When I listen, watch or read things, many of the most interesting presentations are those that provoke, or catalyse, a new train of thought; or which opens a new vista, enabling the world to reveal itself in another way.

This recent TED talk by Ali Borhani - the founder of FuturEarly - is one such experience. Ali speaks specifically to the ecological consequences of war fighting, and the carbon debts of not just the production of war fighting machine but the implications of destruction and reconstruction. He calls for the jettisoning of carbon exceptionalism, by means of mobilising AI to give us all - humanity that is - foundational insights into the ecological costs of war. This is the instrumental dimension, so to speak, of Ali’s talks.

But what Ali’s talk did was invite me to think about the very nature of war making itself, or perhaps what war tells us about the nature of political power itself and the ethos of politics in our contemporary era. And what it did was provoke me to ask: how is it possible to reconstitute a meaningful human politics grounded in the pursuit of life itself, as a counterpoint to the “thanano politics” embodied absolutely in the acts of war itself.

Eloquently delivered, evocative, and provocative. Find 20 minutes to listen.