It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Thursday, September 16, 2021
Australia bushfires: Devastating flames released more than twice the amount of CO2 than previously thought, says study
Wed, 15 September 2021,
The enormous and devastating Australian bushfires of 2019-2020 released more than twice the amount of carbon dioxide than previously thought, a new study has revealed.
Around 74,000 km2 - an area almost the size of Scotland - of eucalyptus forest went up in flames, triggering mass evacuations and killing or displacing three billion animals.
The fires were already known to have released large amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, but the latest analysis found in fact 715 teragrams of CO2 were emitted between November 2019 and January 2020.
This is more than twice the amount previously estimated and surpasses Australia's normal annual fire and fossil fuel emissions by 80%.
The report, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, said the fact that fires were "driven partly by climate change" makes "better-constrained emission estimates particularly important".
The link with climate change, and the expectation that fires will become more frequent in future, suggests that "part of the CO2 emitted by these fires will not be sequestered by vegetation regrowth".
It warned of a vicious cycle of carbon dioxide from the fires building up in the atmosphere, contributing to climate change, which in turn drives more fires.
Globally, wildfire emissions are roughly equivalent to 22% of all fossil fuel emissions, the report said.
The wildfires also released vast amounts of aerosols, containing nitrogen and iron.
These are likely to have fuelled vast plankton blooms thousands of kilometres away in the Southern Ocean, a separate study in Nature found, highlighting the complex links among wildfires, ecosystems and the climate.
"It has been suggested that the oceanic deposition of wildfire aerosols can relieve nutrient limitations and, consequently, enhance marine productivity but direct observations are lacking," the study into the blooms said.
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‘Time is running out’:
Researchers warn climate
progress has stalled as only
one country doing enough
to meet 1.5C target
Daisy Dunne
Only one country is currently doing enough to meet the world’s aspiration of limiting global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, researchers have warned.
The rest of the planet is making “sobering” progress towards meeting the target agreed by countries under the Paris Agreement, according to new analysis released just weeks before the Cop26 climate summit is due to take place in Glasgow.
The assessment of 37 countries, from the independent research group Climate Action Tracker, says that progress towards keeping hopes of the 1.5C target alive have stalled since May, with Gambia being the only country currently taking sufficient action.
It adds that the UK is the only developed country to have climate plans that are in line with efforts to limit warming to 1.5C. However, it does not yet have the policies in place to make its ambitious targets a reality, the scientists said.
“It’s sobering that in the last few months we’ve seen little movement,” Professor Niklas Hohne, analysis author and founding partner of the NewClimate Institute in Germany, told The Independent.
“The gap between where we want to be and where we are is huge. When considering all of the pledges and targets that are currently on the table, we will barely stabilise greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 – while we would have to halve global emissions by 2030 to be in line with the Paris Agreement.”
Gambia is rated highly because it currently accounts for a very small share of global greenhouse gas emissions and yet has still pledged to slash its climate pollution, said Prof Hohne.
“Gambia is not responsible a lot for climate change, but it has still pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions if there is international finance available,” he said.
A flurry of new commitments to slash these emissions were put forward during key climate summits held in the first half of 2021, the researchers said. However, progress has now slowed.
“We’ve moved very little in the last four months,” said Prof Höhne.
The findings come shortly after a landmark report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which said that the climate crisis is already affecting weather and extremes in every region of the globe – and that urgent action is required to keep hopes of limiting global heating to 1.5C alive.
Countries’ progress towards meeting the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels (Climate Action Tracker)
The new analysis says that three-quarters of all countries are currently making insufficient progress towards meeting the 1.5C target.
All countries were expected to come forward with new domestic climate plans, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs), this year ahead of Cop26.
However, the analysis finds that a group of countries, which together account for around half of global emissions, have not yet submitted any new plans for how they will cut their emissions. This group includes the world’s top emitter China, as well as India, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
In addition, many of the countries that did come forward with new climate plans failed to meaningfully increase their ambition, the analysis said. Such countries include Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Singapore, Russia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Switzerland and Vietnam.
“Those countries have to go back and think about whether that was the right decision,” said Prof Höhne. “We are just months away from Cop26 and time is running out.”
Some countries are “almost” doing enough to be in line with keep global temperatures to 1.5C, he added. These countries include Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Morocco and Nepal.
Dr Bill Hare, analysis author and CEO of the global research centre Climate Analytics, added that it would be “impossible” to meet climate goals without more urgent action.
“The IPCC has given the world a ‘code red’ warning on the dangers of climate change reinforcing the urgent need for the world to halve emissions by 2030,” he said.
“An increasing number of people around the world are suffering from ever more severe and frequent impacts of climate change, yet government action continues to lag behind what is needed. While many governments have committed to net zero, without near-term action achieving net zero is virtually impossible.”
Governments falling woefully short of Paris climate pledges, study finds
Oliver Milman in New York Wed, 15 September 2021
Every one of the world’s leading economies, including all the countries that make up the G20, is failing to meet commitments made in the landmark Paris agreement in order to stave off climate catastrophe, a damning new analysis has found.
Less than two months before crucial United Nations climate talks take place in Scotland, none of the largest greenhouse gas emitting countries have made sufficient plans to lower pollution to meet what they agreed to in the 2015 Paris climate accord.
This means the world is barreling towards calamitous climate impacts.
Under the Paris deal, nations vowed to prevent the world’s average temperature rising 1.5C above pre-industrial times in order to avoid disastrous heatwaves, flooding, storms, drought and other consequences that are already starting to unfold. But the new analysis, by Climate Action Tracker, finds almost every country is falling woefully short of that commitment.
Climate pledges made by Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia are “critically insufficient”, the analysis found, while Australia, Brazil, Canada, China and India are among those deemed “highly insufficient”.
The US, the European Union bloc, Germany and Japan are ranked as “insufficient”, while the UK, the host of the upcoming climate summit, is “almost sufficient”.
Of the 36 countries, plus the EU, ranked by the Climate Action Tracker only the Gambia has made commitments in line with the 1.5C Paris goal. Combined, these countries make up 80% of global emissions.
Governments are supposed to periodically improve their emissions reduction targets in order to fulfil the promises made in Paris but progress has “stalled” this year, the researchers said.
There was “good momentum” in May after a climate summit held at the White House by the US president, Joe Biden, according to Niklas Höhne, a researcher at NewClimate Institute, a partner organization in the Climate Action Tracker analysis.
“But since then, there has been little to no improvement – nothing is moving,” he said. “Governments have now closed the gap by up to 15%, a minimal improvement since May.
“Anyone would think they have all the time in the world, when in fact the opposite is the case,” he added.
This intransigence comes despite the looming climate talks and increasing signs of the climate crisis manifesting itself in catastrophic weather events, including massive floods in Germany and China, severe wildfires in the US and dangerous heatwaves sweeping severalcountries.
A survey of 16,000 people across North America, Europe and Asia on Tuesday by Pew found that 72% were worried that climate change will harm them personally at some point.
In August, a landmark report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s leading authority on climate science, found that the burning of fossil fuels is changing the Earth’s climate in “unprecedented” ways and that rapid cuts in greenhouse gases are needed to avert climate breakdown.
António Guterres, the UN secretary general, said the report should act as “a code red for humanity”.
But the Climate Action Tracker found a lack of urgency by all of the major emitters, such as China, India and the US, in responding to this threat.
Even countries with strong climate targets are not on track to meet them, while international finance for poorer countries to help cope with the climate crisis is falling short. If current practices continue, the world is on track for nearly 3C in warming.
The analysis said of “particular concern” are the governments of Australia, Brazil, Indonesia and Russia, all of which have failed to raise the ambition of their emissions cuts at all since 2015.
Coal, the most polluting fossil fuel, is still being developed on a large scale by India and China, the report found, while gas infrastructure is being expanded by Australia and the EU.
“An increasing number of people around the world are suffering from ever more severe and frequent impacts of climate change, yet government action continues to lag behind what is needed,” said Bill Hare, chief executive of Climate Analytics, another partner in the new study.
“While many governments have committed to net zero, without near-term action achieving net zero is virtually impossible.”
The analysis provides a sobering reality check ahead of the UN climate talks, which were pushed back from last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A coalition of 1,000 environment groups have called for the talks to be postponed again because delegates from the poorest countries still lack access to coronavirus vaccines.
This call has been rejected by the British government as well as John Kerry, the US climate envoy, who said on Monday that a further delay would be a “huge, huge mistake”.
But Kerry risks entering the talks with no major climate victory to brandish, with emissions reduction provisions as part of a huge $3.5tn piece of Biden’s legislative agenda still a matter of disagreement even among Democrats in the US Congress.
Environmentalists have also attacked the Biden administration for recently leasing out vast areas of the US west and the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas drilling.
The leases “will make it even harder for America to meet its climate goals”, said Jennifer Rokala, executive director for the Center for Western Priorities conservation group.
“Vision is nothing without action. Unfortunately, the Biden administration’s actions to increase drilling on public lands are at odds with the president’s vision,” she added.
San Marino set to hold a referendum on whether to legalise abortion
Wed, 15 September 2021,
San Marino -- a landlocked republic in central Italy -- is counting down to a referendum on legalising abortion.
The small state of 33,000 inhabitants will decide on September 26 whether to allow terminations up to twelve weeks of pregnancy. It is one of the only places left in Europe where terminating pregnancies is illegal.
Attempts to legalise abortion over the past 20 years have been vetoed by successive governments, most of them conservative.
"It is not true that abortion does not exist in San Marino," said Rosa Zafferani, a member of the UDS (San Marino Women's Union). "Women go to have abortions outside our country. They do it illegally because abortion is a criminal offence here. All this is disgraceful."
But Rocco Gugliotta, 41, a warehouse worker, believes it shouldn't just be the mother who is the decision-maker.
"A couple is composed of a mother and a father. Why does it always have to be only the mother who decides? Does the father not have any decision-making power?
"The pregnancy must be carried out without abortion. If you really don't want the child there is the possibility of putting it up for adoption."
If the "yes" campaign win abortion would be legal within the first three months. After that, it would only be allowed if the mother's life was in danger or in the case of fetal abnormalities which could harm the woman physically or psychologically.
San Marino women were only given the vote in 1964. Divorce was only introduced in 1986.
Tens of thousands campaigners to march in Glasgow and London during Cop26
Katrine Bussey Wed, 15 September 2021 Tens of thousands of climate campaigners are expected to march through Glasgow and London when the UK hosts the global Cop26 summit (Yui Mok/PA)
Tens of thousands of campaigners are expected to march through London and Glasgow in November as the UK hosts the global Cop26 climate change summit.
The Cop26 Coalition, which brings together a range of groups demanding action to tackle the issue, stressed that Covid-19 precautions would be put in place “so we can safely take to the streets and demand real action on climate change”.
As well as the “major mobilisations” planned for both Glasgow, the host city of the Cop26 conference, and London, activists will take to the streets at another 15 locations across the UK.
In Glasgow campaigners will rally in the city’s Kelvingrove Park on the Global Day of Action on November 6, before marching to Glasgow Green for a rally in the afternoon.
Meanwhile in London, the march will set off from outside the Bank of England, ending with a rally at Trafalgar Square.
With the events taking place during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, all those taking part will be encouraged to socially distance, wear a mask and test themselves before attending.
Quan Nguyen from the Cop26 Coalition said: “The decisions made at Cop26 will shape how governments respond, or not, to the climate crisis.
“They will decide who is to be sacrificed, who will escape and who will make a profit.
“This conference is happening at a crucial moment in history.
“Across the world and across movements, we are seeing a new wave of resistance, global solidarity and grassroots organising.”
The campaigner continued: “This November, we will take responsibility for our collective wellbeing by putting in place Covid-19 precautions so we can safely take to the streets and demand real action on climate change be taken at Cop26.
“This is a unique opportunity to rewire our system as we recover from the pandemic.
“We can either intensify the crisis to the point of no return, or lay the foundations for a just world where everyone’s needs are met.” The Cop26 summit is being held at the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow this November. (Andrew Milligan/PA)
Stuart Graham of the Cop26 Coalition’s Glasgow local hub said: “This November, climate activists will stand shoulder to shoulder with trade unionists, community groups, anti-poverty and anti-racist campaigners and the rest of civil society to demand climate justice.”
As well as the marches in Glasgow and London, events are also planned to take place in Nottingham, Chichester, Manchester, Cardiff Bristol, OxfordNewcastleLeeds Truro, Swansea, Sheffield, Birmingham and Plymouth.
World Anti-Doping Agency to review cannabis ban after top US athlete forced to miss Tokyo Olympics
Wed, 15 September 2021
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will review whether cannabis should remain a banned substance for athletes.
Cannabis is currently prohibited in competition and the ban will remain in place in 2022, WADA said.
An advisory group to WADA will begin the scientific review next year.
While cannabis is not thought to be performance-enhancing, it is classified as a "substance of abuse", the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has said, referring to a worldwide code.
Richardson said she used the drug after hearing from a reporter that her biological mother had died - a week before she began Olympic trials in Oregon, where cannabis is legal.
The 21-year-old's trial results were disqualified after she tested positive for THC, the banned chemical found in cannabis.
She had been seen as a top contender, winning her 100m test race with a time of 10.86 seconds on 19 June.
The suspension was widely criticised and sparked calls for a review of anti-doping rules, including by USADA.
What could have been a three-month sanction was reduced to one because Richardson agreed to participate in a counselling programme.
"The rules are clear, but this is heart-breaking on many levels," USADA CEO Travis Tygart had said.
USA Track and Field had described the situation as "incredibly unfortunate and devastating for everyone involved".
Richardson had apologised to fans and said the death sent her into a "state of emotional panic", adding: "Don't judge me, because I am human."
Deutsche Bahn, train drivers union reach pay deal
Germany's rail operator and a train drivers union have agreed on a new pay deal. The dispute had earlier seen three rounds of strikes.
Deutsche Bahn and the GDL union reached a deal following three sets of drivers' strikes
After several rail strikes that crippled Germany's nationwide train system, a deal between German railway operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) and the GDL train drivers' union was announced on Thursday.
The deal, announced by the premiers of the German states of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, is set to resolve railway disruptions across the country after months of deadlock between DB and GDL.
Pay raise for train drivers
The two parties agreed on a gradual 3.3% wage increase for drivers for a duration of 32 months and two bonus payments of €800 to €1,000 ($940-1,180) for each member.
Starting from December 1, a hike of 1.5% will go into effect. Another 1.8% salary increase will take effect on March 1, 2023.
UK
Yodel workers to strike, threatening M&S, Aldi and Very deliveries
Sarah Butler Thu, 16 September 2021, Photograph: John Morrison/Alamy
Delivery group Yodel is set to face strike action after 250 of its couriers voted to protest over pay and conditions, potentially adding to disruption caused by lorry driver shortages.
The dispute, which could affect deliveries for Marks & Spencer, Aldi and Very from Yodel’s depots in Hatfield in Hertforshire, Glasgow and Wednesbury in the West Midlands, according to the GMB union, comes as campaigners leverage worker shortages, caused by a mix of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic, to fight for better rights.
The Yodel drivers’ vote for action comes as drivers at the Booker distribution network, which is part of Tesco, and more than 200 drivers and engineers at Hanson, the cement producer, moved closer to industrial action in disputes over pay and conditions.
The GMB union said Yodel’s drivers were angry over issues including a lack of work-life balance, and the fact that agency workers were paid more than drivers directly employed by the company. Workers are also concerned over an alleged lack of payouts in lieu of annual leave and an alleged failure to honour contractual agreements on pay for holiday and sick leave.
GMB also accused Yodel of “dragging its heels” on substantial pay increases that would keep drivers from leaving for better-paying jobs elsewhere, especially at a time when employers across the country were scrambling to hire workers.
Nadine Houghton, a national officer for the GMB, said: “GMB drivers working for parcel delivery giant Yodel have returned a massive vote in favour of taking industrial action over pay and working conditions.
“With acute labour shortages across a range of sectors the time for working people to organise and take action to improve their lot is right now.
She said Yodel union members would now agree dates for their first round of strikes.
A Yodel spokesperson said: “We are in ongoing, meaningful talks with GMB officials with a further meeting scheduled for next week. We will continue to work in good faith and remain committed to find a resolution for our valued transport colleagues on any outstanding matters.”
A lack of lorry drivers, due in part to the Covid-19 crisis and Brexit, has put pressure on UK supply chains and left some retailers struggling to refresh their stock.
The issue has combined with global disruption to logistics networks caused by the pandemic which led to the location and quantity of ships and containers being out of sync with demand. Ports are struggling to cope with a rapid return to business.
On Wednesday, the drinks group Fever-Tree said its profit margins had been “significantly impacted” by the increased costs prompted by the logistics disruption. The Restaurant Group, owner of the Wagamama chain, said it was experiencing rising labour costs and an increase in costs of distribution and food.
Shell to build Dutch biofuels plant in
net-zero push
Thu, 16 September 2021, FILE PHOTO: The Shell logo is pictured at a gas station in the western Canakkale
province in Turkey
(Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell plans to build a biofuels facility in the Netherlands to help achieve its target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, it said on Thursday.
The facility in Rotterdam will be able to produce 820,000 tonnes of renewable fuel per year when it starts production in 2024 and is expected to be one of Europe's largest such facilities, the energy giant said.
The plan follows Shell's pledge in February to eliminate net carbon emissions by 2050, raising its ambition from previous targets in the face of growing investor pressure to battle climate change. Sustainable aviation fuel could make up more than half of the Rotterdam plant's capacity, with the rest for renewable diesel, depending on customer demand.
The facility will produce the fuels from waste in the form of used cooking oil, animal fat and other residual products.
Sustainable vegetable oils like rapeseed will supplement the waste feedstocks at the plant, which will not use virgin palm oil.
(Reporting by Siddarth S in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)
‘I worry what’s going to happen’: how Covid has made airline work risky and exhausting in the USA
Michael Sainato Thu, 16 September 2021,
From mass furloughs, voluntary job losses and retirements, to understaffing problems and a surge in cases of harassment and assaults by unruly passengers, workers at airports and airlines continue to bear the brunt of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the air travel industry.
The sector was among the hardest hit by Covid-19, losing about 100,000 jobs in the first few months of the pandemic. Through three rounds of funding, Congress provided the industry with $54bn in federal assistance to keep workers on payrolls, while surges in the Delta variant have stifled air travel recovery domestically and internationally.
US airlines have differed on whether to implement vaccine mandates for their employees, while passengers are not required to be vaccinated or have a negative Covid test to fly and some airlines did not support extending mask mandates on US domestic flights.
“In my entire career, I have never experienced what we are experiencing right now,” said an American Airlines flight attendant who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, as they are not authorized to speak with the media. “I go to work now and I always worry what’s going to happen, what’s going to trip somebody up, trigger their anger. It’s a whole new ballgame out there right now and it’s a different type of passenger we’re seeing right now.”
They said that flight attendants were constantly dealing with irate passengers who refuse to comply with federal mask mandates for all flights, and would like to see more support from management and paid self-defense training provided to all flight attendants.
While enforcement of Covid safety protections has fallen on flight attendants, workers are still worried about contracting the virus and spreading it to loved ones, and grappling with stressful working conditions and the loss of several co-workers who died of the virus.
So far in 2021, the Federal Aviation Administration has issued more than $1m in fines against unruly airline passengers and received about 3,900 individual reports. A national survey of nearly 5,000 flight attendants released in July 2021 by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO (AFA) found 85% of flight attendants have experienced disorderly passengers in 2021, and one out of five have experienced physical incidents.
Workers in the airline industry are dealing with additional risks associated with Covid-19: a lack of sick leave benefits, widespread understaffing, and enforcing Covid-19 safety protocols.
Delta Air Lines plans to raise health insurance premiums for all unvaccinated employees starting in November 2021 and will require they take weekly Covid tests beginning 12 September. Delta announced the policy was intended to mitigate the financial impact of Covid-19 infections, as the average hospital stay for coronavirus has cost the company $40,000 per person.
A Delta Air Lines ramp agent in the midwest US who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation said he viewed Delta Air Lines’ decision to raise health insurance premiums for unvaccinated employees as marketing rather than the company’s concern for the health of their workers.
“To this day, the people responsible for cleaning your aircraft before boarding are contract workers who do not receive health insurance. These are the people who can least afford to be sick and are most likely to tough it out and come to work with an illness,” the worker said.
The ramp agent once used accrued sick time to call out of work because they were not feeling well and went to get tested for coronavirus. The managers threatened to start reprimanding employees for calling out of work for double shifts – which are the only type of shifts this worker has.
A Delta Air Lines spokesperson said in an email, “Our leaders are encouraged and empowered to support our people who need time off to get tested and take care of themselves.”
Some airline industry workers are employed by third-party contractors, and have long suffered from low pay and a lack of any benefits or healthcare, problems that have become even more burdensome during the pandemic and as domestic travel recovered through the summer of 2021.
Jane Spurka, a wheelchair attendant for a contractor, Bags Inc, at Orlando international airport in Florida, was furloughed from March to August 2020. Shortly after returning to work, Spurka was injured on the job and had to work through the pain of her injury until her workers’ compensation claim was processed in May 2021. She’s been on light duty since then.
“We are understaffed, overworked and unappreciated,” said Spurka, who makes $7.98 an hour plus tips. “If we are sick, whether it’s just a simple head cold or the flu, we have no choice but to work. There are no paid days. We don’t get any kind of anything from the company.”
She said wheelchair attendants had been so overwhelmed that they hadn’t been able to take breaks, often take on two passengers at once, and are subjected to anger and frustration from airline passengers.
Joseph Gourgue, 62, a gate agent and wheelchair attendant at Orlando international airport, recently contracted Covid and received no pay for the two weeks of work he missed while quarantined. He also spread the virus to his wife. He has pre-existing health conditions and said he would have stayed home from work longer, but could not afford to do so.
“All the company does is make sure you work every day, and make sure you get your job done,” said Gourgue, who gets paid just above the federal minimum wage and relies on tips from passengers. “This is why I’ve been working so hard with my colleagues for two years to unionize. They’re going to have to negotiate, to look into our eyes. I don’t like the idea of workers being taken advantage of, but this is America right now.”
A spokesperson for Bags Inc declined to comment on specific employees, citing company policy, but added in an email, “Generally speaking, employee wages and eligibility for benefits vary depending on the position, responsibilities, experience, location, client, full-time/part-time status and other factors. We value our employees and are committed to providing a safe work environment and following government-mandated regulations where applicable.”
Neurocracy: futuristic murder-mystery fiction as told through Wikipedia Sarah Maria Griffin Thu, 16 September 2021
On first click, Omnipedia feels like the shadow-sister of Wikipedia: empty white space with the occasional image, marked up by slim black text and iconic blue hyperlinks. But we are on a different internet now. This fictional encyclopedia is essentially the narrator of Neurocracy, which is part game, part murder-mystery novella and part postmodern exploration of how we take in stories and information. It is a labyrinth of text – the reader, or player, navigates a 2049 version of our world by clicking hyperlinks. Having done some exploring, I believe it’s best to go in totally blind, though I will say that the central mystery concerns the death of the man who launched Omnipedia in the wake of Wikipedia, a character named Xu Shaoyong.
We click through from one fictional entry to the next, learning gradually that this future world is full of threats, from the presence of a civilisation-upending disease to binaural implants that track and enhance our experiences online, all the way down to dating shows that end in shocking loss of life. It feels unnervingly close to the internet as we know it, but with subtle differences that amount to clever environmental storytelling. For example, the GDPR cookie-tracking pop-up that’s now the doorman at the gate of every website includes both familiar text about data and consent, and a note about our “montages” being tracked – our emotional state, as tracked by an algorithm.
The storytelling style is rather like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, but it rejects linearity in favour of allowing the reader-player to intuit themselves through the web of information. The online rabbit-hole becomes a literary device. There’s even an option, as there is on Wikipedia, to start on a random page. This is ambitious and confident writing – there is a sureness here that the machine of this mystery works so well that you can walk into the maze from any angle, and still find what you are looking for.
Omnipedia is an unreliable narrator – we are encouraged to look at the edit logs of each wiki page, to see what information is new and what has been deleted. This feature of Wikipedia, programmed into the encyclopedia for transparency, is used here as a postmodern storytelling tool, and it provides a strange kind of tension. Revealing what is new information and old information on the search for the truth behind Shaoyong’s death injects drama into the static, familiar space of a website.
New material has been added to Neurocracy every week, and its storytelling method is compelling. For me, the best way to engage is with a notebook, marking down my findings – but there is a thriving Discord community sleuthing away too. What is more powerful than the murder mystery, however, is the depiction of a world that feels uncannily close to our reality. There is a sense in each entry that what we see there could be just around the corner. This is what excellent science fiction does: it holds up a mirror to culture as it is, and shows us what is just creeping up behind us.
Neurocracy is playable here; first chapter free, access to the remaining nine chapters costs £15.
