Gil Friend’s Blog
ESG Meets BSAU in the US Senate
March 3, 2023 In the latest convergence of ESG and BSAU, "the US Senate voted to overturn a Labor Department rule that permits fiduciary retirement fund managers to consider environmental, social, and corporate governance, or ESG, factors in their investment...
Shall we chat, GPT? • History myths • Between Worlds—Next Week! • Do Me A Favor?
Shall we chat? I've just begun to experiment with ChatGPT, to see if I can turn this "generative AI"—or "stochastic parrot," depending on your point of view—to my advantage. Some first impressions: It's FAST! Its writing is high school level. It's a great research...
ESG whiz • Bad Mood Rising? • An Act of Design • How Can WE Help You?
Bad Mood Rising? What's your mood these days, in this world of tumult and change? How is your mood affected by events in the world, events in your life, and the assessments you make about them? How are the assessments you make affected by your mood? I'll have more to...
The turn of the year, and why we’re here
My 2011 New Years greeting still seems appropriate, 12 years later: Let me start by wishing you joy, love and fulfillment in the new year, and thank you for your commitment to the mission we all share, in these dangerous and challenging times. What is that...
Listening to Others. • Between Worlds. • Join me Wednesday!
I'll be brief. It's a big week. Chanukkah, Winter Solstice, Christmas. A World Cup final for the ages, The January 6th committee wrapup (and criminal referrals?). A "sweeping [international] deal to protect nature." And our monthly Living Between Worlds call. (Why?...
Poly got a crackup? • Random Walks • Between Worlds • What do you mean “we”?
POLY GOT A CRACKUP? Call it what you will, it's the all too familiar water we're swimming in—and will be swimming in for some time to come. Familiar enough that it now has a name: Polycrisis. Or Polycrises. Permacrisis. Messes of messes. Wicked problems. When "the...
Musk’s Mess • COP-ing Out? • Listening for Care • The Winding Year
COP27 There's lots being written and spoken about the very mixed bag that was COP27. On one hand, the "loss and damage" agreement, pledging to provide funding to climate-vulnerable countries. On the other hand, weasel words about fossil fuels, and apparent abandonment...
Prediction addiction. Premature surrender. And the work at hand.
REFLECTIONS The “panic now, it’s all melting down” tribe and “lol nothing’s happening, chill” tribes are in a mutual gaslighting equilibrium. Me, I’m above these simplistic either/or things, I’m in a complex superposition of chilling and panicking. — Venkatesh Rao...
Bruno Latour: “Humans or Earthings?” • Still, Between Worlds • Right Here, Right Now
"WE ARE EARTHLINGS, NOT HUMANS" We lost an intellectual, creative, and moral giant this week, when Bruno Latour, philosopher, anthropologist and sociologist, died at 75. He was author of We Have Never Been Modern (which I have not yet read), Down to Earth: Politics in...