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Enhanced Geothermal

If India is to achieve its data centre ambitions, it needs to find new sources of efficient power. While nuclear is a solution, it will take too long to come on stream. We need alternatives, and enhanced geothermal might just be it.

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Possible Futures

There are many possible futures for AI. Even if we cannot predict exactly which path it will take, as long as we remain clear-eyed about the possible consequences of the actions we take today, we will be able to mitigate the outcomes that could result over the next few years.

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DPI Thinking for COP30

The climate consensus is rapidly unravelling. With the developing world consistently failing to make the level of commitment required to prevent global warming from exceeding 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, we need to think differently about achieving sustainable development. Could we apply DPI Thinking to this problem?

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Transparent Take Down

Content moderation is a wicked problem - that calls on us to balance the fundamental right to speech and expression with the need to prevent the spread of harmful content. This is a delicate balance that we need to strike with careful attention to constitutional principles.

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The Cost of Cold

All we need to do to address our food insecurity is learn to better preserve food after it has been harvested. However, the technology we rely on to do that comes at a great cost. We need to find an alternative approach - one that prevents spoilage without harming the environment.

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Assembly Theory

The challenge with regulating technology is that laws always lag behind the technologies they regulate. One way to address this is to adopt a philosophy of incremental regulation that follows in lockstep with technological evolution. This requires a theoretical understanding of the evolutionary dynamics of technology.

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Threading the Needle

Since data allows us to price risk more accurately and, at the same time allows us to offer incentives for appropriate behaviour, it is a very useful tool for insurers looking to achieve optimal risk pooling. However, if we take it too far we risk ending up in a surveillance society.

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Consent Managers

The introduction of the term Consent Manager in the Digital Personal Data Protection Act gave rise to considerable speculation. No other data protection law had anything like it, and the law itself was unclear as to what role these entities played. Now that the Rules are with us, things are a little clearer. This is a link-enhanced version of an article that first appeared in the Mint. You can read the original here. When India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP Act) was enacted in ...

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An Internet for Energy

There is an urgent need to re-design our energy grid to take better advantage of all that digital has to offer. A recent paper describes how we can add a digital layer to existing infrastructure and use this digital energy grid to unlock greater efficiencies. But in order to realise this goal we will need a shift in our regulatory mindset.

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Is There Anybody Out There

Even though the number of users online has steadily increased over the years, conversations have grown increasingly stilted and subdued. This is the Fermi's Paradox of the online world - even though there are so many of us are online we chose to keep our heads down, knowing that if we don't, we run the risk of becoming a target for trolls. This is a link-enhanced version of an article that first appeared in The Mint. You can read the original here. Sometimes, hoping for civil engagement on th...