2025-11-20 Thu
Published:
- Finnish report greatly exaggerated how much Sanna Marin’s social democratic government (2019-2023) increased government expenses
- Techno-optimism hinders climate action: research
- China’s battery exports charge to new highs (Reuters)
- Research estimates that 25 % of public social science funding in Austria flows directly to a few academic publishers
- Researchers measured greenwashing in 1 million Facebook ads by LLM-enabled system, found vast networks sharing pro-fossil fuel messages and targeted ads
- A much-talked-about London AI artwork is being torn down, because people believe it depicts migrants
- There are good reasons why nuclear power is regulated
- A fishing attack: Black neon tetra committed a credit card fraud
Opinions
Electricity and batteries are going to eat almost everything. In transport too.
One often underappreciated point is the much higher efficiency of electric powertrains. This makes batteries far more competitive than raw energy density suggests.
E-ships are coming. I believe we see e-planes too.
News
Finnish report greatly exaggerates how much Sanna Marin’s social democratic government (2019-2023) increased government expenses
VM: Hätkähdyttävä raportti liioittelee Marinin hallituksen törsäilyä | HS.fi
A recent report was widely interpreted of confirming the Finnish right wing belief that Sanna Marin’s Social Democratic government (2019-2023) was a reckless spender.
Turns out, by its methodology the current right-wing “fiscally responsible” government is more reckless.
TL;DR: the figure cited from the report, 11 bn €, includes expenditure increases that had nothing to do with the decisions of the government. The early cutoff date of 2024 also makes some non-permanent expenses look permanent. Ministry of Finance says the real figure is about 3 bn €.
Using the same methodology, the current very right-wing, “fiscally responsible” government would’ve already racked up 9 bn € of expenditure increases. And they have two years left in their term.
Not to mention that unlike Marin, they don’t have to deal with three once in a lifetime crises.
Coincidentally, another estimate suggested that merely the current government’s tax cuts (mostly for the rich) and patently inefficient subsidies to private healthcare providers have already cost the Finnish government some 3 bn €.
Posted this on Bluesky too: @jmkorhonen.fi.
Techno-optimism hinders climate action: research
Across a global sample of more than 9,000 scientists, the authors find that those who are more techno-optimistic report lower engagement in both civic climate actions and high-impact lifestyle changes (like reducing flying, car use, or shifting diets).
Dablander, F., Cologna, V., Sachisthal, M., & Haslbeck, J. M. B. (2025, November 13). Techno-optimistic scientists take fewer climate actions. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/c3skb_v1
One of the authors is on Bluesky: @kristiansn89.bsky.social on Bluesky
⚠️ When “technology will save us” becomes a climate risk!
A new paper from great colleagues takes a careful look at techno-optimism — the belief that technology will largely solve climate change — and what it means for real-world climate action.
See also: @bjoernvollan.bsky.social on Bluesky
You might also be interested to see how technological optimism interacts with support for climate stringency among COP delegates:
China’s battery exports charge to new highs (Reuters)
China’s battery exports charge to new highs (Reuters)
China’s exports of batteries and battery energy storage systems (BESS) have hit a record in 2025, soaring by 24% from the year before over the first nine months of the year.
Batteries have been China’s most lucrative clean energy technology export since mid-2022, and so far this year have generated roughly $60 billion in export receipts for the country, data from energy think tank Ember shows.
That compares to battery earnings of just under $48 billion over the same period in 2024, and exceeds China’s year-to-date export earnings from electric vehicles, grid components, renewable energy infrastructure and cooling equipment. […] Regionally, Europe is the top destination for China’s battery exports, and has accounted for 42% of all China battery exports so far in 2025. […] All told, however, 114 different countries or territories have purchased $10 million or more of Chinese batteries so far in 2025, which has endowed China with a valuable sales and distribution outlet for its world-leading battery sector.
That means that even if pockets of rival battery production emerge in the coming years, China will likely remain the primary vendor for EV and BESS batteries for years to come.
Research estimates that 25 % of public social science funding in Austria flows directly to a few academic publishers
Puehringer S, Rath J, Griesebner T (2021) The political economy of academic publishing: On the commodification of a public good. PLoS ONE 16(6): e0253226. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253226
Abstract:
This paper provides an institutional and empirical analysis of the highly concentrated market of academic publishing, characterized by over proportionally high profit margins for publishing companies. The availability of latest research findings is an important issue for researchers, universities and politicians alike. Open access (OA) publication provides a promising but also costly solution to overcome this problem. However, in this paper we argue that OA publication costs are an important, but by far not the only way for academic publishers to gain access to public funding. In contrast, our study provides a comprehensive overview of the channels through which public expenditure benefits big academic publishing companies. Furthermore, we offer the results of an explorative case study, where we estimate the annual financial flows of public expenditures in Austria for the field of social sciences. In all, these expenditures add up to about 66.55 to 103.2 million € a year, which amounts to a fourth of total public funding for this field. Against this background, we contribute to the debate whether and to what extent public subsidies are justified for economically successful companies.
Researchers measured greenwashing in 1 million Facebook ads by LLM-enabled system, found vast networks sharing pro-fossil fuel messages and targeted ads
One nice example of progressive use cases for LLMs.
They are potentially very powerful tools, and I for one don’t believe in unilateral disarmament and forfeiting them to capitalists and far right goons.
Abstract:
In this paper, we provide a novel measure for greenwashing – i.e., climate-related misinformation – that shows how polluting companies can use social media advertising related to climate change to redirect criticism. To do so, we identify greenwashing content in 11 million social-political ads in Meta’s Ad Targeting Datset with a measurement technique that combines large language models, human coders, and advances in Bayesian item response theory. We show that what is called greenwashing has diverse actors and components, but we also identify a very pernicious form, which we call political greenwashing, that appears to be promoted by fossil fuel companies and related interest groups. Based on ad targeting data, we show that much of this advertising happens via organizations with undisclosed links to the fossil fuel industry. Furthermore, we show that greenwashing ad content is being micro-targeted at left-leaning communities with fossil fuel assets, though we also find comparatively little evidence of ad targeting aimed at influencing public opinion at the national level.
Robert Kubinec, Aseem Mahajan (2025). Fifty Shades of Greenwashing: The Political Economy of Climate Change Advertising on Social Media. https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.14930; https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2511.14930
Author on Bluesky: @rmkubinec.bsky.social on Bluesky
A much-talked-about London AI artwork is being torn down, because people believe it depicts migrants
Very much like what happened with the printing press.
AI artwork in London axed after being misinterpreted
The south west London public passing by seemed to have an allergic reaction to its whiff of artificial intelligence, while online speculation suggested it must have been the creation of an overworked marketing intern.
Now, a well-placed source has been in touch to reveal that it is set to be torn down today after a public backlash — but almost certainly not for the reason you think. […] …a substantial number of local shoppers have come to believe that the artwork’s depiction of people chaotically splashing through water is political commentary on the small boats used by migrants crossing the English Channel.
One manager of a restaurant in the complex, whose version of events was backed by other sources, told London Centric that this reaction to the artwork had been driven by local Facebook groups. The development’s owners insist that it is simply a Christmas scene inspired by the 16th century Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder. But this claim has not been accepted by some Kingston residents who view it as surreptitious political propaganda.
“There’s clearly something political about it but nobody knows what it is,” said the restaurant manager. He explained the majority of the people complaining about the artwork are against high levels of immigration and believe the artwork is an attempt to humanise small boat crossings because the people walking across the water have Christmas hats on.
The manager said he had encountered a different, smaller contingent of customers who oppose the mural because they think it’s mocking immigrants trying to get across the Channel on small boats.
London Centric has seen nothing to suggest the artwork is intended to be a commentary on migration, or anything other than a pastiche of 16th century art.
Other stuff
There are good reasons why nuclear power is regulated
I wrote a Bluesky thread as a response to the common enough opinion that nuclear power is too heavily regulated and should be deregulated.
I think it is a red herring, and there are good reasons for the regulation. Including investment risk mitigation!
I disagree. There probably are some ways to streamline the regulation, but whenever I’ve asked what exact regulations are the problem and how they should be amended, the answers are [crickets]. Or suggestions that reveal the responder doesn’t really know what he’s talking about.
A lot of people don’t quite understand how and why modern nuclear regulation came to be, or who designed it.
Like in Finland, the current (1986) nuclear energy law was literally dictated by the man hailed as the father of Finnish nuclear energy, academician Erkki Laurila!
We once interviewed the former chief legal counsel for IVO/Fortum, who was one of two young IVO lawyers who took the dictation.
He claimed the current law is in practice almost word to word what Laurila dictated to them one day in his office.
Without notes.
He also explained, very forcefully and persuasively, that Laurila wanted to replace the 1955 law with much stricter regulation in order to protect nuclear energy projects and make future nuclear projects possible.
Because Laurila understood that looser regulation would increase investor risks.
For example, Laurila deliberately wanted the parliament to make the decision-in-principle. Because that way the highest possible authority would give its blessing to new projects - greatly reducing the risks of legal or political wrangling causing ruinously expensive delays or even cancellations.
The 1955 law was pretty much what many “nuclear regulation is too strict” folks have suggested: civil servants would hand out permits to any facility that met the basic standards. As an administrative decision.
Which could, and would, be challenged in courts.
Laurila understood this wouldn’t work.
Another thing Laurila understood very well was that nuclear energy has fundamental geopolitical implications that other energy sources simply do not have. (His 1968 book, “Ydinvoiman tekniikka ja politiikka,” remains excellent overview.)
That is another very good reason for stricter regulation.
Now, of course, there are always things that could be improved.
One suggestion is to harmonize nuclear regulations in the EU and introduce a kind of “type certificate” system, like airplanes have. So that a reactor certified in one country would be automatically certified in others.
As I was convinced by Laurila’s arguments about risk, I think it shouldn’t mean an automatic permit. But it would streamline the application process somewhat.
But even that has been very hard to achieve in practice. For good and bad reasons.
For example, one thing I’ve heard pretty often, but always off the record, is that proposals to harmonize EU nuclear regulation tend to founder on the French insistence that everyone ought to follow their rules… which happen to greatly advantage French reactor designs.
And it is not at all obvious if streamlined regulation would make THAT much of a difference.
See case Finland. Almost every applicant got a permit for a reactor in the ’00s. Out of three permits issued, only one reactor was actually finished - after massive delays and cost overruns.
Now one could claim the delays were caused by strict regulations. But in actual fact, it was because Areva didn’t bother/manage to fully design the reactor before starting construction.
Probably not coincidentally, that was identified as the #1 cause of nuclear budget overruns in the 1970s.
A fishing attack: Black neon tetra committed a credit card fraud
From Wikipedia:
A black neon tetra committed credit card fraud during a 2023 livestream by “Mutekimaru Channel” on YouTube. The owner was using motion-tracking software to turn the fish’s movements into Nintendo Switch inputs, letting them “play” video games.9 In 2020, the fish beat Pokemon Sapphire after 3,195 hours, a feat that takes about 30 hours for a typical human.109 On January 14, 2023, Pokémon Violet crashed at 1,144 hours, giving the fish free access to the main menu. They entered inputs that opened Nintendo eShop, added 500 yen ($3.85 USD) to their owner’s account, and exposed his credit card details on the livestream.1112 Mutekimaru later requested a refund of the 500 yen from Nintendo.8
The fish also downloaded an N64 emulator, set up PayPal, used reward points to buy an avatar, and changed Mutekimaru’s Nintendo account name to “ROWAWAWA¥”.13 After about seven hours, their movements shut down the Switch.14