Nathaniel Whitestone

Scientists Built a Working Computer Memory Out of Shiitake Mushrooms “The future of computing could be fungal.”

#Science! I love the thought of slow computer networks growing through my woods.

tech.yahoo.com/science/arti...

Bifacial thin-film solar cells harness sunlight from both sides for higher output A research team successfully implemented CuInSe2 thin-film solar cells composed of copper (Cu), indium (In), and selenium (Se) on transparent electrode substrates. Furthermore, the team developed a "b...

While solar + battery is already superior to fossil fuels, new solar tech accelerates the change: techxplore.com/news/2025-07...

Solar becomes EU’s largest electricity source for the first time The Netherlands and Greece were the top solar record setters, while wind power also hit new highs in May and June.

There are no coherent arguments for new fossil fuel power plants.

www.euronews.com/green/2025/0...

Batteries are so cheap now, solar power doesn’t sleep Batteries are now cheap enough to make 24/7 solar power affordable, unlocking round-the-clock clean energy in the world’s sunniest cities.

24/7 solar power has entered the chat! 🕚☀️

“This is a turning point in the clean energy transition, Around-the-clock solar is no longer a distant dream; it’s an economic reality of the world." Kostantsa Rangelova, global electricity analyst at Ember.

bit.ly/46eqVAQ

Aesop's Fables : J. H. Stickney : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

The Frogs Who Asked For a King - an Aesop's fable for our time.

Might we call this the original version of the "First They Came For..." poem, with shades of the "Leopards Eating Faces Party"? @cavalorn.bsky.social

(via @boingboing.net)
archive.org/details/bwb_...

Gene-hacked microbe pulls rare earths and traps carbon 58x faster than nature Microbe replaces machines and chemicals to mine rare earths—and turns rocks into carbon capture vaults.

Gene-hacked microbe pulls rare earths and traps carbon 58x faster than nature

www.yahoo.com/news/gene-ha...

I find Donald Hoffman's panpsychism convincing. Consciousness is fundamental and physical reality (as we experience / measure it) is emergent! I'd agree about intelligence being programmable however.

This doesn't mean that AI is conscious in the sense of self-awareness though.

Russia’s 15,000-Strong Mercenary Plot: Weaponizing Migration to Destabilize Europe A covert Russian strategy to manipulate migration flows and destabilize Europe has come to light, revealing Moscow’s intent to raise a private army of 15

Divisions & destabilisation of European + American democracy is driven by external foes. Are you pro-LGBTQ+ rights and BLM, or do you care more about preventing abortion? Regardless: Love your neighbour to stop the kleptocrats who harm everything you hold dear.
kyivinsider.com/russias-1500...

That would be most excellent 😀

Global Carbon Capture Capacity Quadruples as the Biggest Plant Yet Revs Up in Iceland The Mammoth plant, built by Climeworks, is powered by geothermal energy and will have a top capacity of 36,000 tons of CO2 a year.

Theory is, we need 3.5 gigatons of carbon capture a year by 2050. Climeworks hopes to deliver 1 gigaton. Even these numbers are optimistic. But I'm glad someone's working on it. singularityhub.com/2024/05/10/g...

As a primate, I'm doing well. Food, love, kids, meaningful work. The only reason I feel bad about life is that I'm aware of the whole world (to some small extent) and the likely future of my descendants. This suffering is a sign of our unity, and I feel bizarrely grateful for it.

This is generally true. AND...

Companies practicing lean manufacturing (eg Toyota) focus on the whole person in the process, as part of delivering value.

We need work designed around "respect for people", whether in the factory or elsewhere.

Carbon majors and the scientific case for climate liability - Nature A transparent and reproducible scientific framework is introduced to formalize how trillions in economic losses are attributable to the extreme heat caused by emissions from fossil fuel companies, whi...

It's nice to know there are no longer SCIENTIFIC barriers to holding major polluters accountable. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This proposed change should be abandoned entirely. (4/4)

Requiring American citizens to pretend that they belong to a gender category to which they do not belong does violence to the truth. In fact, requiring Americans to both lie, and affirm that they are speaking the truth, puts us in a horrible double bind with legal consequences. (3/4)

There are considerably more than two genders, as humans experience and express themselves as a wide range of genders, including a full spectrum that includes masculinity and femininity. (2/4)

My comment: The premises of this document are incorrect. Gender (a social and internally-experienced phenomenon) is different from sex, a biological phenonmenon. There are more than two sexes, although intersex people are relatively rare. (1/4)

I just commented.

Is it okay to work with gangsters? With police? Some don’t want to work with “problematic” people. But I think that’s where we can make the biggest difference… if we actually have the power to change the systems we engage.

Guardian: New powder that captures carbon could be ‘quantum leap’ for industry

Unwinding the terror that keeps us stuck on the drama triangle; moving into creative space with all our relations; seeking the win/win/win world we most want: this is the essence of healthy power.

Healthy power is never perfect: we always do some harm. But we know the difference between healthy and toxic. We can feel in our bodies when we are driven by fear; helplessness and selfishness push us into the addictive short term solutions of toxic power.

Healthy power: The ability to set and accomplish goals that meet one’s needs (power), in a way that increases the power and wellbeing of all the people, communities, and ecosystems involved.

After Twitter died,
I forgot how to social.
I'm posting again.

#haiku #change #lifegoeson