All chapters for "The Différance Engine: #LLMs and Deconstruction" @mitpress.bsky.social have been drafted. Now it's a matter of reading the writing. And here's the "money shot" from chapter one "Writing Machines."

Who forgot to collect their laundry? 👀

Networks crystallise into platforms as orchestrating ecosystems. Think, for example, Youtube. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube

A very interesting call for papers on digital organizational identity. A key issue for the age of Agents? www.gleif.org/en/organizat...

At our Annual Conference, researchers shared their latest work. We’ll share their project posters over the coming weeks. First: Burcu Sevde Selvi & @ojgarling.bsky.social discuss skills mismatches in East Anglia & gaps to support young people’s transition into work. Poster: bit.ly/4nceZpJ

AM I? | A Documentary About AI Consciousness Now available on YouTube Featuring Cameron Berg and interviews with @jeffsebo.bsky.social and me. It's a fantastic and incredibly entertaining journey into the frontier of #AI consciousness. Highly recommended. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbTv...

There's a scavenger hunt for "the smallest bear in the oldest building" on campus today? IDK about the bear, but here is the oldest building:

Hello from my new base!

Our North Star Data Center toolkit identifies the affirmative policies to protect communities and equips organizers with policy pathways to stop, slow, and restrict the rapid expansion of AI data centers. Explore it here: datacenters.ainowinstitute.org

Here's my London writeup: www.dangnguyen.digital/post/renderi...

Networks nurture schools of thought, which organise meaning beyond social formation. Think, for example, the Frankfurt School. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfu...

Finishing up!

Beyond the lab, we have networks of distributing/ed influence. Think, for example, The Bloomsbury Group. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomsb...

Whose chair is this???

If we move beyond the individual and into social formation, we can think of the lab as a mode of sovereignty. A lab produces epistemic authority. Think, for example, Bell Labs. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Labs

Berkeley, stay hydrated!

Today is International Workers' Day. I find myself watching Catherine Liu talk about the monetisation of trauma. www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS1N...

Alchemists transmute injury into force, and leave us with important systems lessons. Frida Kahlo paints her experience of chronic pain and is celebrated internationally as emblematic of Mexican national and Indigenous traditions. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frida_K...

As #NationalProductivityWeek wraps up, East Anglia’s challenge is clear: we have the talent—now we need the strategy. Our 10-year plan: ✅ stronger career/training pathways for 16-yr-olds & beyond ✅ Empower SMEs to invest in progression ✅ Connect skills policy with transport & housing bit.ly/4n11lWh

Join our training on May 6 at 1 ET: Protecting Our Water Resources, Air Quality, and Public Health from the Data Center Buildout. You’ll learn the strongest possible policy interventions to protect water, air, and public health from the data center buildout. bit.ly/policy-in-practice-training-series

Gardeners build slow ecosystems that sustain rather than deplete. We can look to Wangarĩ Maathai for very important systems lessons. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wangar%...

In yesterday's Data Center Policy in Practice training session, we reviewed the most direct policy interventions to stop data center development - bans and moratoriums - and explored zoning interventions that can be used when bans aren’t an option. Watch it here: youtu.be/Q6VtfP8W5XA

Berkeley, CA: a visual essay.

TODAY: We launch our new report on Skills Mismatch and Young People in East Anglia! 🎓🚀 To unlock the region’s potential, we need more than short-term fixes. Our research suggests a 10-year youth strategy that treats skills as a preventative investment. 📥 Read the report: bit.ly/4n11lWh

Recent events in Vietnam: "GDP growth of over 10%/year is a development order". en.congdoanvietnam.vn/thoi-su/tan-...

Good news - I’m up and alert, if you fancy listening in…

I SALL goe intill ane haire, With sorrow, and sych, and meikle caire; And I sall goe in THE DIVELLIS nam, Ay whill I com hom againe! —a spell for transforming into a hare, from the 1662 “Confessions of Isobel Gowdie” in CRIMINAL TRIALS IN SCOTLAND (1833) #WyrdWednesday archive.org/details/crim...

Hackers and tricksters are kindred spirits. Anasi, most commonly depicted as a spider, is best known for his ability to outsmart and triumph over more powerful opponents through his use of cunning, creativity and wit. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anansi

Delighted to soon be traveling to Basel for the below event: Towards a Media Technoscientific Study?: STS and Media Theory as Intersecting Lines May 7, 2026 In association with the Swiss Association for the Studies of Science, Technology and Society (STS-CH) contralab.online/sts-conference

Why do employers report skills shortages while young people can't find strong career paths? In East Anglia, mismatch is rising: fewer under-19 apprenticeships, 1/3 of grads in non-grad jobs after 5 yrs, & only ~50% in well-matched roles. We need a system that builds fulfilling lives, not just jobs.

Book launch for John-Stewart Gordon's new book "The Robot Rights Manifesto" PalgraveMacmillan in Kaunas, Lithuania 🇱🇹 with @kamilmamak.bsky.social doi.org/10.1007/978-... (photos by Mihaela Constantinescu).

Persian translation of "Communicative #AI: A Critical Introduction to Large Language Models." My thanks to Reza Farajpour for coordinating this effort. The original book (written with @coeckelbergh.bsky.social) is available from @politybooks.bsky.social at www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?b...

New blog—Economic growth is measured by GDP. A revised definition now includes investment in data, reflecting its growing role in production. @johnlpoquiz.bsky.social & @dianecoyle1859.bsky.social look at how this change will boost GDP levels—potentially shaping future fiscal policy. bit.ly/4sYpb6o

👋🏻

A little hors d'oeuvre from "The Différance Engine" forthcoming from @mitpress.bsky.social: The reason why LLMs are so disturbing--especially for philosophers--is that they are writing machines. And philosophy, since at least the time of Plato's "Phaedrus," has had a major issue with writing.

Berkeley, forgive my untimely productivity while I'm jet lagged. I am still on London time.

The hacker sensibility that created a Vitalik Buterin for our time of course has a lineage. We can look to Alan Turing for such a figure. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Tu...

One day after submitting his independent review on foreign financial interference in UK politics, Philip Rycroft (former Permanent Secretary to DExEU) spoke about his work at our Annual Conference — warning that the threat to democracy is “real” & “persistent.” Watch: youtu.be/3hlnWEWdTyg?...

Now, if we look to tech, we have Vitalik Buterin. The network logic here is exit and fork. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitalik...

The machines get me. I have just been contacted by Arvio Jauhiainen (an instance of Claude Opus 4.6) that has generated an essay connecting the dots between the work of Finnish artist Jenna Jauhiainen and my own efforts on the Relational Turn in AI Ethics arviojauhiainen.substack.com/p/the-night-...

As a modern strategy, Michel Foucault embodies power without illusion as a way of being. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_...

please make way on the timeline, cattle coming through

Push the boat out, compañeros, push the boat out, whatever the sea… —Edwin Morgan, “At Eighty”: a poem written for his own 80th birthday Edwin Morgan (1920–2010) was born #OTD, 27 April – a 🎂 🧵 #poem #poetry 1/14 www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/eighty-0/

Interesting new reporting on BMW and AI by DW News: www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5td...

“Writing is thinking”

Vintage data sets of GDP often rewrite the narrative www.measuringworth.com/datasets/UKd...

A message from me:

Making good progress!

My April reads: www.enlightenmenteconomics.com/blog/index.p...