Ramez Naam's Blog, page 7
June 2, 2014
Reducing Carbon Emissions Will Be Cheaper Than Expected – It Always Is
With the announcement of EPA’s proposed cuts to carbon emissions from existing powerplants, there’s already tremendous argument about how much they’ll cost. Some will argue that they’ll destroy the economy. How has that argument worked out in the past? … Continue reading →
April 23, 2014
Nominated for the Campbell, Clarke, Prometheus, and Kitschie!
On Saturday the finalists for the Hugo Awards and Campbell Award for 2014 were announced. So now I can reveal that I’m a finalist for the Campbell Award for Best New Writer. I’m incredibly honored to be on that list, … Continue reading →
April 17, 2014
Is the US an Oligarchy? Not So Fast.
There’s a new study out which, press outlets are telling me, shows that the United States is now an oligarchy, ruled by the rich and powerful, and perhaps that the US has been sliding in this direction for decades. You … Continue reading →
March 11, 2014
Carbon Prices Drive Clean Energy Innovation
I want to point out something I see commonly missed. Carbon prices accelerate innovation that brings down the price of green energy. So do renewable energy portfolio standards, green energy subsidies, and a whole swath of other climate policies. They do this … Continue reading →
February 26, 2014
What’s Limiting the Impact of GMOs on Global Food Security?
My friend Jon Foley, who I have a great deal of respect for, has a piece up arguing that GMOs have failed to improve global food security because they fall into a trap of reductionist thinking. With due respect to … Continue reading →
February 19, 2014
Publishing – We’re All On the Same Side
There’s been a vigorous and at times antagonistic conversation about publishing and self- vs. traditional- publishing routes going on lately. I’ve been resisting joining in too much, both because I have a book on deadline, and because I have friends … Continue reading →
January 17, 2014
President’s Proposed NSA Reforms are Insufficient
Today President Obama announced a set of proposed reforms to the NSA. They are woefully insufficient. Congress and the courts need to act. Here’s a storify of my tweets on the topic. [<a href="http://rameznaam.com//storify.com/ram..." target="_blank">View the story "What's Missing from … Continue reading →
January 13, 2014
TEDx Talk: Linking Human Minds
Video of my TEDxRainier talk, on Linking Human Brains, is now up. This is all about the current science of sending sights, sounds, and sensations in and out of human brains, and the frontiers of augmenting and transferring memory and … Continue reading →
January 12, 2014
The Shrinking Dominance of the Big Dogs in Tech
"In 1981, the top ten technology companies represented 95% of the global IT market cap. Today, that share has fallen to 26% and the ratio continues to fall." Microsoft, IBM, DEC, HP, and so on were once titans. Apple, … Continue reading →
January 4, 2014
Nexus and Crux: A Double Kindle Daily Deal
My sci-fi thrillers Nexus and Crux are BOTH Kindle Daily Deals today, marked down to just $1.99 each. These are books that have been praised by NPR, Wired, the Wall Street Journal, BoingBoing, Ars Technica, Charlie Stross, Alastair Reynolds, Cory … Continue reading →
