The clocks may have sprung forward over the weekend, but it looks like America is intent on winding them backwards, all the way to the 1930s if Trump has his way. I’m referring of course to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which raised US import duties to protect American businesses and farmers. This act led to international retaliation and a significant reduction in global trade, exacerbating the Great Depression.
Unfortunately for us, in a much more interdependent global economy, the Orange One’s tariffs will likely hit all of us a little harder.
At the very least, it could mean the cost of living continues to bite, but worse still, there are jobs that might have been created for your children and mine that will now never happen.
It’s a farce and a pantomime but it’s certainly no joke, and it’s fair to say Ireland Inc is going to have to pivot pretty dramatically to avoid getting a proper wallop.
Ciúnas in the Dáil, please
All of this leads us to conclude that own politicians have picked a rather poor time to make a complete show of themselves over something that the public has frankly little interest in.
Yes, the Dáil looked more like a scene from Lord of the Flies than a legislative chamber last week as it descended into anarchy over speaking rights. Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy, reminded me of a Bean An Tí in a house full of out-of-control teenagers, pleading for ciúnas to no avail. Then Michael Lowry, never one to let history forget him, appeared to raise two fingers at People Before Profit’s Paul Murphy, who had his phone out and was filming everything.
Good God.
Given the seismic week we’ve had in Euro-American relations, and the massive changes coming down the tracks, it had vibes of officers breaking deckchairs over each other’s heads on board the Titanic.
All hail our AI masters
Look, I don’t want to put a dampener on your morning coffee, but I have no good news for ye this week. If all the above wasn’t depressing enough, I’ve chosen to take time to read Yuval Noah Harari’s last book; he’s that cheery prophet of doom who brought us such light bedtime reading as Sapiens and Homo Deus. It’s called Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks, and he’s not exactly predicting we’ll all be sipping chardonnay while robots fold the washing, if the AI revolution continues to evolve exponentially.
According to Harari, AI is graduating from helpful sidekick to full-blown autonomous agent faster than a Kerry half-forward breaking through the Cork backline. What’s keeping Harari up at night isn’t some Terminator-style robot uprising, but something far more insidious: ‘fake humans’ wandering the digital landscape, manipulating us poor meatbags into believing whatever their corporate or governmental overlords want. It gets worse. Harari reckons these AI systems could create a form of digital dictatorship that would make Big Brother look like an episode of Glenroe. Imagine every click, purchase, and embarrassing Google search feeding a system designed to nudge, manipulate, and eventually control you?
Indeed Harari suggests that AI might be more dangerous than nuclear weapons. At least with nukes, everyone knows they’re deadly. With AI, we’re cheerfully inviting the potential dictators into our homes via smart speakers and letting them listen to us singing ‘Fairytale of New York’ in the shower.
His solution? Regulation, transparency, and democratic oversight, all things politicians are famously brilliant at implementing quickly and efficiently. Not.
If Harari’s right, we’d better hope they figure it out before the AI does, or we’ll all be voting for President ChatGPT later this year. Although, if it means keeping McGregor out, may I be the first to welcome our new AI overlords. I am at your service.
Joe Jacob, all is forgiven
All of this might explain why the EU has finally cracked and gone full prepper on us. Brussels’ finest minds have launched their first-ever ‘preparedness strategy’, basically telling us all to have three days’ worth of Pot Noodles and jacks roll handy in case the world veers sideways.
The grand plan? Stock up on essentials like food, water, and presumably a decent bottle of Powers to take the edge off whatever calamity comes knocking: floods, cyber-attacks, or Russian subs shneaking into Castletownbere harbour.
They’re taking inspiration from those ever-practical Nordic countries where preparing for doom is practically a national hobby. The Swedes have been handing out cheery little pamphlets titled, ‘If Crisis or War Comes’, which isn’t exactly bedtime reading. We laughed at Joe Jacob and his iodine tablets back in the day, but I’m beginning to think that he was just a misunderstood visionary.
They’re even proposing a Europe-wide ‘preparedness day’ and want crisis management added to school curricula. Because every eight-year-old needs to know how to fashion a water filter from Pokémon cards when civilisation collapses. Is it any wonder half of them are on anxiety medication.
I don’t know about you, but I need a nice long walk in the fresh air.
