ALWAYS IMPERFECT – EPISODE 6 – ISN’T IT IRONIC?

Massive increases in productivity lure businesses into adopting artificial intelligence. But what if pursuit of that elusive ‘superprodctivity’ produces exactly the opposite? A rebroadcast of Radio New Zealand’s Nine To Noon from16 October 2025, host Kathryn Ryan and I ask whether any business advantage can be gained by the ‘promiscuous’ use of AI.

Read about the South Korean datacentre fire here.

And all about ‘workslop’ here.

The Users’ Guide to the Future #3 – Can we fight bushfires with cool burns?

Life in the bush can be beautiful – and dangerous. Can a simple examination of our homes make them safer in bushfires? How can we ‘read’ the bush – and heal it – to avoid catastrophic bushfires?

We speak with Indigenous land and fire expert Victor Steffenson about what we don’t know about the bush – and should. Architect Ian Weir then walks us through some simple steps to make a home in the bush more resistant to bushfire.

Victor Steffenson is the author of Fire Country, about the Indigenous land management practices explored in this episode.

Victor is part of the Firesticks Alliance, an organisation working to educate Australians on how to live within and heal the bush.

Ian Weir specialises in the architecture of bushfire-resistant homes and properties.

Dr. Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick is a Senior Research Associate at the Climate Change Resarch Centre at UNSW.