.@politybooks published my overview of world politics in 1996, showing parallels w. apartheid. I underestimated benefits of glzn, but #Brexit, Trump etc. show it is more relevant now. We need transition to accountable, equitable gl. governance. Read more https://t.co/OJDOlloM9b
Two economists just published a mathematical proof that AI will destroy the economy.
Not might. Not could. Will — if nothing changes.
The paper is called "The AI Layoff Trap." Published March 2, 2026. Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Boston University. Peer reviewed. Mathematically modeled.
The conclusion is one sentence.
"At the limit, firms automate their way to boundless productivity and zero demand."
An economy that produces everything. And sells it to nobody.
Here is how you get there.
A company fires 500 workers and replaces them with AI. A competitor fires 700 to keep up. Another fires 1,000. Every company is behaving rationally. Every company is following the incentives correctly. And every company is building a trap for itself.
Because the workers who were fired were also customers.
When they lose their jobs faster than the economy can absorb them, they stop spending. Consumer demand falls. Companies respond by cutting costs — which means automating more workers — which means less spending — which means more falling demand — which means more automation.
The loop has no natural exit.
The researchers tested every proposed solution. Universal basic income. Capital income taxes. Worker equity participation. Upskilling programs. Corporate coordination agreements.
Every single one failed in the model.
The only intervention that worked: a Pigouvian automation tax — a per-task levy charged every time a company replaces a human with AI, forcing them to price in the demand they are destroying before they pull the trigger.
No government has implemented this. No major economy is seriously discussing it.
Meanwhile the numbers are already tracking the curve. 100,000 tech workers laid off in 2025. 92,000 more in the first months of 2026. Jack Dorsey fired half of Block's workforce and said publicly: "Within the next year, the majority of companies will reach the same conclusion."
Nobody is doing anything wrong. Companies are following their incentives perfectly. That is exactly the problem.
Rational behavior. At scale. Simultaneously. With no mechanism to stop it.
Two economists built the math. The math leads to one place.
Source: Falk & Tsoukalas · Wharton School + Boston University ·
When the Pope Declared War on America: Episode 31: Quiet Before the Storm - encounters with @QSA, & @LornaShore in Philadelphia https://t.co/M5MkMlPfC8
@ChrisMurrayMP Britain’s voting system is broken. 70 MPs are backing an amendment to finally review it.
To make an impact, we need many more.
Please support it
https://t.co/u8ls4yVwNc
Britain’s voting system is broken. 70 MPs are backing an amendment to finally review it.
To make an impact, we need many more. I’ve urged @ChrisMurrayMP to support it with this tool.
Can you contact yours too? https://t.co/u8ls4yVwNc
BREAKING: Pope Leo XIV published his landmark encyclical on artificial intelligence "Magnifica Humanitas,” comparing the attempt to build an AI future that excludes God to the "Tower of Babel" and underlining the need to safeguard human dignity as it is "threatened by new forms of dehumanization."
"The risk of dehumanization -- of building a future that excludes God and reduces the other to a means -- is an ancient and ever-new temptation that today takes on a technical guise," Pope Leo said.
"In the era of artificial intelligence, when human dignity is threatened by new forms of dehumanization, ours is the pressing duty to remain profoundly human. We must lovingly safeguard the grandeur of humanity bestowed upon us and revealed in its fullness in Christ, the splendor of which no machine can ever replace.”
When the Pope Declared War On America: Episode 30: Liberation Day - call for conversations to reboot the American constitution (& evangelical 'deliverance service' https://t.co/HIAMW90pN0
No limits to GDP - but there are limits to environmental capacity. If tech leaders, oligarghs & politicians do not manage these limits, we are dune for. Humanity will die off and perhaps become extinct. The planet will recover. @elonmusk@grok & @NVIDIAAI may write our obituary.
America's oligarchy in Trump's raiding party to China:
https://t.co/P52PSOr8Tu
Supporting evidence for Trump prioritising personal wealth over American welfare:
https://t.co/jg3DQufEKw
https://t.co/TrozO6I97l
https://t.co/7TtkS2kLDj
https://t.co/MEtb3aEAzl
Break out students, and below shows the UK immigration story. Latest data only takes us to June last year: it will have fallen further since.
Basic net migration is probably at a multi-year low already. Why doesn't Starmer say so?
https://t.co/Bbxf4cT26G
What do you do when a student raises a conspiracy theory in the classroom? This ACT guidance from UCL experts combines real examples, practical strategies & key theory to help you respond with confidence. Available to paid members: https://t.co/2L5rvguDaG
Hungary’s parliament sings “Ode to Joy” — the anthem of Europe — after Péter Magyar is sworn in as prime minister.
Hungary is once again a proud member of the European Union.