Americans use air conditioning just about everywhere. Europeans, for the most part, do not. But a deadly summer heat wave that threatens to become the new climate normal has sparked a fierce debate about whether it’s time for the continent to finally cool down.

The dispute has grown “especially heated” in recent weeks, said Yahoo News. Visiting World Cup fans have kept cool in “American bars, restaurants, hotels and even stadiums” while their neighbors back home suffered Europe’s “worst-ever heat wave” without much relief. Just 20% of European homes have AC, mostly because northern Europe “rarely got hot enough to justify” the technology until recently, and electricity is “way more expensive” than in the U.S. 

‘Vast amounts of suffering’
Americans and Europeans have “very different ideas about physical suffering and sacrifice,” said Thomas Chatterton Williams at The Atlantic. Americans are “scandalized” by European reluctance to cool down, but Europeans are “much more willing” to see discomfort as “part of life.” The result is “far too much air conditioning on one side” of the Atlantic Ocean and “not remotely enough on the other.”

Air conditioning can “save your life” but also “drain your bank account and accelerate the apocalypse,” said Jonn Elledge at The New World. Running AC “adds to your carbon emissions,” especially if you are using “cheap portable air-conditioning units” that people tend to panic-buy during a heat wave. The flip side is that most homes overheat during the summer, with terrible effects on “health, productivity, hydration levels.” 

Europe’s resistance to air conditioning is “driving it insane,” said Noah Smith at his Substack, Noahpinion. The lack of AC is causing “vast amounts of suffering” and death as “punishing, brutal heat waves” become more frequent. 

‘Frivolous sideshow’
Adding more air conditioning to Europe’s grid could create a “vicious cycle,” said Deutsche Welle. The electricity to power those devices is substantially “generated by polluting, planet-warming fossil fuels.” That “only makes the problem worse.”

The debate may seem a “frivolous sideshow,” but it reflects Europe’s inability to make “quick, effective, wholesale transformation even in the face of vital threats,” said Rym Momtaz at Carnegie Europe. The climate emergency has been coming for decades, and the continent’s governments are not ready. “Why trust them to manage defense if they can’t properly manage a heat wave?”

For years, philosophy graduates have been the “butt of jokes about unemployable degrees,” said Business Insider. But now they can earn six-figure salaries as the “world’s most powerful AI companies” try to “shape how machines think and behave.”

High-profile philosophers are already “embedded” in top AI firms, including Anthropic and Google DeepMind, said Business Insider. And OpenAI’s Sam Altman has claimed his company employed “hundreds of moral philosophers” when designing rules for ChatGPT.

‘AI constitutionalism’
Some “ancient” philosophical considerations are at the core of the contemporary tech industry, said The Economist. The idea of “Socratic ignorance” — that wisdom is realizing the extent of what we do not know — is a major principle in AI development used to avoid “sycophancy.”

Philosophy is key to safety practices, too. Implementing the concept of “AI constitutionalism” — using legally or morally authoritative texts as “scaffolding” to direct the system — is intended to prevent “ominous behavior” from the models, said The Economist. Anthropic revealed earlier this year that its Claude constitution, nicknamed the Soul Doc, includes sources as “diverse as Immanuel Kant, Apple’s terms of service, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

The influence goes both ways, said trend-tracker Observer. The demands of the AI industry are reshaping the “long-standing” landscape of philosophical thought, as foundational questions regarding consciousness, morality, minds and computation take on a “new urgency.”

‘Ethics-washing’
The two disciplines of computer science and philosophy have “never been quite as entangled” or as “fraught” as they are now, said The Atlantic. And some experts are concerned that “misaligned incentives” will encourage a “rush of low-quality work.”

There’s also a “degree of suspicion” in the academic world that AI firms are engaging in “ethics-washing,” said Wired. Hiring philosophers to train systems shows that companies are “outwardly performing a commitment to AI safety.” Even if philosophers are given “free rein” in tech companies, ultimately, they are “accountable to investors and shareholders.” And if a “for-profit AI company signs your paycheck, might that compromise your research”?

The Italian Navy’s Amerigo Vespucci sails past the Statue of Liberty during Sail4th, the largest-ever flotilla of more than 30 tall ships from around the world, alongside a naval review of more than 53 U.S. and foreign warships, in New York Harbor and along the Hudson River. 
Yuki Iwamura / AP Photo

Even with the many streaming-induced changes to the film industry’s operations, July remains a month for blockbusters. It includes an intriguing mix of madcap comedies, sweeping action epics and independent fare hoping to get as many viewers into theaters — or in front of their screens — as possible.

‘Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass’
Gail (Zoey Deutch) is so shocked when her fiancé, Tom (Michael Cassidy), uses his half-joking “celebrity sex pass” that she travels to Los Angeles and convinces actor Jon Hamm to go to bed with her. Director David Wain (“Wet Hot American Summer”) brings us a film “so aggressive in its meta absurdity that it makes an episode of ‘Seinfeld’ look like Ingmar Bergman,” said Owen Gleiberman at Variety. (in theaters July 10)

‘The Odyssey’
Director Christopher Nolan tackles Homer’s epic story of Odysseus. An extraordinary cast includes Matt Damon as the titular hero, Zendaya (pictured above) as the goddess Athena, and Jon Bernthal as Menelaus, the king of Sparta. Nolan has been “circling this kind of scale for much of his career, but ‘The Odyssey’ marks a new technical milestone even for him,” said Rodrigo Perez at The Playlist. (in theaters July 17)

‘The Dink’
Sports comedies like “Dodgeball” don’t always get the critical love they deserve. In “The Dink,” director Josh Greenbaum (“Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar”) looks to capture the zeitgeist with this big-hearted satire of the pickleball phenomenon. It has “all the hallmarks of a typical sports redemption story,” said Ryan O’Rourke and Maggie Lovitt at Collider. (on Apple TV+ July 24)