Tone Goodfellow

A recently published study from a team of researchers in Europe attempts to measure the degree to which X’s algorithm is poisoning the brains of those who continue to use it. The study, which took place in 2023, randomly assigned around 5,000 X users to view either their algorithmic or chronological feeds over a seven-week period, and then measured the effects on users’ political attitudes and online behavior. For anyone who does not have a vested interest in the financial success of X, the findings are pretty grim. The researchers found that the “For you” tab shifted users’ political opinions toward more conservative positions on certain issues—for example, the then-ongoing criminal investigations into President Donald Trump, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They found that the algorithmic feed increased user engagement, promoted conservative-coded political content, and demoted posts from traditional news sources, which appeared in users’ algorithmic feeds 58.1% less often than they did in users’ chronological feeds.

Finally, and maybe most troublingly, the researchers found that these effects were asymmetric—that although turning the algorithm on changed users’ views, turning it off did not move views in the other direction. After the study, the chronological feeds of participants the study exposed to the algorithm contained 60% more posts from conservative accounts and 28% more posts from conservative political activists, relative to the chronological feeds of study participants who did not use the algorithmic feed. The researchers attribute these results to the types of accounts that users encountered in the “For you” tab and eventually chose to follow, thus adding those accounts to their chronological feeds, too. In other words, once the X algorithm moves you to the right, you probably stay there. And if you use the X algorithm long enough, even on those occasions when you decide to peruse the “Following” tab, you will probably see more conservative-coded content than you would have if you had never checked out the “For you” tab in the first place.

I know we all understood that the post-Musk version of Twitter featured more right-wing slop, but this academic study of the algorithm's effects is pretty astonishing: Just 7 weeks of using the "For you" feed made X users more sympathetic to Trump www.fastcompany.com/91507338/x-a...

FWIW Journalist: Buying petrol / diesel before an expected price rise is not panic buying it is ECONOMICALLY RATIONAL for the INDIVIDUAL.

People Hate Datacenters, Survey Finds The data drops as Sen. Bernie Sanders calls for a moratorium on datacenter construction. 'We need to take a deep breath. We need to make sure that AI and robotics work for all of us, not just a handful...

The data drops as Sen. Bernie Sanders calls for a moratorium on datacenter construction. 'We need to take a deep breath. We need to make sure that AI and robotics work for all of us, not just a handful of billionaires.'

How Paris beat the car Though chaotic, the city’s transition has become a global role model

Parisian car traffic fell by more than half between 2002 and 2023, while cycle lanes expanded sixfold. Bikes now make more than twice as many journeys as cars. www.ft.com/content/882e...

Webinar launch Power in Partnership: A guide to developing a community stake in renewable energy events.humanitix.com/launch-webin...

New report from friends at the Community Power Agency: Power in Partnership: A guide to developing a community
stake in renewable energy cpagency.org.au/wp-content/u...

Co-ownership vs consultation: Landmark report proposes faster, cheaper path to renewables New report says truly partnering with communities on renewables – including through project co-ownership – could slash the time and money lost to planning hurdles and local opposition.

Co-ownership vs consultation: Landmark report proposes faster, cheaper path to renewables reneweconomy.com.au/co-ownership...

"The report found that government
preference for social cohesion initiatives has
resulted in weaker approaches to anti-racism work
and an overall lack of systemic, intersectional,
strengths-based, and coordinated action
addressing racism in Australia."

From the the National Anti-Racism Framework: A roadmap to eliminating racism in Australia "The focus on ...social cohesion hides or erases many communities’ lived experience of racism as well as the nation’s settler colonial foundations." humanrights.gov.au/__data/asset...

The rise of corporate power in Australia

And the Australian study “These findings also have implications for explaining why the richest one per cent have benefitted disproportionately from economic growth since the 1980s” www.unsw.edu.au/news/2020/03....

Can’t help but think about the study that showed average citizens have "little or no independent influence" on gov policy www.bbc.com/news/blogs-e....

Just hit $100…

1/ New research @lut.fi & collaborators from 7 institutions doi.org/10.1049/rpg2... develops new harmonisation methods to directly compare net-zero emission transition scenarios of #100RE community with scenarios from the 2022 #IEA Stated Policy & Sustainable Development.

China’s 5-Year Plan Focuses on Carbon Intensity and RE, Avoids Emissions Cap

“China appears to be applying the same industrial scaling model that drove its dominance in solar panels and batteries to this next category of clean energy products - green fuels.” www.carboncopy.info/china-s-5-ye...

China proffers a 5 point peace plan and mediation along with a special envoy to stop Iran/US/Israel conflict “All sides should return to the negotiating table” www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/wjbz....

The Review of the Net Zero Economy Authority’s Energy Industry Jobs Plan has been tabled in Parliament.

It calls for the Fed gov to "determine the best model to deliver transition supports to workers in closing coal mines (incl those that sell coal to the export market)."

We welcome the report.

Also, “Evatt argued that, in the U.N., Australia should not align itself automatically with any major power bloc”

Founding of the UN 1945: Australia plays a leading role in founding United Nations

I can’t help think about the contradiction of Evatt being “instrumental in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and prominent in the creation of Israel.” www.nma.gov.au/defining-mom...

It is extremely difficult to construct a practical case against this position. Net Zero is now as much about patriotism as it is about climate change.

Co-ownership vs consultation: Landmark report proposes faster, cheaper path to renewables New report says truly partnering with communities on renewables – including through project co-ownership – could slash the time and money lost to planning hurdles and local opposition.

New #report says truly partnering with #communities on renewables – including through project co-ownership – could slash the time and money lost to planning #hurdles and local opposition.

Muslims traumatised after right-wing attack on community dinner A Muslim community in Ballarat is left traumatised after a man barged into a community dinner allegedly throwing punches and yelling abuse.

Ballarat Muslims traumatised after right-wing attack on community dinner www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...

The way we power ourselves is no longer working for Australian communities and businesses. The thing is, power prices are complex, and it can be hard to know what’s really going on. So we've broken it down for you.

Orange Blossom at Womad

Q&A: What does China’s 15th ‘five-year plan’ mean for climate change? - Carbon Brief China’s leadership has published a draft of its 15th five-year plan setting the strategic direction...

www.carbonbrief.org/qa-what-does...

China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030): Bilingual Translation.docx China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030): Bilingual Translation Complete Document with Original Chinese Text Translated/formatted by Claude Cowork, via Sinocism.com Table of Contents / 目录 Part 1: St...

"Actively participate in and lead global climate governance" from China's draft 5 year plan (unofficial translation), also has the "Carbon peak targets are realized on schedule. Per unit GDP CO2 emissions decline by 17%." docs.google.com/document/d/1... npcobserver.com

Eunice Newton Foote: The woman who discovered the greenhouse effect In research presented in 1856, Eunice Newton Foote described how tubes of gas heated when exposed to sunlight, but the significance of her work was not appreciated

Eunice Newton Foote was the first to identify the warming effect of greenhouse gases, more than 2 years before Tyndall. If we’d listened…

Listen to women. Particularly in science. #InternationalWomensDay

www.newscientist.com/article/2382...

Price of Crude Oil WTI (USD/Bbl) over a five-year period, spanning from 2021 to early 2026. The chart shows a significant price peak in 2022 reaching over $120, followed by a general downward trend with various fluctuations, eventually hitting a low near $55 in late 2025 before a sharp vertical spike to the current price of 90.900. This recent surge represents an increase of +23.880 (+35.63%), highlighted in green text above the blue line graph.

The real insanity isn’t how much oil prices have spiked, it’s that we’re still burning oil for energy.

Humanity heating planet faster than ever before, study finds Researchers identify sharp rise to about 0.35C every decade, after excluding natural fluctuations such as El Niño

The Guardian on our new study, which shows that global heating is significantly gathering speed. Our efforts to overcome our fossil fuel addiction should do the same.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

New name of data centres: slopshop