Joe Litobarski

Nick Clegg takes on venture capital role alongside Meta AI scientist Yann LeCun Former lobbyist and UK deputy prime minister joins London-based Hiro Capital

Irony died once more. Nick Clegg (left Europe to be a top lobbyist for Facebook): Europe has a “very, very profound dilemma, which is that we’re not only completely dependent on US tech . . [but] when we have good people with good ideas, we export them to the US”. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

An Engineered World An Engineered World examines the dramatic and global expansion of modern professional engineering between roughly 1870 and 1950. Over these decades, the numb...

just out from @mitpress.bsky.social a new addition to the Engineering Studies series. lots for @engrstudies.bsky.social & especially @thatminesgirl.bsky.social

mitpress.mit.edu/978026255335...

Albania's new AI bot minister: hype or help? | Context by TRF 'Incorruptible' or 'unconstitutional'? AI bot's appointment as anti-corruption minister in Albania sparks debate

"When it comes to modernising government you don't really want to run it like a start-up," said Litobarski. "I’m all for experimentation but let’s do it in a controlled, evidence-based way."

www.context.news/ai/albanias-...

How can Albanians get rid of their AI minister? Citizens should ask of power five questions: What power have you got? Where did you get it? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? How can we get rid of you? In the case of Albania's AI minister, the answers are unclear

How can Albanians get rid of their AI minister?

I wrote another opinion piece for @euractiv.com, this time about Albania's experiment with AI in government:

www.euractiv.com/opinion/how-...

Quick thread on the BBC and the political and societal significance of recent developments:

One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.

After a week in which Dems exceeded expectations in elections, Trump's popularity continues to tank, the GOP largely abandoned the task of governing (just as Thanksgiving travel approaches), I'm a bit surprised to see many more stories highlighting weakness in the Dem than in the GOP coalition.

one for @nanobubbles.bsky.social. do we at least get to keep Imaginary Friends?

Robert Seymour's The March of Intellect cartoon, with a huge automaton trampling over clerics, doctors, lawyers and the crown

"This is not literature as 'entertainment,' no. It’s literature as propaganda." Rachele Dini discusses OpenAI’s “A Machine-Shaped Hand” and an academic sector in crisis. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/literature-is-not-a-vibe-on-chatgpt-and-the-humanities/

Forget diplomatic niceties: it's beyond time Europe denounced Trump's trashing of democracy in the US | Paul Taylor The convention to stay out of allies’ internal affairs does not apply. What happens in America does not stay in America, says Paul Taylor of the European Policy Centre

Forget diplomatic niceties: it's beyond time Europe denounced Trump's trashing of democracy in the US | Paul Taylor

Lithuania plans to close its border crossings with Belarus indefinitely, after flights at the capital's airport were repeatedly disrupted by suspected sightings of balloons.

PM Inga Ruginienė and her cabinet are expected to decide on Wednesday.

➡️ https://l.euronews.com/6nuk

What the history of tech bubbles can tell us about AI When the dot-com bubble burst, policymakers largely let it collapse, treating it as a market correction. Today’s accelerationist MAGA-AI boom is different

What the history of tech bubbles can tell us about AI

What the history of tech bubbles can tell us about AI | Euractiv When the dot-com bubble burst, policymakers largely let it collapse, treating it as a market correction. Today’s accelerationist MAGA-AI boom is different

I wrote an opinion piece in @euractiv.com about the history of tech bubbles and the political economy of AI:

www.euractiv.com/opinion/what...

Nigel Farage's Reform UK is dealt crushing blow as 'hope triumphs over division' Reform UK pledged to "throw everything" to win the Caerphilly constituency but Nigel Farage's party was shafted at the by-election in south Wales on Thursday

Nigel Farage's Reform UK is dealt crushing blow at Caerphilly by-election

Just How Bad Would an AI Bubble Be? The entire U.S. economy is being propped up by the promise of productivity gains that seem very far from materializing.

www.theatlantic.com/economy/arch...

Great piece by @joelitobarski.bsky.social in @ourkindredfuture.bsky.social !

ourkindredfuture.com/the-eu-shoul...

The EU should unplug from US tech - Joe Litobarski Imagine the United States had a democratic dashboard to judge the health of their political system. Right now, almost all the lights would be flashing red. Democracy relies on shared norms of civil di...

New blog post - "The #EU should unplug from US tech": joelitobarski.com/the-eu-shoul...

I enjoy the way people keep remembering that this is the plot of the movie *Elysium*.

People literally saw a science fiction film a decade ago and decided it had to be real.

Pritzer gets the mechanics of authoritarianism – systemic intimidation, seizing control of elections, etc. – in a way others in national democratic leadership don't or won't say out loud.

Graphic with the headline “London is the greatest city in the world” set against a bright view of the River Thames with the Shard, Tower Bridge and the city skyline. The text celebrates what makes London special: regularly voted the number one city in the world, incredible diversity with over 300 languages spoken, world-class transport, world leader in finance tech and life sciences, best museums and galleries many free to visit, world-leading nightlife, food sport and music for every taste, host to the world’s best sporting events, home to seven Premier League clubs, globally-ranked universities, a city where you can be yourself and love who you love, and a place for everyone.

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again.

Ignore the haters, London is the 🐐

I just broke the news that our tech partners tracked over 277,000 devices in and around State Farm Stadium yesterday. They came from all across the country because Charlie pointed us all to Christ, and in his martyrdom given us the courage to do the same.

Proud to announce our unnamed tech partners tracked the cell phone locations of hundreds of thousands of people without their knowledge or consent

BREAKING — Notices for the Disney+ price increase went out at noon ET today, confirming my scoop from last night. Details: www.vulture.com/article/disn...

Dry summers, dirty water: the river Cam’s slow collapse The river Cam faces crisis from sewage pollution, over-abstraction, and inaction – locals fight to save its wildlife and natural flow

Five years ago, they warned the River Cam was only ‘one or two dry summers from crisis.’

That crisis has arrived – sewage, pollution, abstraction, and a dying chalk stream.

See why it matters.

Kate Moore reports during
#BigRiverWatch from @theriverstrust.bsky.social

The false 17th-C science of creating ghosts. PALINGENESIS. A fave topic. Take a living thing, burn it to ashes, grind it to the finest powder, then heat or nourish it. The image of the original would appear. Based on the idea that every molecule contained the imprint of the whole.

Returning to Church Won’t Save Us from Nihilism Engaging in ritual for ritual’s sake only deepens nihilism.

New article by me for @mitpress.bsky.social on the rise of "Nihilistic Violent Extremists" and why David Brooks is wrong to think that Church and "believing in belief" is the solution to nihilism rather than recognizing such empty rituals as the cause...
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/returning-to...

They are hiding behind their rage and grief to avoid looking at what they are doing

Their grief and rage is real, and it very hard to hold space for that when our grief and rage is belittled and dismissed, every time

Their feelings are treated as facts, ours treated as punchlines. For years

Three arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia The two men and a woman were all arrested in Grays, Essex, the Metropolitan Police says.

#BBCNews - Three arrested by the Met on suspicion of spying for Russia
www.bbc.com/news/article...

like many old oil hands, in the 1970s Robert Redford became an advocate for solar energy:

Worried about Wikipedia as well. Easy to imagine a pretext post-Kirk: "refusal to remove claims our people are 'fascist' or 'far right'", "refusal to name far-left Antifa terrorist editors", etc.

Indeed. We don't know the terms of the settlement with the record labels, but certainly Universal and Sony (quite rightly) don't want to be seen as attacking the preservation of historical digital memory right now. But other actors might not settle out of court.