https://thesecondemergency.com/notes/ Dated working notes on emergency planning for AI-enabled failure in Canadian public services. Free to use, no permission required. en-ca Thu, 24 Sep 2026 06:00:00 -0400 https://thesecondemergency.com/notes/05-we-have-seen-this-before.html https://thesecondemergency.com/notes/05-we-have-seen-this-before.html Thu, 24 Sep 2026 06:00:00 -0400 Walkerton, Pickering, Nova Scotia, the Post Office Horizon scandal and the Dutch benefits scandal. Five public records of the failures AI could now bring to public services. https://thesecondemergency.com/notes/04-no-one-is-required-to-know.html https://thesecondemergency.com/notes/04-no-one-is-required-to-know.html Tue, 22 Sep 2026 13:00:00 -0400 No statute in Canada requires a provincial or municipal essential service to even inventory where an AI agent has decision authority. This note names the gap and states what would close it. https://thesecondemergency.com/notes/03-when-system-failure-reaches-the-kitchen-table.html https://thesecondemergency.com/notes/03-when-system-failure-reaches-the-kitchen-table.html Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 -0400 Do not ask only whether the system can be restored. Ask what happens to people while it is unavailable, and what happens if it never goes visibly down at all. https://thesecondemergency.com/notes/02-drill-and-danger-are-the-same-thing.html https://thesecondemergency.com/notes/02-drill-and-danger-are-the-same-thing.html Sat, 19 Sep 2026 13:00:00 -0400 In an exercise, the scenario and the hazard are separate. In an AI evaluation they are the same object. https://thesecondemergency.com/notes/01-second-emergency-has-no-owner.html https://thesecondemergency.com/notes/01-second-emergency-has-no-owner.html Sat, 19 Sep 2026 12:00:00 -0400 The second emergency is defined by what it lands on, not when it arrives. The consequence layer has no owner during an event or after it. https://thesecondemergency.com/ thesecondemergency-film-2026 Sat, 19 Sep 2026 09:00:00 -0400 A sixteen-minute film setting out why a sustained failure of connected systems inside essential public services is municipal emergency management, with captions. Free to watch and share.