David Wood

Real-life superheroes and troubled institutions, with Tom Ough - London Futurists Popular movies sometimes feature leagues of superheroes who are ready to defend the Earth against catastrophe. In this episode, we’re going to be discussing some real-life superheroes, as chronicled i...

A: They were all unscripted tangents in the latest London Futurists Podcast episode, "Real-life superheroes and troubled institutions", featuring Tom Ough, who turned the tables on the hosts multiple times during a fascinating conversation londonfuturists.buzzsprout.com/2028982/epis...

Q: What do the following have in common? George Harrison, Christopher Nolan's film Tenet, Gödel Escher Bach, Sam Bankman-Fried, the Hubble tension, and Brexit

To these seven strategies I would add: It's not (remotely) sufficient to be "against"; there must also be a credible positive vision *for* a shared abundance, underpinned by wise harnessing of the possibilities of new technologies, avoiding concentrations of wealth and power.

These headline descriptions may seem like empty phrases, but Hartmann develops each strategy into a bundle of concrete actions. He also describes how these strategies are being changed by the availability of ever more powerful AI algorithms - with numerous complications arising.

Hartmann's seven strategies are: Unite across traditional divides; Protect truth and information ecosystems; Defend and reform democratic institutions; Practice strategic non-violence; Build alternative power structures; Engage internationally; Prepare for the long struggle.

For positive inspiration, Hartmann points to encouraging pro-democracy examples in South Korea, Chile, Sri Lanka, and Poland, where various would-be authoritarian regimes had power wrested away from them. Alas, there are plenty of counterexamples too.

There are critical lessons for citizens in other countries, such as the UK, where similar oligarchic forces are poised to lie and cheat their way into power. These forces cannot be overcome merely by "politics as normal". That's what the US tried to do under Biden, and failed.

The start of the solution is to appreciate the full extent of the forces organised to funnel wealth and power away from the 99% toward the 1% - the forces that seek to squash independent press, independent judiciary, and independent academia. These are hard truths to contemplate.

The penultimate chapter switches from problem analysis to solution description. Hartmann highlights what he calls "seven strategies that work". But even in that chapter, there is further evidence of the depth of the challenge facing US democracy (and, hence, global flourishing).

The chapter on voter suppression was particularly shocking, gathering evidence for this conclusion: "If all legal voters had been allowed to vote and if all the legal ballots had been counted, Kamala Harris would have won Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia."

This is no overnight crisis. Hartmann traces long roots back through the Tea Party, Reagan, and Nixon. And the problem won't be solved simply by the current president stepping down. The overall governance system has become thoroughly undemocratic.

Numerous enablers and supporters of the current president claim, outrageously deceitfully, to be acting in the interests of the American people - yet their actual motives are much narrower. As a result, the US is already more accurately described as an oligarchy than a democracy.

Each chapter that I read sickened me. And then the next chapter sickened me even more. It's not just about the utter unsuitability of the current US Presidency. It's about the entire system that has enabled him and promoted him.

U.S. democracy is dangling over the edge - that was already clear to me before I started reading "The Last American President: A Broken Man, a Corrupt Party, and a World on the Brink" by Thom Hartmann. But the book showed me that the situation is even starker than I had assumed.

The UK Longevity Week, 10-14 November, features 11 different events - in London, Oxford, Manchester, and online. I wish there was more on youngevity as opposed to longevity, but several of the events show potential thelongevityforum.com/longevityweek

"BGI 2025 involved a number of bold experiments. Some of these experiments paid off handsomely" - my latest Mindplex_AI article is a personal, selective, opinionated review of some of what made BGI 2025 sometimes so wonderful, and sometimes pretty frustrating magazine.mindplex.ai/post/five-of...

Liberation and Corruption: Why Freedom Movements Fail – with Peter Hain | King's College London Join us for the launch of Peter Hain's new book at King's College London

Looks interesting, tomorrow evening in King's College London: "Liberation and Corruption: Why Freedom Movements Fail – with Peter Hain, 29 October 2025 18:30 to 19:45" www.kcl.ac.uk/events/liber...

Farage: epic grifter

Is terminal lucidity real? Or are we just desperate to say one last goodbye?

Here's a surprisingly interesting article, with implications for how memory is stored and accessed - on the subject of "terminal lucidity", when people suffering from dementia sometimes seem to briefly recover shortly before they die: preservinghope.substack.com/p/is-termina...

Tesla's New 'Mad Max' Self-Driving Mode Keeps Blowing Speed Limits Tesla unveiled an aggressive 'Mad Max' setting for its Full Self-Driving system even as it stared down wrongful death lawsuits and regulatory probes.

No real surprise here - “Tesla has wasted critical engineering time developing this juvenile and reckless software mode instead of using that time to fix the litany of critical safety defects that remain present in its defective Full Self-Driving software” www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...

I’ve Been Writing About Nuclear War for 40 Years. No Movie Has Shaken Me Like This One. A House of Dynamite is terrifying. It’s also shockingly realistic.

Here's a (spoiler-filled) review of the film by someone who has been researching and writing about nuclear war for more than 40 years: "No movie has shaken me like this one" slate.com/culture/2025...

Watch A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE | Netflix Official Site When a single, unattributed missile is launched at the United States, a race begins to determine who is responsible and how to respond.

Cleverly made. Thought-provoking. With a wise choice as to ambiguity and uncertainty. A powerful reminder of the vital need for people of good judgement and temperament in the highest office. "A House of Dynamite", now streaming on Netflix. Recommended! www.netflix.com/gb/title/817...

Miserabilist or activist? Which attitude do you wish to spread? In the face of challenges posed by increasingly powerful AI, can humanity rise to new heights, with a new calibre of global coordination? Or will we be crushed by a woeful pessimism about our collective inadequacies?

From a friendly email I received from Audible, summarising my listening in 2025 so far: "26 titles down with more to come. Keep it up David"

In or near to Wimbledon at 12 noon on Sunday (26th Oct)? Then consider attending what I anticipate will be a profound conversation featuring Mike Berners-Lee: "A Climate of Truth - Why We Need It & How to Get It" www.wimbledonbookfest.org/events/mike-...

Find the press release, "Press Release of UNCPGA on the Occasion of the 80th Anniversary of the UN, October 2025", here: uncpga.world/documents/

There's an important clause about "the dangers posed by rapid evolution of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)" in the latest press release from the Council of (former) Presidents of the United Nations General Assembly, UNCPGA. See section 4(d)

How MAGA learned to love AI safety The AI industry is engaging in one of “ the most blasphemous endeavors,” a leading MAGA figure told us

Another sign of the growing bipartisan public backlash against Big Tech's recklessness - "How MAGA learned to love AI safety" www.transformernews.ai/p/how-maga-l...

Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP Drop. Melania Trump's Crypto Architects Accused of Fraud. Bitcoin price, Ethereum, XRP, and other cryptos fell. Separately, the architects of Melania Trump's meme coin were accused of fraud.

Crypto fraud can result in major court cases against the perpetrators. Even in broken USA. And even if the coin depends on the Tr*mp surname for its attraction to naïve crypto investors www.barrons.com/news/melania...