the exact same arguments were used to boost new space a decade ago

"Srinivasan himself has started a 'Network School' on an artificial island near Singapore, where techno-optimists can work their day jobs remotely while living in a hotel together and learning how to 'bootstrap'... a new society [ — ] 'society-as-a-service'"

This edition of Japan Daily Briefing looks at some things to watch this week, as well as the "radar lock" incident, a defense ministerial with Australia, and efforts by opposition parties to coordinate their candidates for the next general election. open.substack.com/pub/observin...

Scoop: Provisions of the NDAA that would ensure military members’ right to repair their own equipment are set to be removed from the funding act, replaced by language that will require the military to pay subscription fees to defense contractors via “data-as-a-service.” www.wired.com/story/subscr...

Every service is building its own “autonomous” systems. Without shared standards, they may as well be speaking different languages in combat.

Palantir update via www.wired.com/story/alex-k...

circling back with some research contacts from my fieldwork in new space to find so many now work at defence companies, and so many of those fledgling new space companies are now more explicitly defense companies

Als je beter wilt begrijpen welke financiële, juridische, publieke en technologische krachten er achter de giga beurswaarde van Tesla zitten - het fundament van de rijkdom en macht van het zgn. 'genie' Elon Musk. Vandaag gepubliceerd (open access): www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Google plans to build a large artificial intelligence data centre on Australia’s remote Indian Ocean outpost of Christmas Island after signing a cloud deal with the Department of Defence this year, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and interviews with officials www.afr.com/technology/g...

Curious about the role of VC influence in defence but no time to read my full research artice? I have a shorter version of the @finandsoc.bsky.social article on VC and military AI up now with @theconversation.com. Check it out! theconversation.com/the-silicon-...

"Tap water isn’t drinkable. Power outages are common. The national average annual wage is $2,200. Yet rising on Jakarta’s outskirts are giant, windowless buildings packed inside with Nvidia’s latest artificial-intelligence chips." www.wsj.com/tech/ai/its-...

"The beam reflected by these satellites is very intense, four times brighter than the full Moon."

反物質と物質の違い、日米などの研究で検証　素粒子ニュートリノ解析 - 日本経済新聞 www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZ...

The object’s fall to Earth highlights the growing problem of space junk – and how humanity is dealing with it. 🧪 🔭

We're seeing lots of headlines about the catastrophic impact of massive data center expansion. But what else could data centers look like? In my perpetual quest to seek out alternative technofutures, I want to highlight the really cool work of Keolu Fox. 🧵

👀

The first article of the Silicon Valley special issue I’m editing is out! @mrshoward.bsky.social shows how contrarianism isn’t genuine dissent but a performative strategy rooted in venture capital. The piece develops negative mimesis, how dissent is aestheticized, repackaged & stripped of politics.

check this out!

Susannah Glickman on the rhetoric of the defense-tech sector and the reality of defense industrial policy

wild

Amazing title slide I have to share before even watching @scriptingjapan.bsky.social youtu.be/TElWjeFmtl4?...

ah

Book tour!📕 Whoever said crime doesn't pay, never had any good cryptocurrency Crime does pay--as long as it's paid in Bitcoin In my new book, the devil takes bitcoin—we take a deep dive into how crime propelled an academic exercise into a powerful currency. tokyopaladin.substack.com/p/us-book-to...

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space venture is teaming up with partners in Luxembourg on Project Oasis, which aims to identify and take advantage of water ice and other resources on the moon. www.geekwire.com/2025/blue-or...

I spent some time wandering around SF with some kids who read minds, raise millions, and subsist on Celsius nymag.com/intelligence...

"Layered both literally and figuratively on top of the future pathway of the Google internet infrastructure, the sugarcane railway tracks evoke the longevity of colonial infrastructures as well as the ideologies underlying them." – @emmaquilty.bsky.social datasociety.net/points/confr...

This is a super helpful resource if you're trying to figure out public finance, geoeconomics, and international financial institutions. Open access and well assembled by @bsrbarab.bsky.social @c-westermeier.bsky.social and Malcolm Campbell-Verduyn. www.cambridge.org/core/books/c...

Very glad to see that someone is doing the important work of aligning AI alignment. alignmentalignment.ai

how about a whole book: www.routledge.com/Exploring-Et...

come on, be serious now

Radboud University has a new phd opening on Outer Space and Colonialism -- looks cool! www.ru.nl/en/working-a...

pretty bad! this thread also has some stories about the poor labor conditions at SpaceX which sound similar to what I heard in my own research

this is today!

this week! the social studies of outer space network is back with the June monthly meeting, join us online to talk space, social science, and citational practices! need the link? just ask

BREAKING: The head of the $42 billion federal BEAD program that aims to bring broadband internet to rural and unserved areas has left the Commerce Dept. He sent a departing email warning of "deeply negative outcomes" for people if the Trump admin shifts $$ from fiber internet to Musk's Starlink:

Call for papers: "Tech Oligarchy" Forum by @sciasculture.bsky.social #bigtech #sts #oligarchy #Trump #ElonMusk think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issu...

making unpleasant music with click farm equipment I bought on the internet

today! it's the Social Studies of Outer Space Network monthly meeting. meet and talk with researcher around the world, just ask for the link!

Image by Michael Carroll shows some asteroids to scale. We did NOT see the little one coming & it hit Earth above Chelyabinsk in 2013, injuring >1400 people. Asteroid 2024 YR4 is bigger than the little one, perhaps as large as the football field! JWST 🔭 data next month will help pin down the size.

SpaceX rocket debris crashes into Poland www.bbc.com/news/article...

🎙️ Satellites and Space Races: The role of Europe in the space economy Listen to the full episode of the Sound of Economics podcast 🛰️ #EconSky https://buff.ly/4i38qSJ

Join us! Science Homecoming helps scientists reconnect with communities by writing about the importance of science funding in their hometown newspapers. We’ve mapped every small newspaper in the U.S. and provide resources to get you started. Help science get back home 🧪🔬🧬 🏠 sciencehomecoming.com

I wrote a small peice for Sapiens magazine about my fieldwork in Mauritius: www.sapiens.org/culture/sate...

look i respect Punxsutawney Phil but only abide by the foresight of the true rodent oracle, Kharkiv's Timko III: 112.ua/en/babak-tim...

back in krakow for a bit

Deals in the death space are trending upward and the market for necropolitics is hot, hot, hot! "The value of venture capital deals in the defence sector has increased 18-fold in the past decade. [...] the US defence industry is super consolidated at the prime level.” www.ft.com/content/24a2...

all of this is just leading to the smug smart door from 'Ubik'