General News Thread

[Trav Le Bleu]

26 minutes ago, davieG said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3vnl0yxg53o

 

Landmark deal to cut global shipping emissions in tatters after US pressure

Shipping accounts for 3% of global emissions but is set to grow

ByEsme Stallard
Climate and science reporter

A landmark deal to cut global shipping emissions has been abandoned after Saudi Arabia and the US succeeded in ending the talks.

More than 100 countries had gathered in London to approve a deal first agreed in April, which would have seen shipping become the world's first industry to adopt internationally mandated targets to reduce emissions.

But US President Donald Trump had called the plan a "green scam" and representatives of his administration had threatened countries with tariffs if they voted in favour of it.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared the outcome a "huge win" for Trump.

But reflecting the pressure countries faced, the Secretary General of the International Maritime Organisation Arsenio Dominguez issued a "plea" for this not to be repeated.

In a dramatic conclusion on Friday, when countries should have been voting to approve the deal, Saudi Arabia tabled a motion to adjourn the talks for a year.

The chairman said this would mean that the agreement was not approved, as key timelines for the treaty would have to be revised.

The motion passed by just a handful of votes.

Hon. Ralph Regenvanu, Minister for Climate Change for the Republic of Vanuatu, said Saudi Arabia's motion was "unacceptable given the urgency we face in light of accelerating climate change".

"We came to London in reluctant support of the IMO's Net-Zero Framework. While it lacks the ambition that climate science demands, it does mark a significant step," he said.

The shipping industry has been broadly supportive of the deal because it offered consistent global standards.

Speaking after the talks ended, Thomas Kazakos, secretary-general of the industry body the International Chamber of Shipping, said : "We are disappointed that member states have not been able to agree a way forward at this meeting."

"Industry needs clarity to be able to make the investments," he added.

The UK and most EU nations voted to continue the talks, but some countries including Greece went against the EU bloc and voted to abstain.

The countries that voted in favour of adjourning the talks included Russia, Saudi Arabia and the US, who raised concerns that the deal would lead to price rises for consumers.

Some key countries including China that had initially voted to support the deal in April agreed to delay proceedings.

Island states Bahamas also changed their position and Antigua and Barbuda, who agreed in April, abstained. A delegate from the island states group told the BBC that these nations particularly rely on the US for trade and had been leaned on heavily by the Trump administration to change their position.

 

 

 

That's verging on evil.

 

It's also ironic, since the US administration wants to reduce imports.

[Sampson]

How widespread do you reckon AI useage is in governments already? Even only a couple of years after its popularity. And how about in 5, 10 or 20 years time when AI is exponentially better? I know there was some articles a couple of months back where the Swedish prime minister admitted he and his colleagues ask AI for advice on difficult questions quite often. I would hazard a guess it’s pretty rampant already in the governments of most western countries.

 

You do have to wonder what AI means for democracy long term if whoever is in power just governs by asking AI, we’re no longer then governed by humans.

 

Feels like the computer game Deus Ex from 25 years ago where some billionaire adventure capitalists built up AI, originally releasing it as a funny carnival attraction because people liked being judged by some supposed objective being, but the goal was always that humans ended up giving up everything to the AI and let it govern them. And humans gave up those freedoms with very little pushback in the end.

Edited 19 October 2025 by Sampson

[leicsmac]

Just now, Sampson said:

How widespread do you reckon AI useage is in governments already? Even only a couple of years after its popularity. And how about in 5 years time? I know there was some articles a couple of months back where the Swedish prime minister admitted he and his colleagues ask AI for advice on difficult questions quite often. I would hazard a guess it’s pretty rampant already in the governments of most western countries.

 

You do have to wonder what AI means for democracy long term if whoever is in power just governs by asking AI, we’re no longer then governed by humans.

 

Feels like the computer game Deus Ex from 25 years ago where some billionaire adventure capitalists built up AI, originally releasing it as a funny carnival attraction because people liked being judged by some supposed objective being, but the goal was always that humans ended up giving up everything to the AI and let it govern them. And humans gave up those freedoms with very little pushback in the end.

To add to this, the movers and shakers, the "Patriots" if you will (know you'll get that reference) have a lot invested in AI, so for them it being used and sold is a matter of necessity, so you can imagine they're leaning on governments to utilise it more. 

[Sampson]

1 minute ago, leicsmac said:

To add to this, the movers and shakers, the "Patriots" if you will (know you'll get that reference) have a lot invested in AI, so for them it being used and sold is a matter of necessity, so you can imagine they're leaning on governments to utilise it more. 

Plus it gives leaders a chance to dodge responsibility - which I would guess is a pretty natural thing to want to do if you’re leader of a country where you know many decisions mean life or death or splitting up of families for thousands of your people - “it was just the AI not me who came up with that idea”

[MaidstoneFox]

25 minutes ago, Sampson said:

Plus it gives leaders a chance to dodge responsibility - which I would guess is a pretty natural thing to want to do if you’re leader of a country where you know many decisions mean life or death or splitting up of families for thousands of your people - “it was just the AI not me who came up with that idea”

Hopefully that wouldn't play with voters and opposition parties calling governments to account. I would like to think that with most other uses of AI it's a time save and sorting mechanism, with actual decisions being made by experienced practitioners. Listening to Robert Peston, talking about the use of AI in journalism, he said the it will affect entry level jobs, but it still needed experienced journalists like him to make decisions about applying it.

[Greg2607]

47 minutes ago, Sampson said:

How widespread do you reckon AI useage is in governments already? Even only a couple of years after its popularity. And how about in 5, 10 or 20 years time when AI is exponentially better? I know there was some articles a couple of months back where the Swedish prime minister admitted he and his colleagues ask AI for advice on difficult questions quite often. I would hazard a guess it’s pretty rampant already in the governments of most western countries.

 

You do have to wonder what AI means for democracy long term if whoever is in power just governs by asking AI, we’re no longer then governed by humans.

 

Feels like the computer game Deus Ex from 25 years ago where some billionaire adventure capitalists built up AI, originally releasing it as a funny carnival attraction because people liked being judged by some supposed objective being, but the goal was always that humans ended up giving up everything to the AI and let it govern them. And humans gave up those freedoms with very little pushback in the end.

I'd worry more about what it means for your job and for your salary.  Nothing like this has been seen since the industrial revolution. 

 

At some point in the near ISH future there will no longer be a need for ANYONE to drive.  Driving is the largest job family in the world.....

 

It's will be catastrophic and the governments of the world aren't ready for the amount of job displacement that is coming. 

 

This is what will ultimately destroy neo liberalism as a new paradigm will be required to shape the world. 

 

But it will be in flames and ruins before that point. 

[leicsmac]

56 minutes ago, Sampson said:

Plus it gives leaders a chance to dodge responsibility - which I would guess is a pretty natural thing to want to do if you’re leader of a country where you know many decisions mean life or death or splitting up of families for thousands of your people - “it was just the AI not me who came up with that idea”

Hopefully that wouldn't wash as has been said already, but then it's entirely possible that we end up with a situation where AI ends up running everything and most people don't even knew it, dystopia sci-fi style anyway. 

 

14 minutes ago, Greg2607 said:

I'd worry more about what it means for your job and for your salary.  Nothing like this has been seen since the industrial revolution. 

 

At some point in the near ISH future there will no longer be a need for ANYONE to drive.  Driving is the largest job family in the world.....

 

It's will be catastrophic and the governments of the world aren't ready for the amount of job displacement that is coming. 

 

This is what will ultimately destroy neo liberalism as a new paradigm will be required to shape the world. 

 

But it will be in flames and ruins before that point. 

One world, or no world.

[Greg2607]

4 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Hopefully that wouldn't wash as has been said already, but then it's entirely possible that we end up with a situation where AI ends up running everything and most people don't even knew it, dystopia sci-fi style anyway. 

 

One world, or no world.

I wasn't necessarily referring to global warming (although I absolutely recognise the risk)

 

The collapse of economies will happen before that. Housing markets will implode at a level much worse than the financial crises.  Large swathes of the population will be on subsistence income.

 

Human Labour will become insanely cheap because so many people will be desperate for work. 

 

Without income, retail and leisure will collapse. 

 

There is a thought that without labour, products will become exceptionally cheap... But that requires all of those billionaires to not want to line their pockets to levels never seen before. 

 

If we aren't careful with how AI is utilised and controlled, it will be like the hunger games.  A section of elite and everyone else scrapping just to survive. 

[Zear0]

Not sure why people are worried about the rise and implementation of AI in the economy.  The leaders deploying this have been very clear that when all service work goes, we'll all be paid to pursue hobbies and do as we please.  Now, given the historic form on the rich and powerful being supportive of paying for people to be unemployed and in sharing their wealth, I for one believe them and look forward to becoming a dry stone waller.

[leicsmac]

3 minutes ago, Greg2607 said:

I wasn't necessarily referring to global warming (although I absolutely recognise the risk)

 

The collapse of economies will happen before that. Housing markets will implode at a level much worse than the financial crises.  Large swathes of the population will be on subsistence income.

 

Human Labour will become insanely cheap because so many people will be desperate for work. 

 

Without income, retail and leisure will collapse. 

 

There is a thought that without labour, products will become exceptionally cheap... But that requires all of those billionaires to not want to line their pockets to levels never seen before. 

 

If we aren't careful with how AI is utilised and controlled, it will be like the hunger games.  A section of elite and everyone else scrapping just to survive. 

And nor am I in this case, and to be clear, I don't consider it to be an existential threat in of itself, but the human response to it causing civilisational collapse is. 

 

What you speak of here is another such threat which is very real ( personally I'm thinking more The Expanse than The Hunger Games though) and you're right to draw attention to it. Increasing inequality will result in collapse the same way as lots of places becoming functionally uninhabitable will - and if we're not careful, both will feed off each other. 

[danny.]

42 minutes ago, Greg2607 said:

I'd worry more about what it means for your job and for your salary.  Nothing like this has been seen since the industrial revolution. 

 

At some point in the near ISH future there will no longer be a need for ANYONE to drive.  Driving is the largest job family in the world.....

 

It's will be catastrophic and the governments of the world aren't ready for the amount of job displacement that is coming. 

 

This is what will ultimately destroy neo liberalism as a new paradigm will be required to shape the world. 

 

But it will be in flames and ruins before that point. 

Oh yea, we are all going to be screwed. The economy will collapse, it’s just a matter of when not if. 
 

Already RIP to these industries either already gone or on life support:

 

- copywriting

- videographers

- photographers

- animators and motion artists

- graphic designers

- software engineers

- coders/developers

 

and followed soon after by most office jobs that involve processes on a computer. 
 

The industries that are safe (until we have robots) won’t have any customers that can afford them, unless they only trade with people from similar industries. Their tax levels will have to be 80-90% to pay for the millions of unemployed. 

Edited 19 October 2025 by danny.

[danny.]

And just to tie that ☝️ into everyone's favourite topic.... immigration! The narrative that we need millions more people in the near future to fill jobs roles, doesn't take into account the millions of people already in the UK that will be unemployed in the near future. Which I can't work out is either just stupidity/ignorance from our esteemed politicians, or something else.

[leicsmac]

4 minutes ago, danny. said:

And just to tie that ☝️ into everyone's favourite topic.... immigration! The narrative that we need millions more people in the near future to fill jobs roles, doesn't take into account the millions of people already in the UK that will be unemployed in the near future. Which I can't work out is either just stupidity/ignorance from our esteemed politicians, or something else.

Possibly because there's a further problem regarding age demographic change which is going to require a big shift in which jobs are needed and where as well. 

 

So there's a triple whammy of critical societal matters looking to hit the fan, and all the while growing food and sourcing enough potable water for everyone is going to get harder too. Interesting times. 

[danny.]

2 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Possibly because there's a further problem regarding age demographic change which is going to require a big shift in which jobs are needed and where as well. 

 

So there's a triple whammy of critical societal matters looking to hit the fan, and all the while growing food and sourcing enough potable water for everyone is going to get harder too. Interesting times. 

People will have to re-train and work where the jobs are, the diversity of jobs will massively shrink so it will be a case of finding something rather than choosing (unless you're already financially independent)

[Sampson]

1 hour ago, MaidstoneFox said:

Hopefully that wouldn't play with voters and opposition parties calling governments to account. I would like to think that with most other uses of AI it's a time save and sorting mechanism, with actual decisions being made by experienced practitioners. Listening to Robert Peston, talking about the use of AI in journalism, he said the it will affect entry level jobs, but it still needed experienced journalists like him to make decisions about applying it.

Peston’s quote feels very optimistic and based on current AI and not what it will look like in 20 years though. Similar to what people thought about the internet when we were all getting those AOL CD-ROMs through our doors in the late 90s/early 00s - “it’s just a tool for communication”.
 

Now 25 years later it’s literally profoundly affected just about every job, our news, our attention span, our travel, our politics, our legal system, how we talk to each other, the amount of sex or friends people have on average in ways no one could’ve even thought about when those AOL CD-ROMs were being sent through our letter boxes.
 

AI feels like an even more society shifting example of that, in 10 years time if not sooner I reckon no one will be able to tell the difference between real videos, audio clips, documents and photos and fake ones, how do you have a legal and political system then when “proof” and “truth” are impossible to tell apart from lies and forgeries?

Edited 19 October 2025 by Sampson

[leicsmac]

1 minute ago, danny. said:

People will have to re-train and work where the jobs are, the diversity of jobs will massively shrink so it will be a case of finding something rather than choosing (unless you're already financially independent)

Honestly, I think the thing will be bigger than that and the whole offers of the working paradigm that we have now is going to have to change because there simply won't be enough jobs that aren't automated, but we're going to be lucky enough to find out!

[whoareyaaa]

23 minutes ago, danny. said:

And just to tie that ☝️ into everyone's favourite topic.... immigration! The narrative that we need millions more people in the near future to fill jobs roles, doesn't take into account the millions of people already in the UK that will be unemployed in the near future. Which I can't work out is either just stupidity/ignorance from our esteemed politicians, or something else.

They are replacing workers as we speak, the co op on Naraborough road used to have British employees it recently got took over by morrisons and the people serving barely talk English and look like they have just come in the country, while the coop workers lost there jobs, this is without Ai.

[davieG]

2 hours ago, Sampson said:

How widespread do you reckon AI useage is in governments already? Even only a couple of years after its popularity. And how about in 5, 10 or 20 years time when AI is exponentially better? I know there was some articles a couple of months back where the Swedish prime minister admitted he and his colleagues ask AI for advice on difficult questions quite often. I would hazard a guess it’s pretty rampant already in the governments of most western countries.

 

You do have to wonder what AI means for democracy long term if whoever is in power just governs by asking AI, we’re no longer then governed by humans.

 

Feels like the computer game Deus Ex from 25 years ago where some billionaire adventure capitalists built up AI, originally releasing it as a funny carnival attraction because people liked being judged by some supposed objective being, but the goal was always that humans ended up giving up everything to the AI and let it govern them. And humans gave up those freedoms with very little pushback in the end.

If two opposing opinions ask AI the same question wont they get the same answer?

[Lionator]

56 minutes ago, danny. said:

And just to tie that ☝️ into everyone's favourite topic.... immigration! The narrative that we need millions more people in the near future to fill jobs roles, doesn't take into account the millions of people already in the UK that will be unemployed in the near future. Which I can't work out is either just stupidity/ignorance from our esteemed politicians, or something else.

Depends, more people competing over jobs means people will accept lower wages. Means more people for landlords to leech money from. Overpopulation absolutely meets the needs of the rich, even better when they can get the non rich fighting between them about who’s to blame. 

[Super_horns]

Ceasefire broken already ?
 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c2kpx7yyq9pt

[Trav Le Bleu]

2 hours ago, danny. said:

Oh yea, we are all going to be screwed. The economy will collapse, it’s just a matter of when not if. 
 

Already RIP to these industries either already gone or on life support:

 

- copywriting

- videographers

- photographers

- animators and motion artists

- graphic designers

- software engineers

- coders/developers

 

and followed soon after by most office jobs that involve processes on a computer. 
 

The industries that are safe (until we have robots) won’t have any customers that can afford them, unless they only trade with people from similar industries. Their tax levels will have to be 80-90% to pay for the millions of unemployed. 

All hail the technocracy!

[Parafox]

6 hours ago, Sampson said:

I reckon no one will be able to tell the difference between real videos, audio clips, documents and photos and fake ones, how do you have a legal and political system then when “proof” and “truth” are impossible to tell apart from lies and forgeries?

 

I have a friend who is a police officer and he related an interview he'd conducted with a man accused of a crime and there was video evidence to prove his presence at the scene. He denied he was there and claimed the footage had been altered using AI. The police then had to prove that it wasn't AI which was very hard to do.

 

 

[Jattdogg]

I'm ready to burn the government, billionaires and wealthy cvnts down if AI destroys my friends  and families ability to earn money , buy food, live a decent life etc. The AI scientists better watch out too, they will be targets.

 

Can't stop 5000000 people showing up at your mansions looking for blood. You wont be safe anywhere!

 

You wealthy cvnts have been warned, the people will always win in the end!  

 

Annnnnd back to current day,  let's hope AI doesn't take us there lol.

 

Had to doom and gloom it as that's what it's like outside here today, pissing it down with rain haha. 

 

 

 

 

[Noahfence]

The Tel Aviv derby has been cancelled due to fan riots outside the stadium. You couldn’t make it up

[Lionator]

So after all the political carnage last week, the Tel-Aviv derby this evening was abandoned by the local police due to rioting. West Mids police are probably feeling quite smug right now. Keir Starmer less so.