“The deranged idea—as Amitav Ghosh describes it—that we are safe, that things are under control, that bad things only happen to people who are far away, persists. Anticipating future ruin, we fail to act in the here and now.” -
@katemac.bsky.social & I:
phenomenalworld.org/analysis/global-boiling/

Same. So much weirdly credulous coverage from the FT & others about both AI and oil industries and prob others. It's the sectors that spend a lot on marketing, currently have a lot to lose from the news cycle, and can create genuine strife by withholding access to journalists.

3/ Those that did evaluate effectiveness only did so within a period of about a month; some were 8 weeks. The results were somewhat positive for depression (again, compared to *nothing*); and ambiguous to negative for other stuff like anxiety.

2/ In evaluating effectiveness, methods varied a lot. And in the majority of them, the comparator to using a chatbot was "waitlist"; ie nothing. A few comparators were self-study of a book, or a support group. Only one used the comparator of actual psychological support.

I skimmed the study that is cited, and it gave a different impression to the one I took from that sentence above.
The meta-study evaluated 33 studies (after eliminating more than 1,700). Of those 33:
1/ Only 19 attempted to evaluate effectiveness (others were eg engagement, attrition)

Another problem with this column/newsletter is the shallow and arguably disingenuous discussion of using AI chatbots for mental health. Even a passing familiarity with psychology should have anyone wondering about this claim:

We should hear about this sort of thing a lot more: Indonesia's nickel export ban; DRC's cobalt export suspensions; lithium triangle etc. There are many examples lately of developing countries pushing back on both US and Chinese hegemony, neocolonialism, & corporations.

A bunch of bribery scandals plagued the project since resources first proved in 1997. New-ish President Doumbouya staked his reputation on making the project happen without suffering the resources curse; eg taking state stake in mines + logistics; US & Europe companies to keep China & Rio in check.

It's close to opening after almost 30 years bcs of a military president who seized power in 2021 & will run for election next year.
Majority owned by Chinese companies + Rio Tinto (which originally had 100%) + Guinean gov.
Key suppliers are from US and France in a "geopolitical hedging strategy".

Aww thanks Kelly! Helps that I have worked in those sorts of jobs myself. (I’m kinda surprised I didn’t make this connection sooner - seems obvious now!)

access journalism is part of the culture of biz/financial beat journalism. Being scooped by your rival on the same beat at the Journal/FT/Bloomberg/Reuters etc is career-threatening. In an industry dominated by a handful of huge companies, it’s trivial for them to withhold access

If you’re wondering why there are so many delusional “oil demand growing until 2050” stories in otherwise reputable publications, consider whether these stories are written by industry beat journalists

someone needs to remind the FT huh