d

🚨NEW PAPER🚨
We all know the 2022 energy price shock fueled the cost of living crisis. It also caused a profit bonanza for the very rich. We show the US reaped the largest profits ($377bn) of any country. 50% went to the richest 1%, only 1% to the bottom 50%. A🧵 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

River or sankey diagram showing the allocation of profits from global oil and gas companies to quantiles of the US wealth size distribution via financial system intermediaries, such as asset managers, and categories of ultimate beneficiaries, such as business owners, pension funds and shareholders in listed companies. The scale is hundreds of billions of US dollars, and ultimately 50.4% of profits reaching the US personal wealth distribution go to the richest 1% of households.

8 190 320

Clayton Page Aldern @compatibilism.bsky.social · 2d

Many more important things happening in the world right now, but one question about the state of affairs I have is: How in the year of our lord 2025 is there not an ‘insert link’ option for Gmail on iOS?

Clayton Page Aldern @compatibilism.bsky.social · 7d

Yes my first thought when I saw this subhed was “we should promptly promote the founder of this serious website to editor-in-chief of CBS News”—so it looks like Tyler Cowen and I both get to see our digital media dreams come true today, the future is now

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 7d

Paramount is about to pay $150 million for this

New article from The Free Press

My Favorite Actress Is Not Human

“Not everyone is happy about this gorgeous innovation,” writes Tyler Cowen.

Tilly Norwood doesn’t need a hairstylist, has no regrettable posts, and if you wish to see a virgin on-screen, this is one of your better chances. That’s because she’s AI.
By Tyler Cowen
10.02.25

1 2

Reposted by Clayton Page Aldern

Jessica Kutz @jkutzie.bsky.social · 7d

This is a great read by @zteirstein.bsky.social.

Living in Arizona, Valley Fever is scary! This piece breaks down the threat perfectly, how climate is turbocharging it, and the challenges to protect the public under an administration attacking public health.

grist.org/health/valle...

In Arizona, a fight against a deadly fungus is under threat from Trump’s health policies

What one Arizona doctor’s quest to stop valley fever says about America’s preparedness for climate-driven disease.

grist.org

1 6 5

Reposted by Clayton Page Aldern

Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 8d

We're getting a wave of articles that are like, "gee willikers it sure seems like the people who complained about 'cancel culture' for years really like canceling people."

Yes! This was extremely obvious at the time and a lot of us pointed it out!

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 8d

Some say canceling is an act of redress. Others blame it on a mob.

“People have used the word ‘cancel’ so loosely,” Ernest Owens author of “The Case for Cancel Culture,” said, “that everyone’s calling everything a cancellation.”

How cancel culture came for everyone

Few issues in recent years have united the American right as much as their professed hatred of cancel culture. That’s changing.

www.washingtonpost.com

51 710 4.6K

Clayton Page Aldern @compatibilism.bsky.social · 15d

#neuroskyence

Sainsbury Wellcome Centre @sainsburywellcome.bsky.social · 17d

Applications are now open for the SWC Systems Neuroscience PhD Programme.

Join us in London!

🧠 World-class neuroscience training
💰 Fully-funded 4-year programme
🖥️ Close links to @gatsbyucl.bsky.social

Apply by 3 Nov: www.sainsburywellcome.org/web/content/...

1 4

Reposted by Clayton Page Aldern

Amy Qin @amyqin.bsky.social · 16d

Since 2023, the city has drawn between $70 million and $90 million of an approximately $325 million federal loan for lead service line replacements that expires next year

via @keertigopal.bsky.social and @juanpab.bsky.social grist.org/economics/ch...

6 9

Reposted by Clayton Page Aldern

Rachel Donald @racheldonald.bsky.social · 18d

The climate crisis is causing an invisible health crisis: brain health.

On this ep, neuroscientist and environmental reporter @compatibilism.bsky.social reveals how the climate crisis intersects with our psychological, mental and brain health.

Listen now: www.planetcritical.com/p/how-the-ec...

15 23

Clayton Page Aldern @compatibilism.bsky.social · 17d

re: CO2, most of the action happens indoors, where concentrations are highest! But yes, the basic story is what you report, i.e. with higher concentrations of CO2 comes lower cognitive function, especially with respect to memory, focus, and strategy/initiative. One of the reasons ventilation matters

1 1

Reposted by Clayton Page Aldern

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 25d

I think Musk's comments to a rally of 100k people are the highest profile advocacy of political violence in the UK since the end of the Northern Ireland conflict. Does anybody have a counter-example?

"Whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you. You either fight back or you die."

34 210 690

Clayton Page Aldern @compatibilism.bsky.social · 25d

Trans panic will kill us all

Clayton Page Aldern @compatibilism.bsky.social · 25d

I don’t remember; did he ever Become President?

Clayton Page Aldern @compatibilism.bsky.social · 26d

🤌

Clayton Page Aldern @compatibilism.bsky.social · 26d

Not a new issue!

This is a page from HOMELESSNESS IS A HOUSING PROBLEM, showing page 177 with the header “Response”. The text discusses the dehumanization of people experiencing homelessness and its impact on social policy.
The main body text explains how extreme out-groups may be perceived as less than human, citing brain activity research showing neural patterns of disgust when viewing such groups. It argues that this dehumanization creates psychological barriers between the “deserving” and “undeserving” in policy discussions.
The page includes a lengthy block quote from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1935 State of the Union address, where he expressed concerns about welfare dependency during the Great Depression. Roosevelt’s quote discusses the burden of federal relief programs and argues that continued dependence on relief is spiritually and morally destructive, advocating for work programs over direct relief.

Clayton Page Aldern @compatibilism.bsky.social · 26d

One reason Gregg Colburn and I wrote HOMELESSNESS IS A HOUSING PROBLEM was to push back against the dehumanization of people without housing. Kilmeade’s rhetoric is a direct consequence of a society that defines disposable underclasses

Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 26d

Some conservatives are saying that Kilmeade’s “Just kill them” comment is less horrifying when you see it in context.

So here’s a longer clip, where you hear almost 4 minutes of Fox couch banter before he says it.

And, uh, it’s not much better. At all.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSPa...

Kilmeade talking about Decarlos Brown

YouTube video by Chuck Ross

www.youtube.com

1 3 13

Clayton Page Aldern @compatibilism.bsky.social · 26d

Trans rights and security, now and always

1 1 7

Clayton Page Aldern @compatibilism.bsky.social · 29d

l o l

Reposted by Clayton Page Aldern

Ruthy Gourevitch @ruthygourevitch.bsky.social · Sep 8

‼️ Join my team ‼️ @cplusc.bsky.social is hiring a Housing Policy Manager to help advance progressive housing and climate solutions alongside some of the best tenant unions, labor unions, policymakers, and researchers in the field.

Apply here by Oct 5! climateandcommunity.org/careers/

Work With Us - Climate and Community Institute

Job opportunities at the Climate and Community Institute

climateandcommunity.org

1 20 27

Clayton Page Aldern @compatibilism.bsky.social · Sep 4

"...any premature or insufficiently contextualized declaration of uninhabitability from afar risks discouraging necessary investments in adaptation by governments and donors, thereby undermining the right of people to stay and adapt in place."

Great read from an all-star cast.

2 6

Clayton Page Aldern @compatibilism.bsky.social · Sep 4

Very glad you’re working on this!

1 4

Clayton Page Aldern @compatibilism.bsky.social · Sep 4

Graphic Media

Clayton Page Aldern @compatibilism.bsky.social · Aug 30

Zookraught