Winding Down
An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week's net, technology, science and other news
by Alan Lenton
19 January 2025
This week we take a look at the California fires, the UK’s Prime Minister gets the AI bug, and the UK government’s white paper about reorganising local councils.
The quote is from Arthur C. Clarke. Pictures is a Nasa fireplace, and Scanner covers online abuse of women, COVID, self-driving cars, bot detection, Reform UK finances, ‘black swan’ events, X-rays, and the UK Supreme Court. No ‘Coda’ section this week.
Enjoy!
Los Angeles fires:
Why is it that fast-moving wildfires are more destructive and harder to contain and why is it that Santa Ana winds push deadly California wildfires to new heights? Research indicates that US wildfires are four times larger and three times more frequent.
Wildfires form when there are three things available: suitable weather, dry fuel and an ignition source.
Climate change has increased the ambient temperature, and over the last century human fire suppression has allowed the build up of large area containing ideal and very dry fuel. With high winds added to this mix it only takes a little more – humans or faulty/failing human equipment – to ignite and sustain wild fires of the scale we have seen recently.
There is more than this brief account , of course, but the take away is simple. This is going to happen more frequently in the future. The Conversation has an excellent piece on the threat, and Science Alert has more info on the Santa Ana winds. Both well worth reading!
https://theconversation.com/la-fires-why-fast-moving-wildfires-and-those-started-by-human-activities-are-more-destructive-and-harder-to-contain-247314 (Contains a frightening picture of a house burning)
https://www.sciencealert.com/how-santa-ana-winds-push-deadly-california-wildfires-to-new-heights
UK Prime Minister plans to ‘unleash AI’ across UK to boost growth (see also stuff in last issue’s Scanner section)
This story made me wince. Yet another example of trying to solve political problems with technical solutions. As usual it is using technical solutions still way under development to promise digital cake in the future. The most likely outcome of this ‘AI efficiency drive’ is to place yet another layer of bureaucracy between the poor person who needs help and those who can help with/solve the problem...
And, the technical computing requirements of AI (which is definitely artificial, and certainly not intelligent) will require vast amounts of energy to maintain, with all corresponding waste heat problems adding to global warming.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crr05jykzkxo
Understanding the English Devolution White Paper
England’s local government is currently an unappetizing mix of County, District, Unitary authority, London Borough and Metropolitan area.
Most of which, with the exception of London, are in the process of going bust in the not too distant future.
It’s nice to see that the UK government has finally come out with a plan to sort out the mess and ended up with a plan which would leave the country with a set of Metropolitan/London Borough-style local government. Polimapper has produced an excellent – jargon free – explanation of the proposals. I’d suggest any of my readers who are involved in UK local politics take a look at while it is still only a set of proposed changes...
https://polimapper.co.uk/2025/01/understanding-the-english-devolution-white-paper/
Quotes worth remembering:
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
Arthur C. Clarke
Pictures:
NASA Rocket Engine Fireplace
https://plus.nasa.gov/video/nasa-rocket-engine-fireplace/
Scanner:
Attacks on Jess Phillips show how online abuse of women is intended to keep them out of the public square
https://theconversation.com/attacks-on-jess-phillips-show-how-online-abuse-of-women-is-intended-to-keep-them-out-of-the-public-square-243631
We finally know why some people got COVID while others didn’t
https://theconversation.com/we-finally-know-why-some-people-got-covid-while-others-didnt-233063
The social justice case for self-driving cars
https://takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/the-social-justice-case-for-self-driving-cars
‘Yes, I am a human’: Bot detection is no longer working – and just wait until AI agents come along
https://techxplore.com/news/2024-12-human-bot-longer-ai-agents.html
The ‘black hole’ in Reform UK’s finances
https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/the-black-hole-in-reform-uks-finances
Black swan events that could happen in 2025
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/01/03/15-unpredictable-scenarios-for-2025-00196309
After World War I, people used X-rays to try on shoes. (I can remember in in the 1950s – as a child – that X-rays were still being used in shoe shops!)
https://historyfacts.com/science-industry/fact/after-world-war-i-people-used-x-rays-to-try-on-shoes/
How the UK Supreme Court used simple contract law to undo a spiteful government move
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/69003/how-uk-supreme-court-undid-spiteful-government-move
Footnote:
Please send suggestions for stories to alan@ibgames.com and include the words Winding Down in the subject line, unless you want your deathless prose gobbled up by my voracious Thunderbird spam filter...
Alan Lenton
alan@ibgames.com
19 January 2025
Alan Lenton is a retired on-line games designer, programmer and sociologist (among other things), the order of which depends on what he is currently working on! His web site is at http://www.ibgames.com/alan/index.html.
Past issues of Winding Down can be found at http://www.ibgames.com/alan/winding/index.html.
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