Mostly mentoring a group of postdocs. Conceptual Investigations Unit, housed at Stanford. Senior Scientist at Gates Ventures. climate / energy / etc https://ciunit.org Posts imperfectly represent the views of my former self and not my employer.https://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.comhttps://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3mvue7ksapk2kThe failure of the White House Press Corp to work together is an indictment of American journalism. If the President does not answer a question, every other reporter should follow up with the same question. Like the politicians, the press values personal advancement over the public good. [contains quote post or other embedded content]19 Sep 2026 09:21 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvue7ksapk2khttps://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3mvubsybrks2vAre the AI-end-timers the same people who were predicting for years about a technological singularity (and human immortality), or is this a new cohort? New bottles for old (and possibly correct) ideas? https://www.salon.com/2026/09/16/are-we-in-the-ai-end-times/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Singularity_Is_Near19 Sep 2026 08:38 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvubsybrks2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3mvq2wlgezk2iCool videos of tiny things ... https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/2026-small-world-in-motion-competition17 Sep 2026 16:24 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvq2wlgezk2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3mvp2sdal6s2iMore threats from Donald Trump to destroy our economy if the Federal Reserve Bank does not do his bidding. "This month, the president threatened to halt a broad swath of trade if interest rates were not cut, a possibility he resurfaced on Wednesday." https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/business/economy/trump-fed-interest-rates.html [contains quote post or other embedded content]17 Sep 2026 06:49 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvp2sdal6s2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3mvmlchr65k2dSpammy political SMS fundraising messages are making SMS texts unusable. On Android, there is no way to set it to accept texts from contacts only. How much of this money is getting to the candidates and how much is going to consultants or is outright fraud? https://nonprofitnewsfeed.com/news/political-panic-fundraising-texting/16 Sep 2026 07:07 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvmlchr65k2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3mvmlchr65k2dSpammy political SMS fundraising messages are making SMS texts unusable. On Android, there is no way to set it to accept texts from contacts only. How much of this money is getting to the candidates and how much is going to consultants or is outright fraud? https://nonprofitnewsfeed.com/news/political-panic-fundraising-texting/16 Sep 2026 07:07 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvmlchr65k2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3mvikppzjsc2qThe people who placed people in these cages should be put in prison. The same goes for the people who approved construction of these cages, authorized payments, etc. The detainees were accused of civil violations only. They were not accused of any crime. Only criminals treat people this way.14 Sep 2026 16:46 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvikppzjsc2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3mvcitfok4s22Kings in ancient Mesopotamia made statements to the effect that a central role of government is to protect the less powerful against abuse by the more powerful. We have lost that understanding of government. Urukagina (Uruinimgina), 2350 BCE. Ur-Nammu, 2100 BCE. Hammarubi, 1750 BCE.12 Sep 2026 06:56 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvcitfok4s22https://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3mvauch2x7k2uWhat could The New York Times possibly mean by this headline? Maybe it got cut off and they meant "moving on to become a fascist dictatorship"? Maybe instead of “moving on" they meant to write "sinking under"? https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/us/politics/trump-sept-11-terrorism.html https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/us/politics/trump-sept-11-terrorism.html?smid=nytcore-android-share11 Sep 2026 15:16 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvauch2x7k2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3mv3aro64lk2hCool map of real time carbon intensity of electricity use. (Unknown why they chose Mercator projection as the default map.) Not sure of the value added by near-real time values, but it is fun and cool. https://app.electricitymaps.com/map/live/fifteen_minutes09 Sep 2026 09:43 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3mv3aro64lk2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3mutf2374jk2hCriminals. https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/whistleblower-usps-violated-court-orders-advance-trump-mail-voting-attack/06 Sep 2026 06:38 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3mutf2374jk2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3murg2lgwa22lMaking America Great Again! https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/05/cuban-hunger-striker-ice-force-feeding https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/05/cuban-hunger-striker-ice-force-feeding?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other05 Sep 2026 11:51 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3murg2lgwa22lhttps://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3mur2djb2us2lUS is alone in voting to use a Mercator projection instead of an equal-area projection. (Trump loves that big Greenland.) Next thing is we are going to want to use inches, feet and miles, and degrees Farenheit. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce30vp55dnlo05 Sep 2026 08:21 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3mur2djb2us2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3mupsboi6ec2lSatire meets reality. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/sep/04/missouri-supreme-court-congressional-district-map-mail-in-voting-us-canada-trade-war-executive-orders-latest-news-updates04 Sep 2026 20:24 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3mupsboi6ec2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3muil4k23y22nWith friends like these ... https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/01/two-house-democrats-vote-to-salvage-gop-agenda-01060168 [contains quote post or other embedded content]01 Sep 2026 23:28 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3muil4k23y22nhttps://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3muf3owpg7c2kHow much of the opposition to new large AI data center derives from insecurity about losing access to well-paying meaningful work? My understanding is that data centers have lower carbon-emissions per unit GDP than the economy as a whole. Of course, they should not use the sky as a CO2 waste dump.31 Aug 2026 14:13 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3muf3owpg7c2khttps://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3mudn436nd22uIf Trump really wanted to make America great again, a good place to start would have been restoring marginal income tax rates on top earners to what they were before Reagan started handing our country over to the super wealthy. https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2021/04/26/taxing-the-rich-the-evolution-of-americas-marginal-income-tax-rate-infographic/31 Aug 2026 00:20 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3mudn436nd22uhttps://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3mudmkmfc722uThe Republicans can get away with this only because journalists let them get away with this. Other journalists could boycott this event (and then learn to follow up on unanswered questions from other journalists). They need to learn to work together. https://apnews.com/article/g20-treasury-journalists-blocked-89e4fe117db8356562b811af1ada824231 Aug 2026 00:10 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3mudmkmfc722uhttps://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3mucjqkkbrc22Google is disgusting.30 Aug 2026 13:47 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3mucjqkkbrc22https://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3mu2vxtxsac2pAdaptation to climate change doesn't mean that everyone will be as well off as if there was no climate change. It means that people won't be as bad off as if there was no adaptation. We can choose to prevent more climate change. We cannot choose not to adapt to climate change. [contains quote post or other embedded content]27 Aug 2026 13:04 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu2vxtxsac2phttps://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3mu2vc42urc2pFree speech absolutists [contains quote post or other embedded content]27 Aug 2026 12:52 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu2vc42urc2phttps://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3mtyhitp6m223Somehow, the association of Republican policies with costly fecal matter seems overly appropriate. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/26/paper-product-toilet-paper-tariffs-us-canada https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/26/paper-product-toilet-paper-tariffs-us-canada?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other26 Aug 2026 13:40 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtyhitp6m223https://bsky.app/profile/kencaldeira.com/post/3mtxgqaq7ik2jSome areas in most urgent need of aid are not getting aid because it is too dangerous to operate in the area, or there is too little functioning civil society to help effectively. Aid resources typically go to where they can produce the highest social ROI, not where they are needed most. [contains quote post or other embedded content]26 Aug 2026 03:54 +0000at://did:plc:hfunbop47sm2azdbajfvnf4g/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtxgqaq7ik2j