Back above the clouds

Passing the gate at Gothenburg Landvetter Airport, I was greeted by the characteristic “beep” and a new seat assignment in business class for the morning flight to Frankfurt. Having already been upgraded to Premium Economy for the transatlantic leg, the trip is off to the best possible start as Johanna and I fly out over Kattegat.

With an out-of-office reply in place, the coming days will include the annual conference of the Western Political Science Association in San Diego, a mountain trail race in Silverado, and a desert escape under the stars in Borrego Springs. Posting may be slightly delayed, but I will do my best to bring Rawls & Me along.

Reviewing

Being part of a new Routledge volume on ideology and environmental politics, we are currently doing rounds of internal peer review before the manuscript is sent out for external review. In my case, this means that I have read two chapters so far, one on eco-authoritarianism and another, more conceptual, for the introduction. Soon, I will receive a third chapter on eco-feminism, and with the train ride between Halmstad and Gothenburg being just one hour, I need every caffeine fix I can get to stay on top of it all.

At least yesterday was a blast, as I kicked off the thesis supervision process for the 12 + 3 theses I am supervising this semester. I remember back in Lund in the aughts, when supervising half that number was considered an unusually heavy load. With Halmstad University currently laying off staff, I fear this trend will only continue.

And as for worrying trends, I cannot help but note that Germany is now considering ramping up coal power to substitute for expensive gas in the wake of the Iran war. A week ago, the German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, Katherina Reiche, told an oil conference in Texas that the EU’s net-zero target should be relaxed. In that sense, the chickens may finally be coming home to roost with regard to the Energiewende. Rather than expressing any Schadenfreude, I can only hope that its supporters will be willing to draw the right conclusions from this.

The Difference a Decade Makes

Daylight Saving Time

Wide awake long before dawn, I decided to sneak out for a harbour run while the kids were asleep, stopping for a morning coffee at the Preem gas station in Gårda and watching a waxing yellow Moon give way to a misty sunrise.

After 18 kilometres of quayside running, I started worrying about the kids, so I took the tram home. Yet, after dropping William off for his second day of math camp at Chalmers, I topped up with 10k of indoor rowing and 4k on the treadmill at Nordic Wellness Järntorget. With that, I at least made it to 60 kilometres this week, which makes me wonder how I ever managed to run twice or almost three times that in a single week. At least the rowing is good shit. I tend to think of it less as cardio and more as a form of muscular endurance training, and 50 km per month has really upped my game.

Meanwhile, in the real world, the war in Iran continues, and much as Trump had hoped for some kind of “Iranuary 6th” moment, domestic revolt does not seem to be forthcoming. As so many times before, violence only reinforces the sense of victimhood on which the regime feeds. After decades of failed regime change, from Libya to Iraq, one cannot help thinking that the pull factor of freedom, and the sympathy that followed 9/11, might once have inspired a generation had the US not responded as it did.

Halfway there

Having dropped William off at Chalmers University of Technology for another weekend of mathematical wizardry, I went down to Chalmersgatan where Nordic Wellness has just acquired a new and rather fancy gym. Rowing ten of the twenty kilometres I need to finish before heading to the US, I almost felt like being halfway there, a feeling that intensified over a bagel at Jimmy & Joan’s.

Listening to “Nåt som verkligen är bra” by Lars Winnerbäck, I realise I am clearly not the only one prone to seeing images. But with only two hours left until I have to pick William up again, I have to stop dreaming and return to work. If not before, I promise to start April with one of my signature mid-Atlantic blog entries.

Workaholics

With the rain intensifying outside, I curl up on the sofa after a tense day at work. Coming from a family of workaholics, I do not expect much sympathy, but this week will go down as one of the busiest on record, with eight hours of seminars both today and tomorrow.

Having less than a week left in Europe, logistics is a puzzle of its own, but for now it seems as if everything is where it should be. Hopefully, the rain will pass overnight so that I can repeat my Monday morning run to Jansa brygga, famous for its seal colony.

Over lunch

Over lunch, my sister called me to share her fears about the world and the direction of AI development. As a software engineer in Stockholm, she is seeing first-hand how the industry is changing – how AI-generated, customized code is rapidly replacing open source and human intent.

Always the optimist, I try to stay sane by taking Caia to Tylösand. Yet, with companies like Anthropic having made AGI their explicit near-term target, I cannot deny that I am scared too. Even if we somehow avoid turning all of the solar system into “computronium”, the consequences of an intelligence explosion are, to a large extent, beyond human imagination.

For now, our best hope seems to be that human-level intelligence turns out to be a much harder problem than the past five years of AI development have given us reason to believe. Either that – or that something is in fact “wrong” with reality at a much more fundamental level (think Fermi’s paradox).

Row with a view

After seven hours of solid sleep on the white sofa from Önsvala, I was hoping to catch the last of the unusually strong solar storm, but dawn arrived before I got to see any northern lights. Running out to Kinbergsudde, just as I did in December, I was very tempted to jump right into Kalmarsund. Uncharacteristically, reason prevailed, and I continued to the waterfront Nordic Wellness for some rowing and strength training. With its large windows overlooking the guest harbour and the new Stordalen hotel under construction, the views certainly made my usual Örgryte gym blush.

A long winter later, there are once again flowers in my parents’ gardens, and keeping with tradition, I topped up my morning run with another jog around Stensö together with my mother. Having just turned 77, she remains remarkably enduring, and it is hard not to be impressed by her stamina over the decades. While I chase mileage targets and races, she simply keeps going.

Stopping service

Today, train 327 is making a large number of unusual stops on its way from Gothenburg to Kalmar. Among them, “Rävlanda” is my obvious favourite, bringing back memories of running the Borås Ultra Marathon in 2024, but also offering a subtle hint of what could be in store for this blog as Lufthansa is rolling out its "Future Onboard eXperience", or “FOX”, this spring – assuming that my upgrade request for the Airbus 350-900 return flight from San Diego to Munich clears.

Looking back on yesterday’s crisis simulation, I was so impressed by the students and their creativity, even using AI to generate logotypes and graphical profiles for the fictive municipality of “Långsdalen”. Next Friday, I will have another marathon session in front of Zoom with the same 30 students, as I attempt an oral exam with ten minutes allocated to each student.

Crisis simulation

After spending six hours in an oxygen-starved conference room, the annual crisis simulation with my organizational communication class is over, and I am let out into the brilliant spring sunshine. Walking to the station, I can look back on three beautiful days in Halland that have included a hike with Johanna to the old salt mill in Svalilt, intense academic discussions, and a dinner worthy of the most incorrigible foxes, accompanied by the Nespolino Sangiovese Merlot blend that I discovered during my last visit to Pontus.

Tomorrow, Eddie and I will take another train across Sweden to see my parents for the first time since December, and I hope to squeeze in a run around Stensö, as the forecast promises endless sunshine. As for forecasts and weather, California is currently experiencing a massive heat wave, with inland temperatures already climbing above 40 degrees – something that does not normally happen until May. Hopefully, it will cool off in time for the Silverado mountain trail race on 4 April. If not, I may be in for another heat-induced race cancellation, like the one in Portugal back in 2023.