Pressure Systems edition
Quantum Circuits and Synthetic Genomes Strain Institutional Security
September 2, 2026
What this edition shows
As quantum engineering pioneers like Craig Gidney threaten digital encryption alongside OpenAI's genetic code generation experiments, institutional gatekeepers face compounding vulnerabilities across public health and market stability. From San Francisco neighborhood singularity salons to surging government debt loads, technical acceleration outpaces regulatory containment while corporate platforms deploy autonomous tools that destabilize the open-source commons.
Reporting and analysis behind this edition 9 sources
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AI means there’s no better time to study maths – but degrees are becoming less accessible
Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock Once again, maths is the most popular A-level subject. There were 115,380 entries in the subject in 2026, an increase of 3.9% from 2025. Further maths AS-level entries enjoyed an 8.5% increase from 2025 as well. Moreover, recently published data from university admissions s…
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AI Doesn’t Mean the End of Mathematics—at Least Not Yet
This essay was written with Kasra Rafi, and originally appeared in The Guardian. Earlier this month, about 40 top mathematicians gathered at OpenAI’s offices to discuss the future of their profession. The meeting was off-the-record, but if recent articles by mathematicians are any guide, it was most…
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AI Is Learning to Write Genetic Code
This sort of research is both exciting and terrifying: The two models in question were told to generate complete genomes for a viable bacteriophage—a type of virus able to infect and replicate itself inside bacteria, destroying them from the inside. Using an existing bacteriophage as an example—ΦX17…
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The rise of AI ‘civilizations’ and the fall of corporate responsibility
Depending on who you ask, developer platform Hugging Face was recently attacked by OpenAI - after it lost control of its own AI tools - or by a succession of AI "civilizations." Welcome to the linguistic battlefield of AI safety, where word choices can shift responsibility for a massive cybersecurit…
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The engineer racing to run the world’s most dangerous algorithm
Craig Gidney is largely unknown outside of quantum computing, but his pioneering work on quantum circuits could have huge consequences for us all, ushering in both useful quantum computers, and the end of digital privacy and security as we know it
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Why the rise in government debt is freaking out the bond market
Angela Weiss/ AFP via Getty Images) Mortgage holders know interest rates have risen over the past year, as the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) lifted the cash rate to fight inflation. But mortgage holders are not alone: governments and business borrowers are facing the same pressure. Australia’s gov…
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The Singularity Is Not What It Seems
One evening in early August, Sam Stowers and several neighbors packed into an apartment near San Francisco’s Alamo Square and pondered the beginning of the end. Stowers and his guests, many of whom work in the AI industry, were gathered to watch a newly released YouTube video in which two OpenAI res…
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The threat of biological warfare is real – a new book describes the potential devastation
Annie Jacobsen’s Biological War: A Scenario is a factually grounded book that reads like a thriller. It tells the story of a hypothetical but realistic pathogen, built to cause maximum destruction, that is leaked from a research laboratory. The pathogen quickly causes anarchy and mass casualties aro…
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I Saw the Future of AI in a Robot That Can Learn on the Spot
During a recent visit to Generalist AI, I watched a robotic arm improvise and use a banana as a tool.