I do not like being in marches or demonstrations. They make me nervous. But I forced myself to join the 50,000 people marching in Stockholm yesterday to call attention to climate change. It was uncomfortable — but it also felt good. Waiting for the climate march to begin in Stockholm. We had to move back … Continue reading The climate march went backwards. Stood still. Then surged forward. Symbolic?
Government, Policy, Politics
Our AIs Prioritize Success Over Ethics. Are We Surprised?
Summary: Recent “rogue AI” news is the result of very basic design flaws. But companies are designed the same way. That will make the problem hard to fix. “Hugging Face” is a weird name for a company, but these are weird times. A rogue AI recently hacked into Hugging Face — which calls itself “the … Continue reading Our AIs Prioritize Success Over Ethics. Are We Surprised?
Foreign aid began to disappear. The world blinked.
In Yoko Ogawa’s haunting novel The Memory Police, ordinary things — whole categories of things, such as birds, hats, and boats — begin to disappear from an island community. The few people who try to preserve those things, and who still have the capacity to remember them, are rounded up and interred. Most people, however, … Continue reading Foreign aid began to disappear. The world blinked.
The Tragedy of Swedish Development Aid
It is horrible to watch something extremely important and undervalued being slowly undermined, perhaps ultimately destroyed, by people who do not understand it, and do not understand its worth. Including its worth to them. You would be forgiven for thinking the above was the introductory paragraph to an article about the United Nations. And alas, … Continue reading The Tragedy of Swedish Development Aid
After the Shock Fades
What happens after our shock fades? That was the question asked by an old friend and colleague of mine, Robin DiAngelo, and her writing partner Delta Shelby Larkey in an opinion article published in the Minnesota Star Tribune a few weeks ago. For those of us who count as ordinary people, and who were glued … Continue reading After the Shock Fades
Keeping the Earth in the Center — Especially When That’s Extremely Difficult
We live in a living planet. Notice I wrote “in” where your mind was expecting “on”. That little word “on” can lead us astray, mentally. We do not live “on top of” but rather inside a sphere of pulsing, dynamic systems, a colorful, evolving kaleidoscope of life that is the most wonderful and visible characteristic … Continue reading Keeping the Earth in the Center — Especially When That’s Extremely Difficult
Canada is in the Center
Quick summary: Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, with inspiration from Václav Havel, has put Canada in the middle of a global discussion about the future of our world in an age of broken international trust. I just wish he were wrong. (Read the article …)
Greenland is in the Center
Last week I wrote a somewhat dispassionate (on purpose) defense of holding the center — or what used to be the center — politically. The theme of my article was resisting the current tendency towards outrage and ethical compromise that is partly driven by social media, partly by today’s dramatic and extreme political climate, and … Continue reading Greenland is in the Center
Holding the Center in Difficult Times
A reflection on how not to go mad when things seem to be going crazy The first time I voted in the US presidential election, in 1980, I cast my vote for Congressman John Anderson. He was a former Republican running as an independent on a socially-liberal, fiscally-conservative platform. Anderson’s quixotic campaign is mostly forgotten … Continue reading Holding the Center in Difficult Times
Celebrating a very positive, independent evaluation of GWP
This is a copy of a post I shared on LinkedIn, 5 Jan 2026. Reading the evaluation of GWP that I write about below was a great way to start the year, from a personal-professional point of view. /Alan Sometimes, all too rarely, you get to see documented proof that your work has contributed to … Continue reading Celebrating a very positive, independent evaluation of GWP
Alan AtKisson 