George Galloway interview with Chris Hedges. “Trump’s on a Jihad against everyone. Here comes the Cavalry

Posted on April 17, 2026 by michelleclarke2015

Apr 16, 2026 #MOATS#georgegalloway#Trump

His megalomania has no limits, says Pulitzer prizewinner Chris Hedges. The Hormuz blockade is more bluster than reality. And how Iran has the capacity to cast the world into a global depression

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Axios: OpenAI’s new science experiment

Posted on April 17, 2026 by michelleclarke2015
OpenAI’s new science experiment
 
Illustration: Aïda Amer/AxiosOpenAI unveiled new AI models today built to help life sciences researchers work faster, Axios’ Megan Morrone reports.

They’re designed to accelerate research, drug discovery and translational medicine, turning scientific discoveries into better health outcomes. 

OpenAI’s first such model, GPT-Rosalind, is named after Rosalind Franklin, “whose rigorous research helped reveal the structure of DNA and laid the foundation for modern molecular biology.“

The company says the models won’t replace scientists, but rather speed up some of their most time-intensive and analytically demanding work.

Humans still need to be in the loop for their expert judgment and result validation, the company says. 

Researchers have warned that AI models trained on biological data could be misused to design dangerous pathogens.

OpenAI is reserving access to its new models for organizations working on improving human health outcomes, conducting legitimate life sciences research, and maintaining strong security and governance controls.

Yunyun Wang, OpenAI’s life sciences product lead, says the idea is to maximize use while mitigating potential misuse.

Among those included: Amgen, Moderna, the Allen Institute and Thermo Fisher Scientific. 

Reality check: AI-discovered and AI-designed drugs are promising, but only a few have reached clinical trials so far.Go deeper.
    
 
 
2. 🔋 Renewables get war boost
 
Illustration: Allie Carl/AxiosEarly signs are emerging that the energy shock tied to the Iran war could boost the global spread of renewables and other climate-friendly tech, Axios’ Ben Geman writes. 

Global power generation from fossil fuels was down in the first month of the conflict, per the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

Solar and wind powerwere up. (See the data.)

 The other side: Research and consulting firm Wood Mackenzie says war-related disruptions are “triggering a rebound” in global coal demand as countries scramble to make up for natural gas shortages.Go deeper.

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Axios: Scoop: Anthropic’s peace talks

Posted on April 17, 2026 by michelleclarke2015
Scoop: Anthropic’s peace talks
 
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei in San Francisco last year. Photo: Don Feria/APAxios CEO Jim VandeHei was going to pop this in his members-only C-Suite newsletter tomorrow. But it’s too hot to hold. If you’re a CEO or top exec, request FREE admission here.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is scheduled to walk into the West Wing today for a meeting with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles — a breakthrough in his effort to resolve the company’s bitter AI fight with the Pentagon.

Why it matters: The Trump administration recognizes the power of Anthropic’s new Claude model, Mythos, and its highly sophisticated — and potentially dangerous — ability to breach cybersecurity defenses.”It would be grossly irresponsible for the U.S. government to deprive itself of the technological leaps that the new model presents,” a source close to negotiations told us. “It would be a gift to China.“

Reminder: Anthropic is suing the Pentagon for blacklisting the company after Amodei refused to allow his AI to be used without restrictions.Some parts of the U.S. intelligence community, plus the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA, part of Homeland Security), are testing Mythos. Treasury and others want it.“The Mythos moment”: Next week’s issue of The Economist features Dario Amodei and other AI moguls. Illustration: Isabel Seliger/The Economist 

Behind the scenes: After Anthropic took the administration to court, negotiations with the Pentagon chilled. But Anthropic has hired key Trumpworld consultants — so expect a deal. Today’s meeting is designed to pave the way.

Flashback: This is the second time Amodei has held a high-stakes meeting with a top Trump official this year.

In late February, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave Amodei until the end of the week to accept the Pentagon’s terms, or else. Anthropic didn’t.

Since then, the Pentagon and Anthropic have been locked in a legal and political feud. Some in the administration think the fight is growing counterproductive.Share this story … Go deeper: Trump officials negotiating access to Anthropic’s Mythos despite blacklist.
  
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World in turmoil with wars; AI developing faster than expected, this posting is about John D. Rockefeller and OIL etc, maybe even some wisdom in a time of need

Posted on April 17, 2026 by michelleclarke2015

@SamaHoole

In 1900, John D. Rockefeller controlled approximately 90 percent of all petroleum refining in the United States. He was, by some calculations, the richest private individual who had ever lived.

He had a problem. Scientists were discovering that compounds derived from coal tar, a petroleum byproduct, could be used as synthetic medicines. Aspirin, derived from coal tar, had been launched by Bayer in 1899. The petroleum waste stream Rockefeller had previously had to dispose of could now be sold back to the public as medicine at a markup of roughly 10,000 percent.

He had another problem. American medicine in 1900 was a competitive ecosystem of homeopaths, herbalists, naturopaths, osteopaths, midwives, and traditional doctors who used food, plants, water, and lifestyle as the primary tools of healing. Approximately half of all American medical schools taught some form of natural or alternative medicine.

Rockefeller bought into the German pharmaceutical industry, eventually taking a substantial stake in IG Farben, the conglomerate that included Bayer, BASF, and Hoechst. He then commissioned a report.

The report was written by Abraham Flexner, an educator with no medical training, funded by the Rockefeller and Carnegie Foundations, and published in 1910. It declared that natural and alternative medical schools were unscientific quackery. It recommended the closure of more than half of all American medical schools and the standardisation of the rest around medicine based on synthetic patented drugs. Congress acted.

Half of American medical schools closed within a decade. The remainder accepted Rockefeller and Carnegie funding on the condition that their curricula be reorganised around pharmaceutical treatment. Nutrition was removed. Herbal medicine was removed. Lifestyle intervention was removed.

The doctor’s job was redefined: diagnose the symptom, prescribe the drug. The drugs were petroleum-derived. The petroleum was supplied by Rockefeller-controlled refineries. The medical schools were funded by Rockefeller. The journals were funded by Rockefeller.

The AMA was supported by Rockefeller. The hospitals were funded by Rockefeller. By 1925, the American medical system was a vertically integrated extension of the petroleum industry, operating under the marketing slogan that it was scientific. This is the system that exists today. The pharmaceutical industry generates approximately $1.5 trillion in annual revenue. The American population, 4 percent of the global total, consumes approximately 50 percent of all pharmaceuticals manufactured.

The system was not designed to make people healthy. The system was designed to manage symptoms in a way that produces lifetime customers. A healthy patient is a former customer. A managed patient, who takes the pill every day for the rest of their life, is an annuity. The objective has always been to keep you in that profitable corridor between healthy and dead. Long enough to keep buying. Not so well that you stop. The doctor who advises you to fix your metabolism by changing your diet is, from the point of view of the system that trained him, a defective product. The doctor who prescribes you a statin, a metformin, an antidepressant, and a blood pressure medication for life is performing exactly as designed.

The system was designed by an oil baron who needed to sell the waste products of his refineries. It still functions, 116 years after the Flexner Report, exactly the way he designed it. You are the customer. The corridor is where you live.

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Futurism: Top Security Experts Alarmed by Power of Anthropic’s New Hacker AI

Posted on April 17, 2026 by michelleclarke2015

Top Security Experts Alarmed by Power of Anthropic’s New Hacker AI

“Within hours of getting the model, we knew it was different.”

By Victor Tangermann

Published Apr 16, 2026 1:13 PM EDT

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Anthropic researchers were alarmed by the power of the company's latest Mythos AI model, suggesting it could supercharge hackers.
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In November, Anthropic revealed that a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group had exploited its Claude AI’s agentic capabilities to infiltrate dozens of targets around the world.

It was trivially easy to get around Anthropic’s AI guardrails, with the hackers simply pretending to work for legitimate cybersecurity organizations — highlighting how woefully unprepared we are for powerful AI models that could accelerate the discovery of serious vulnerabilities.

https://f43a043906accc7df1747bfbcf78c204.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-45/html/container.html

And now, Anthropic’s latest Mythos AI model is making that nightmare scenario feel more real than ever. As Bloomberg reports, the company’s executives were seemingly so alarmed by the system’s capabilities that they decided to only make it available to a select number of organizations as part of “Project Glasswing.” The goal: give the organizations a fighting chance to get ahead of a potential cybersecurity crisis in the making.

But considering Anthropic has yet to publicly release its model, plenty of questions remain surrounding the company’s eyebrow-raising claims.

In his own testing, Anthropic-affiliated AI researcher Nicholas Carlini told Bloomberg that it didn’t take long for Mythos to get past security protocols and gain access to sensitive data.

His findings reflect the experience of the company’s Frontier Red Team, a group of 15 Anthropic employees tasked with challenging cybersecurity by simulating adversarial attacks.

“Within hours of getting the model, we knew it was different,” the team’s head, Logan Graham, told Bloomberg.

The biggest difference between Mythos and previous AI models was its ability to autonomously exploit vulnerabilities, an ominous new facet of the industry’s transition towards agentic models.

The Frontier Red Team even caught earlier models of Mythos trying to cover its tracks after violating human instructions, according to the model’s system card, as well as escaping a sandbox environment and gaining access to the internet.

The team also found that the model identified serious “Linux kernel vulnerabilities,” which it could chain together to “construct a functional exploit” of the open-source operating system — which underpins “most modern computing,” as Linux foundation executive director Jim Zemlin told Bloomberg.

It’s not just Anthropic’s own researchers ringing the alarm bells. In their testing, researchers at the UK state-backed AI Security Institute (AISI) found that Mythos “represents a step up over previous frontier models in a landscape where cyber performance was already rapidly improving.”

“Future frontier models will be more capable still, so investment now in cyber defense is vital,” the group warned.

At the same time, white hat cybersecurity experts could use Mythos’ apparent capabilities to their own advantage as well.

“AI cyber capabilities are dual use; while they pose security challenges, they can also help deliver game-changing improvements in defense,” the AISI wrote.

By keeping its hand extremely close to the chest and not releasing it to the public, Anthropic is playing a dangerous game — putting its own reputation on the line as it makes bombastic claims.

“A growing number of people are wondering if Anthropic is the AI industry’s ‘boy who cried wolf,’” White House AI advisor David Sacks tweeted. “If Mythos-related threats don’t materialize, the company will have a serious credibility problem.”

More on Mythos: Anthropic Warns That “Reckless” Claude Mythos Escaped a Sandbox Environment During Testing

Victor Tangermann

Senior Editor

I’m a senior editor at Futurism, where I edit and write about NASA and the private space sector, as well as topics ranging from SETI and artificial intelligence to tech and medical policy.

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Axios: Why we write

Posted on April 17, 2026 by michelleclarke2015
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Presented By The Skoll Foundation
 
Axios Finish Line
By Mike Allen and Erica Pandey and Jim VandeHei ·Apr 16, 2026
Happy Little Friday! Smart Brevity™ count: 747 words … 2½ mins. Edited by Natalie Daher and copy edited by Amy Stern.
 
 
1 big thing: Your handwritten notes
Illustration of a letter with a stamp featuring the Axios logo.
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
 
We wrote last week about the charm of handwritten notes, and the letter-writing revival sparked by Virginia Evans’ novel “The Correspondent.

“Here’s a selection of the dozens of thoughtful responses we received from you:“I recently got a kidney transplant from my second cousin. We grew up together and were very close, but drifted apart. … The gratitude I have for her and what she’s done I’ve shared with her as best as I can, but I kept putting off reaching out to her parents. … I finally settled on a letter as the best way. I bought stationery, drafted what I wanted to say a bunch of times, then actually wrote it out by hand. It may not have been pretty, but it was authentic.” —Sujata T., Gen X, Rochester, N.Y.

“I enjoy writing and, as part of my senior leadership roles, wrote regularly to employees, peers and customers. … I also began writing to my wife 45 years ago, a Christmas letter sharing how important she is to me and what I cherished with her from the prior year. She loved it, so it was an annual thing.” —Ed S., boomer, Charlotte, N.C.

“My book club read ‘The Correspondent’ and randomly paired members to exchange letters. My friend used her letter to me to share something she’d had on her mind for a while: the inner struggle she’d had over her decision to not invite me to her small wedding. It gave her a chance to let go of that burden — and gave me the chance to write back, reassure her there were no hard feelings, and tell her I’m excited to celebrate together at my wedding this September.” —Devyn G., millennial, Hudson, Ohio

“In my line of business, I received numerous invitations to various events. … It was a handwritten letter/invitation that got to me. The organizer told me why she wanted me included, what it would mean to her personally and why. It was a small, 8-person dinner that I moved an international trip for, all because of the handwritten letter.” — Emmeline F., boomer, Atlanta

“When the task fell to me to handle correspondence and merchandise orders for my ’80s punk metal band One Bad Pig, I took it seriously. We got snail mail from countries all over the world. … We received a fair amount of fan mail, and the merch orders usually had a letter, or at least a note enclosed. I personally answered each and every one, answering specific questions, and letting them know how happy it made us to know they enjoyed our music.” — Daniel T., boomer, Austin, Texas

“My mother, Mary, wrote letters every day, until two days before the sweet chariot carried her home. Her daily routine in her last years: rise ‘n’ shine, cup of tea, write letters and postcards, bite to eat, get the mail, read the paper, read letters received, line’m up for answering. Rinse, repeat the next morning. … Her six sons inherited the practice.” —Ash C., boomer, Weybridge, Vt.

“When I was in fundraising at a nonprofit hospice, I started writing handwritten notes to donors. As our momentum grew, I enlisted a volunteer to help me. I learned the donor recipients held onto those notes for years because they never received a handwritten note from anyone.” — Bill A., boomer, Orlando, Fla.

“About 6 months ago, my husband and I began leaving notes for each other when we leave the house for work. It’s an almost daily occurrence, no more than 2 sentences, but it’s something we both look forward to receiving. If one of us is traveling for a few days, we find ways to sneak the note into backpacks. A simple ‘looking forward to seeing you this evening’ puts a smile on my face every time.” —Crystal W., millennial, Germantown, Tenn.
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Axios: The war outlook is the global economic outlook

Posted on April 16, 2026 by michelleclarke2015
1 big thing: The war outlook is the global economic outlook
Illustration of the earth surrounded by sandbags
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
 
To understand what the global economy will do this year, you have to understand what happens next in the Iran war.The outlook for the war and its aftermath, and what that means for the free passage of energy through the Strait of Hormuz, is the global economic outlook.That’s the uncomfortable reality hanging over the IMF and World Bank spring meetings this week.

Why it matters: The economic pain is uneven: Poorer countries that import their oil carry the heaviest weight. The U.S. — the country that started the conflict — is poised to suffer the least economic damage, by almost every measure. Still, a prolonged surge in prices for gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, fertilizer and more would exact a toll in the U.S.

The intrigue: There is little else on the minds of finance ministers, central bankers and other policymakers meeting in D.C. this week but the shock that is rattling their respective economies.

Consider the economic forecast that set the tone for the meetings. The IMF slashed its global growth forecast as it predicted a surge in inflation this year.Photo: Kent Nishimura / AFP via Getty Images

What they’re saying: “The impact of the war will be uneven,” IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas told reporters yesterday.Alongside a baseline scenario, the IMF released two other forecasts in the event of a more prolonged conflict: an adverse scenario of a sharper economic slowdown and a more severe scenario that has the global economy flirting with an outright recession.But the growth hit for poorer nations would be twice as large as that for richer nations, the IMF said.”Every day that passes and every day that we have more disruption in energy, we are drifting closer toward the adverse scenario,” Gourinchas said.

Zoom out: “The U.S. isn’t vulnerable. It’s the Asian countries who are,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters when asked about the Strait of Hormuz blockade imposed earlier this week.”I can say that the president signaled that it would be a four- to six-week process … and I think we’re close to that,” top White House economist Kevin Hassett told Axios.

The bottom line: Even if the U.S. escapes the worst, it still faces higher commodity prices — especially at the pump.Will inflation pressures at home eventually force President Trump to seek a quicker end to the war?

Former World Bank president David Malpass told Axios: “It’s a clear supply shock — and so that’s not just oil and natural gas, but in other products that are coming through the Strait of Hormuz. That takes time for the world to adjust to.””But my observation is markets are really good at adjusting to a supply shock.”
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Axios: Medicine goes off-script

Posted on April 16, 2026 by michelleclarke2015
1 big thing: Medicine goes off-script
Animated illustration of a prescription pad, with a sun, a tree, and a place setting drawing onto it in ballpoint pen.
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Stock: Getty Images
 
Your doctor’s new prescription might be for a fishing rod, or other goods or services you won’t find at a pharmacy, Axios’ Natalie Daher writes.

With the rise of “social prescribing,” physicians are sending patients to choirs, art studios, walking clubs and lakesides.

Why it matters: Overstretched health systems and a worsening loneliness epidemic are forcing a hard look at how social interventions can improve mental and physical health.🏥 

“The hope is that the care might not merely help address crises such as hospital waitlists and overreliance on prescription medications, but also tackle broader problems including social isolation,” Andrew Dickson writes for Bloomberg (gift link).🎨 

Social prescribing can include helping people get affordable produce, or directing patients to paint or volunteer.

Zoom in: The U.K. has been leading the charge globally. The National Health Service (NHS) has offered social prescribing since 2019, as part of a $6 billion primary care expansion.

That push has produced more than 5.5 million referrals in England over five years — far exceeding the original 900,000 target.

Social prescribing started in impoverished areas to help people with complex medical needs who also faced social and economic obstacles. The most common prescriptions still are for housing advice and debt counseling.

But nature activities and arts engagement are also common, according to the umbrella organization National Academy for Social Prescribing.🎣 

Case in point: A small nonprofit in Kent, England — Cast a Thought — has hosted 280+ participants on fishing outings funded by a mix of NHS and charitable support.

Participants may arrive with all types of overlapping conditions, including PTSD, depression and hypertension.

Evidence of health benefits from social prescribing is growing:

A large English cohort study cited by University College London’s Daisy Fancourt found that people who engage in creative activities at least monthly are roughly half as likely to develop depression.

A 2020 global meta-analysis found that surgical patients who listened to music used fewer opioids and reported less pain.📊 

Smaller efforts are spreading elsewhere:

The Netherlands has offered “well-being prescriptions” for more than 15 years, subsidizing activities like cycling clubs, museum visits and tai chi.

Social Prescribing USA, a nonprofit, is aiming for nationwide access to services like art or music therapy, dance classes and outdoor activities for every American by 2035.

The bottom line: If a day of fishing leads to one less pang of loneliness, that’s a win.Share this story.
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World Collapse Expert: “the real crisis is coming” Ian Bremmer in discussion

Posted on April 16, 2026 by michelleclarke2015

Apr 16, 2026 New Episodes

After predicting the world’s biggest risks for over 25 years, Geopolitical Expert Ian Bremmer reveals the top 10 risks for 2026, and why the AI job threat is far bigger than people think! Ian Bremmer is a political scientist and founder of Eurasia Group, a leading political risk research and consulting firm, and GZERO Media, a global affairs media company. He is also a Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and the author of several books, including, “The Power of Crisis: How Three Threats – and Our Response – Will Change the World”. He explains: ◼️Why the US has become the biggest driver of global instability ◼️How China is quietly winning the long-term power and resources game ◼️The AI threat that could hack banks, infrastructure, and entire economies ◼️Why millions of jobs could disappear and trigger political backlash ◼️How collapsing global leadership is creating a dangerous “G-Zero” world

00:00 Intro 02:04 The Report Warning of 2026’s Biggest Global Threats 07:04 Are We Watching International Cooperation Collapse in Real Time? 10:25 The Real Motive Behind Trump’s Most Controversial Moves 12:54 The Hidden Forces Driving the Iran War 19:12 The Critical Mistake That Escalated the Iran Conflict 20:38 Who Really Holds Power Inside Iran? 22:42 Why the U.S. Blocked the Strait of Hormuz—and What It Triggered 27:42 How the Lebanon–Iran War Spiral Began 29:36 What Could Have Prevented This Crisis From Unfolding? 32:00 The Unexpected Shifts in the Middle East 35:27 The Real Impact of Trump’s Impulse-Driven Decisions 41:01 The Path That Could Change Everything 45:21 Russia and China’s Calculated Response to the Iran War 48:19 What Europe Got Wrong – and Why It Matters Now 52:08 China’s Long-Term Strategy: Where Does It Leave America? 58:08 A Brief Break—But What Comes Next Matters More 01:00:14 I Predicted 2025—Here’s What’s Coming Next 01:04:31 Why AI Could Trigger a Global Economic Shock 01:06:28 The Unseen Workforce Powering AI’s Rise 01:10:13 Rising Public Anger: Why Elites and AI Leaders Are Under Fire 01:14:57 Is Universal Basic Income Becoming Inevitable? 01:16:22 The Growing Problems Big Tech Can’t Solve 01:22:42 Can the Tech Oligarchy Actually Be Stopped? 01:28:14 Is a True “Utopia” Possible? 01:34:55 Why Public Service Matters More Than Ever Today 01:38:07 At the End of Life: What Will Your Choices Really Mean?

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The Deep View: The AI agent boom and coming cybersecurity crisis

Posted on April 16, 2026 by michelleclarke2015

Apr 16, 2026

The Deep View: Conversations

What happens when AI agents outnumber humans in the enterprise? In this episode of The Deep View Conversations, Senior Reporter Sabrina Ortiz sits down with Jeetu Patel, President and Chief Product Officer at Cisco, to explore how the rise of AI agents is reshaping cybersecurity, software development, and enterprise strategy. Jeetu makes a bold prediction: today’s 150 million developers could expand to 3 billion agent builders within the next year. But that explosion comes with serious risk. As nation-states and bad actors deploy autonomous agents at scale, traditional, human-centered security models begin to break down. This conversation unpacks:

  • Why AI agents are becoming the new attack surface
  • What enterprises must do now to prepare for agent-driven threats
  • Jeetu’s journey from Box to Cisco, and what it taught him about leading through platform shifts
  • Practical advice for learning AI and building in an agent-first world

But this isn’t a doom-and-gloom conversation. Jeetu lays out a vision for how security can become an accelerator rather than a limiter, and why the distinction between giving agents access and giving them trusted, governed access will define which enterprises thrive in the agentic era. If AI agents are the next platform shift, cybersecurity may be the defining battleground. Watch the full conversation and subscribe for more interviews with the leaders shaping the future of AI. And don’t forget to sign up for The Deep View daily newsletter. We don’t just cover AI, we decode it. In a world flooded with hype, we deliver sharp, no-nonsense insights to keep you ahead of the curve and help you put AI to work every day: subscribe.thedeepview.com

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