Humanity is not a monoculture, and nor is Australia

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Humanity is not a monoculture, and nor is Australia

14 August 2026

I’m still reading through Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s recently published vision of an AI future, but this paragraph jumped out at me:

Humanity is not a monoculture. People’s diverse values represent different tradeoffs they would make on important issues. There is no technological solution that can align with everyone’s opposing interests and values at once. Any singular superintelligence would have to prioritize some values over others and in the process would be incapable of being benevolent to everyone.

In this context, I think Zuckerberg is discussing the challenges of developing a so-called superintelligence that could comprehend the values of the world’s many varied, disparate, cultures.

Superintelligence, sometimes referred to as Artificial Superintelligence (ASI), sits above Artificial Geneal Intelligence (AGI), which in turn sits above AI. A go to example (for me) of AGI is the HAL 9000 computer, AKA Hal, from Stanley Kubrick’s movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Hal appears to be conscious, and is capable of thinking and reasoning as a human would.

It seems to me ASI, which is (theoretically) vastly superior to AGI, should be able to extend its “benevolence” to all the people of the Earth, because understanding each of their cultures would surely be something that level of technology is easily capable of. Meta however is developing what they describe as superintelligence, which may vary from ASI.

But I digress.

I doubt Australian politician, and leader of a far-right party called One Nation, Pauline Hanson, would agree with Zuckerberg’s view that humanity is not a monoculture. Because during her recent appearance at the National Press Club, she declared Australia must exist as a “monocultural society”.

Yes, Australia, the place where people from just about every culture in the world, reside.

Surprisingly, Hanson views AI favourably, although she did call for stronger government regulation of the technologies. But technologies that may recognise humanity, and by extension, the people of Australia, are not monocultural? Can that be tolerated?

No doubt Hanson will be calling for the very strict regulation of that sort of technology.

Sydney municipal council wants shop signs to be in English

13 August 2026

Strathfield is a suburb located in the west of Sydney, Australia. I don’t know many people living in the area, so I’m not there often, but have occasionally wandered the streets near the railway station. About a third of residents were born in Australia, while a reasonable number of people hail from Nepal, China, India, South Korea, and Vietnam.

This diversity is reflected in the restaurants, supermarkets, and other shops, located near the train station, where the shop signage of many of these businesses are usually composed in the first language of their respective owners. Something, of course, seen elsewhere in Sydney, and in other English speaking countries across the world.

I can only comprehend some of these shop signs, but the nature of the business is usually quite apparent. The local municipal council, Strathfield City Council, however, does not think this is sufficient, and wants all shop signage to appear in English. I can’t see how this will improve anything, nor do I see a problem with the status quo.

The proposal does not entirely come out of the blue though. In 2018, the council tried doing the same thing, apparently without success. But eight years later the idea has surfaced again. Someone there seems determined to make this happen.

Has the true identity of British street artist Banksy been revealed or not?

19 March 2026

Has the cover been blown on the true identity of British street artist Banksy?

Some people seem to think so. A British tabloid, The Mail on Sunday, claim they learned Banksy’s actual name in 2008, something that has — apparently — now been verified.

Banksy however, through his lawyer, disputes the finding, says Achol Arok, reporting on the story for The Daily Aus (Instagram link).

Assuming the latest reporting is correct, I’m surprised, with his remarkable profile, that Banksy has succeeded in concealing his actual identity for so long,

I imagine Banksy’s had help protecting this information hitherto, but the feat is impressive given the daring nature of his works, many in public places, often subject to much surveillance.

Climate change may render Iceland uninhabitable in a century

2 March 2026

Chico Harlan, writing for MSM:

Sometime over the next 100 years, human-driven warming could disrupt a vital ocean current that carries heat northward from the tropics. After this breach, most of the world would keep getting hotter — but northern Europe would cool substantially, with Iceland at the center of a deep freeze. Climate modeling shows Icelandic winter extremes plunging to an unprecedented minus-50 degrees Fahrenheit.

It is possible the scenario will not come to pass, but authorities in the North Atlantic Ocean nation are taking no chances, having deemed the prospect a national security risk.

How anyone can claim climate change is a hoax, or non-existent, when it had the potential to result in an entire country literally freezing over is beyond me.

Elon Musk says a city-size Moon base could be built in ten years

11 February 2026

Elon Musk, in his capacity as CEO of SpaceX, wants to build a “self-growing” city on the Moon. He thinks the task will take about ten years to complete.

Establishing a permanent base on the Moon seems like a worthwhile goal, but is not without significant challenges, as Aakash Gupta writes:

The unsolved problems are real. Lunar dust is electrostatically charged and sharp as broken glass. It shreds seals, clogs machinery, and embeds in lung tissue. Nobody has a long-duration fix. Radiation on the surface runs 200x Earth’s dose. Regolith shelters and water shielding help but add enormous construction overhead. The 14-day night drops temperatures to -173°C and kills all solar power, and the only flight-ready nuclear reactors produce 1-10 kW, far below what a growing base demands. What years of 1/6 gravity do to human bone density and cardiovascular systems is completely unknown.

I would like to wave away these difficulties by uttering something like “nothing ventured, nothing gained”, but fear I would somewhat be oversimplifying matters.

Nearly five million Australian social media accounts deactivated after ban

19 January 2026

Clare Armstrong writing for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC):

More than 4.7 million accounts on platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat were deactivated in the first two days of the ban that started on December 10, according to new data released by the federal government.

The social media ban, supposedly to stop Australians under the age of sixteen accessing numerous such platforms, has seen nearly five million accounts closed in the last five weeks.

Here’s hoping the lockout is having the desired impact, whatever exactly that was, though it may be a while before we know one way or the other.

Adelaide Writers’ Week on the brink following author boycotts

13 January 2026

Hannah Story, writing for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC):

Authors including Miles Franklin winners Michelle de Kretser and Melissa Lucashenko will boycott Adelaide Writers’ Week (AWW) to protest the cancellation of an event featuring Palestinian Australian author, lawyer and activist Randa Abdel-Fattah. Other authors who have withdrawn from the festival include Peter Greste, Yanis Varoufakis, Evelyn Araluen, Amy McQuire, Clare Wright, Chelsea Watego, Bernadette Brennan and Amy Remeikis.

The boycott is in response to the removal of Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah from the 2026 event, scheduled to start at the end of February.

Organisers felt Abdel-Fattah’s presence would “not be culturally sensitive” in the wake of last December’s mass shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, which targeted the Jewish community.

Although organisers say Abdel-Fattah’s writing played no part whatsoever in the atrocity, they were concerned by her long standing anti-Israel sentiments.

Abdel-Fattah has asked organisers to reinstate her, while more writers are threatening to withdraw from the event if this does not happen.

Update: Adelaide Writers’ Week (AWW) 2026 event has been cancelled. The Adelaide Festival, of which AAW is a part, will however still run.

The COVID, AI, triggered cultural vibe shift we did not see coming

30 December 2025

Sydney based Australian journalist and speech writer Brigid Delaney, writing for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC):

Arriving, a friend asked me how I was. I was OK, I replied, but still disorientated from my time on X. “I don’t know what’s real anymore,” I said. It was dawning on me that this feeling of not knowing reality was — for me — the vibe shift. AI had polluted my clarity, in part because it was so uncanny and real that it was very easy to be tricked.

The COVID lock-downs were the beginning, but the arrival of AI in 2022, and even the election of American President Donald Trump in 2024, have accelerated the vibe shift Delaney writes of.

I’m certainly aware of changes in the way people interact with each other, even if those are relatively subtle. I hear of people adopting hermit-like lifestyles, enveloping themselves in AI fostered domains, with AI companions, but don’t see, or hear, much about it in the circles I move. Most people seem to socialise face-to-face with family and friends as usual. Or at least create that impression.

Delaney’s article is contemplative reading, whatever your thoughts on any sort of vibe shift might be.

Jarrod Grech paints mural of Ahmed Al Ahmed, who disarmed a Bondi Beach shooter

24 December 2025

Melbourne based Australian artist Jarrod Grech, has painted a mural (Instagram link) of Ahmed Al Ahmed, who heroically wrenched a rifle out of the hands of one of the shooters during the terrorist attack targeting the Jewish community, at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, on Sunday 14 December 2025.

Ahmed was one of several unarmed and fearless civilians who confronted the shooters. Boris Gurman, wife Sofia, and Reuven Morrison, also tried to stop the shooters, but were tragically killed doing so. Hopefully their acts of bravery are never forgotten.

Former police officer warned of potential Bondi Beach mass shooting ten years ago

20 December 2025

Steve Buttel, a former NSW police officer, speaking to Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reporters Lia Harris and Pablo Vinales:

A former NSW Police sergeant claims he repeatedly warned his superiors years ago that local officers would not be equipped to respond to an active-shooter attack in Bondi.

Between 2008 and 2016 Steve Buttel was based at Waverley police station, which was responsible for patrolling Bondi Beach as part of the Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command.

Mr Buttel told the ABC he informed his bosses “it was only a matter of time” before there would be a terror attack targeting the local Jewish community.

It’s horrifying to think, despite strict gun control laws in Australia, there were some police officers concerned a mass shooting event might occur one day at Bondi Beach.

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