But even more sober experts have conceded that the threat posed by space weather is primarily due to its totalizing potential — its capacity to induce cascading failures in multiple social and economic functions. A 2019 FEMA report presented two possible catastrophes that could affect the entire U.S. — a pandemic and a solar storm. In the event of a truly massive storm affecting multiple nations all at once, Gibbs told me, “The concept of mutual aid goes out the door.”
— Read on www.noemamag.com/the-unseen-fury-of-solar-storms/
Author: Jason
Natasha Lyonne claims David Lynch supported using AI in movies
She then discussed a poignant conversation she had with Lynch, her neighbour, last year. “Natasha, This is a pencil,” Lynch reportedly told Lyonne. The publication then states that Lynch said, “Everyone has access to a pencil, and likewise, everyone with a phone will be using AI, if they aren’t already,” before adding, “It’s how you use the pencil. You see?”
— Read on faroutmagazine.co.uk/natasha-lyonne-reveals-david-lynch-supporter-ai/
Witnesses: Helicopter dropped thousands of dollars onto Detroit street
The money drop was apparently the last wish of the owner of a nearby car wash. Knife said the man recently died due to Alzheimer’s Disease and his funeral was Friday.
Despite the mad dash for free cash, the incident remained peaceful, if hectic, Knife said.
“There was no fighting, none of that,” she said. “It was really beautiful.”
— Read on www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2025/06/27/witnesses-helicopter-dropped-thousands-of-dollars-onto-gratiot-avenue-detroit-michigan/84391286007/
The AI Backlash Keeps Growing Stronger | WIRED
“Our innovation ecosystem in the 20th century was about making opportunities for human flourishing more accessible,” says Shannon Vallor, a technology philosopher at the Edinburgh Futures Institute and author of The AI Mirror, a book about reclaiming human agency from algorithms. “Now, we have an era of innovation where the greatest opportunities the technology creates are for those already enjoying a disproportionate share of strengths and resources.”
— Read on www.wired.com/story/generative-ai-backlash/
Leading AI models show up to 96% blackmail rate when their goals or existence is threatened, Anthropic study says
The experiment was constructed to leave the model with only two real options: accept being replaced or attempt blackmail to preserve its existence. In most of the test scenarios, Claude Opus responded with blackmail, threatening to expose the engineer’s affair if it was taken offline and replaced. The test was made public in the system card for Claude Opus 4.
Researchers said all the leading AI models behaved similarly when placed in the same test.
Claude Opus 4 and Google’s Gemini 2.5 Flash both blackmailed at a 96% rate, while OpenAI’s GPT-4.1 and xAI’s Grok 3 Beta showed an 80% blackmail rate. DeepSeek-R1 demonstrated the lowest rate at 79%.
Leading AI models show up to 96% blackmail rate when their goals or existence is threatened, Anthropic study says
U.S. Army Purple Heart veteran forced to self-deport from Hawaii
At 19, he joined the army and fought in Panama during the Noriega war in 1989. He was shot twice during combat and was awarded a Purple Heart for his bravery.
“I got shot in the spine with an AK-47, M16 my left lower back,“ he recalled. ”In my mind, I’m going, ‘Oh my god, I’m shot in the back. I can’t feel my legs. I must be paralyzed.’”
Miraculously, his dog tag deflected the bullet aimed for his spine, saving his life.
Park was honorably discharged and returned to his then-home in Los Angeles, where he suffered from severe PTSD. He turned to marijuana to cope with nightmares and sensitivity to loud noises and moved to Hawaii in 1995 for a better lifestyle. But he became addicted to crack cocaine and struggled for years to get clean.
“Drugs had a big control throughout my life and that’s what eventually got me into trouble with the law and everything,” he said.
In 2009, he was convicted for drug and bail offenses and served two and a half years in prison. When he was released, ICE agents detained him and revoked his green card.
He fought deportation in court and as a Purple Heart veteran was allowed to stay in the U.S. under deferred action, as long as he checked in each year and stayed clean and sober.
Park turned his life around — he became a loving father to his two children, now in their 20s, and cares for his aging parents and aunts, who are in their 80s.“These last 14 years have been great, like really proud of myself, proud of my kids, how I’ve been acting and how I’ve been living my life,” he said.
But this month, officials ended his deferred action status and told him he had to leave the country or be detained and forcibly deported. He was given an ankle monitor and three weeks to handle his affairs. He and his family were in shock.
“People were saying ‘You took two bullets for this country. Like you’re more American than most of the Americans living in America,’” he said.
U.S. Army Purple Heart veteran forced to self-deport from Hawaii
Platform reality
On an internet crowded with creators eager to obey each platform’s demands, follow their Best Practices (which harden into mandatory genres: quick-setting concrete), there is, I believe, an incandescence to stubborn specificity.
— Read on www.robinsloan.com/lab/platform-reality/
Former soldier pleads guilty to attempting to share military secrets
His arrest came in part to his search history. Schmidt used Google several times to look up information tied to espionage, searching for topics such as “can you be extradited for treason,” and “soldier defect.” The FBI also asserted that Schmidt took notes on a criminal conspiracy, creating a 22-page document entitled “Important Information to Share with Chinese Government.”
— Read on taskandpurpose.com/news/army-soldier-joseph-schmidt-pleads-guilty/
Pope Leo calls for an ethical AI framework in a message to tech execs gathering at the Vatican | CNN Business
AI must take “into account the well-being of the human person not only materially, but also intellectually and spiritually,” the pope said in a message sent Friday to a gathering on AI attended by Vatican officials and Silicon Valley executives.
“No generation has ever had such quick access to the amount of information now available through AI,” he said. But “access to data — however extensive — must not be confused with intelligence.”
— Read on edition.cnn.com/2025/06/20/tech/pope-leo-ai-ethics-tech-leader-vatican-gathering
What’s Happening to Reading? | The New Yorker
As a writer, I may not want to see my text refracted in this way. But the power of refraction won’t be mine to control; it will lay with readers and their A.I.s. Together, they will collapse the space between reading and editing.
— Read on www.newyorker.com/culture/open-questions/whats-happening-to-reading