iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

We are holding European Research Council Reading Days in Cardiff, Durham, Birmingham & Glasgow for humanities & social sciences researchers interested in ERC funding. You will be able to read previously successful ERC grant proposals from a selection of 50 www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/projects/eur...

thebritishacademy.ac.uk

ERC Reading Day 2026

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 19h

I’ve often said politicians can think of AI as being like magic, and John Gray takes this theme to a logical conclusion that AI reintroduces a world of fairies and demons magazine.newstatesman.com/2026/09/30/t...

The famous arc of history has taken an unexpected turn. Science, which was supposed to exorcise the planet of gods and demons, is repopulating it with digital minds. The alien global super-intelligence that could wipe us all out is not much more than a Gnostic myth. Spirits are coming back into our lives as ghosts in the machines we converse with every day. Rather than approaching an end-time, we are returning to life as it was before monotheism and modernity, to the primordial animism that humans practiced for hundreds of thousands of years. In a poetic reversal, Al is re-enchanting the world.

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—>realhackhistory.org @bsky.realhackhistory.org · 04/10/2026

This feels like a twist on “guns don’t kill people..”, AI won’t destroy humanity - people using AI will destroy humanity.

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

If you were sceptical of the claim that AI might destroy humanity, it turns out Trump has been consulting Grok about his Presidency including whether to intervene in Venezuela 😱 time.com/article/2026...

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

‘To this day, beating other people motivates him more than money.’ That was true on Wall Street and now explains these prediction market bettors. Great piece www.ft.com/content/ac1f...

ft.com

Polymarket’s Alpha traders

In a private group chat, an elite crew of prediction-market bettors turn elections, wars and disasters into ‘free money on the floor’

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Good piece from @jburnmurdoch.ft.com & @sarahoconnorft.ft.com on AI in science. It’s making some bits faster, but there is a new ‘verification tax’ taking up time. And there are heightened bottlenecks in physical experiments & data collection. AI is a workflow problem www.ft.com/content/4508...

ft.com

The AI Shift: Is AI supercharging science?

Productivity gains in analysis are getting stuck in physical-world bottlenecks

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

ft.com

The AI Shift: Is AI supercharging science?

Productivity gains in analysis are getting stuck in physical-world bottlenecks

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Cheer yourself up with what a Louise Bourgeois spider might have looked like if she’d been more keen on LSD

Dancing Pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama - in the National Gallery of Victoria

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Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Something very striking about it being 2026, all the talk of AI and super intelligence and tech competition and here we are talking about diesel inventories. A useful reminder that these two books are a useful frame for understanding the world.

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Cheer yourself up with what a Louise Bourgeois spider might have looked like if she’d been more keen on LSD

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Apply for our fantastic global innovation fellowship where you could be based at @carnegieendowment.org (in Washington DC, Brussels, Berlin, Beirut or Singapore). Awards are for up to £150k www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...

Global Innovation
Fellowships:
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace
2026
The objective of the Global Innovation Fellowships is to provide opportunities to UK-based early- and mid-career researchers from across the humanities and social sciences to develop their skills, networks and careers in the creative and cultural, public, private and policy sectors to address challenges that require innovative approaches and solutions.

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

What was the moment you realised you had no grasp of the world anymore? This did it for me www.ft.com/content/f109...

Many creators seek to ride more shortlived waves of internet popularity. Shira
Jeczmien, founder of viral marketing agency Screenshot Media, points to a brief trend of people eating whole cucumbers that led to shortages of the vegetable in supermarkets.

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

What was the moment you realised you had no grasp of the world anymore? This did it for me www.ft.com/content/f109...

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Another blow to those who think of Singapore as a poster child of small government as it sets up a state dating app www.ft.com/content/a214...

ft.com

Singapore taps Nobel-winning formula for government dating app

City-state takes matters into its own hands with pilot programme aimed at boosting marriages in fast-ageing country

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Why good stats matter: ‘The rise in inactivity was a key concern for the Bank of England in setting interest rates, and a factor influencing then Conservative chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s introduction of a £5bn-a-year childcare subsidy in 2023.’ www.ft.com/content/78ec...

ft.com

Post-Covid economic inactivity was much lower than thought, ONS says

Findings come days after agency said UK productivity grew twice as fast as estimated after global financial crisis

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Those who think AI is going to largely automate white collar jobs in the next couple of years don’t understand the nature of work - @sarahoconnorft.ft.com nails it www.ft.com/content/4aad...

It is not obvious that AI agents could eliminate the need for this type of work, since it involves persuasion, contestation and the exchange of tacit knowledge and experience that is spread across different departments, and often exists inside people's heads rather than in a neatly codified handbook on the intranet.

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

‘After the incident with Usman, Robb told Muse to stop giving his address. To test the bot, he asked a few friends to see if Muse would still share it. “And it literally gave my address out to five people,” he said.’ 😱 www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

theguardian.com

Meta’s AI agent Muse gives out user’s home address without permission, sending buyer to his house

The new AI agent, Muse, was released last week and has been downloaded by 3 million users

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

ft.com

Post-Covid economic inactivity was much lower than thought, ONS says

Findings come days after agency said UK productivity grew twice as fast as estimated after global financial crisis

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Analysis of 200,000 films released between 1994 and 2023 found that on average, films written and directed by women make higher profits, even though their male counterparts are routinely awarded bigger production budgets www.thetimes.com/article/64f9...

thetimes.com

Show me the money? Films directed by women make the most profit

But research also finds every movie of the past 30 years with the biggest production budget was directed by a man, leading to renewed allegations of misogyny

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

thetimes.com

Show me the money? Films directed by women make the most profit

But research also finds every movie of the past 30 years with the biggest production budget was directed by a man, leading to renewed allegations of misogyny

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The FT runs an explainer on El Niño in which it drily tells us that scientists don’t typically use the classifier ‘Godzilla’ El Niño www.ft.com/content/c411...

What is a 'Godzilla' El Niño?
Some observers have referred to the upcoming El Niño as "super" or "Godzilla".
James Hansen, an American climatologist, has called this year's phenomenon "super-duper"
Scientists typically do not classify the event in such terms. The WMO's preferred

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Good homage to 70 Up from @juderogers.bsky.social (although watch it first). And some good links to other pieces giving a bit more backstory to Nick Hitchon’s participation juderogers.substack.com/p/the-unansw...

juderogers.substack.com

The unanswered questions of 70 Up

The death of Nick, goodbye to Neil, and the power of watching fourteen real lives in time-lapse – the return of my Mid-Week Culture Culture Blast

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

One to three minute micro-dramas watched on smartphones have taken off in India, following in the footsteps of China and South Korea www.ft.com/content/407e...

ft.com

India gets hooked on ‘snackable’ micro-dramas

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The Dutch government has been holding community role plays for emergency preparedness & an advice app which works even without internet. Emergency hubs and support points have been set up. The UK needs to learn from others & go beyond telling us to buy some canned goods… www.ft.com/content/127a...

ft.com

Europe prepares for life ‘between war and peace’

Dutch lead civilian drills to withstand Russian sabotage and natural disasters

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Feel like this piece didn’t get enough pick up in the week - well worth a read

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

This was a striking bit about Rushdie’s upbringing where ‘people would talk about everything’

He says at one point in the film 'it didn't occur to me that I wasn't allowed to say these things' by which he means to treat Islam with the roughhouse lack of solemnity with which he treats everything else. "That's because I grew up in a very free-thinking, secularised, Indian-Muslim family, in which people would talk about everything. My father and his friends would sit around in the evening and talk about everything. They liked talking about philosophy. They would discuss the existence of God - and non-existence of God even. Some of his friends were communists and certainly didn't believe in religion.
Others were quite theological. But everybody argued about everything, and, eavesdropping on these conversations, 12-year-old me thought you could talk about whatever you want, and I still think that?

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

‘At the limit, if anything is made infinitely abundant by AI, its measured economic value becomes infinitely small.’ Really good from Adair Turner on why GDP may not be a good metric in many different ways for the effects of AI ‘abundance’ www.ft.com/content/fc52...

ft.com

Beyond the AI abundance delusion

Concerns about inequality are likely to increase rather than decline as the technology transforms our societies

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I can’t think of many government funding schemes that are run like Glastonbury tickets (first come first served). A lot of unhappy farmers. Defra might consider partial randomisation as we use for our small grants scheme. At least everyone gets a fair shot www.theguardian.com/environment/...

theguardian.com

‘Worse than the scramble for Oasis tickets’: England’s sustainable farming funds run out in just six hours

Entire £253m budget for 2026 allocated in less than a day, leaving thousands of farmers disappointed

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I had missed the source of all this iced coffee discussion so thanks @emmavj.bsky.social for explaining. Also she’s right you should watch 70 Up if you’ve not caught it yet www.ft.com/content/4767...

ft.com

Should an iced coffee really cost you the job?

A TikTok video giving recruitment advice has sparked a viral debate over interview etiquette

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Wow I’ve never seen this photo before. The two figures from American Gothic (who turn out to be the family dentist and the artist’s sister!) www.ft.com/content/6015...

The artist's sister Nan Wood Graham and dentist Dr Byron Henry pose with the painting in 1942 © Image courtesy of the Figge Art Museum, City of Davenport Art Collection, Grant Wood Archive, Friends of Art Acquisition Fund, SB-4

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

This is a nice idea www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

ft.com

Beyond the AI abundance delusion

Concerns about inequality are likely to increase rather than decline as the technology transforms our societies

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Wow I’ve never seen this photo before. The two figures from American Gothic (who turn out to be the family dentist and the artist’s sister!) www.ft.com/content/6015...

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Such a great opportunity. We are offering scholars the chance to spend a year at the Foreign Office through one of our Innovation Fellowships. The priority themes are outlined below. We offer up to £120k for the fellowship. Please help spread the word! www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...

The Academy and the FCDO invite applications for Fellowships in any of the following areas:
1. Applied History
2. Critical Infrastructure and European
Warfare
3. South Asia Geopolitics and Regional
Security
4. The UK-France Relationship in 2027 and
Beyond
5. UK National Security Strategy
Scheme opens date: 22 September 2026
Application Deadline: 18 November 2026,

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

‘The theft took place on 23 May 2023, when the trio spent hours in a field at Appleton Farm in Sandringham, to allow the sheep to become acquainted to them.’ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Activists found guilty of stealing King's lambs from Sandringham

They believed the King "would have consented to their rescue" due to being an "environmentalist".

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

What I find about these pieces which say ‘why can’t all of Govt be more like the vaccines taskforce and AI Security Institute’ is they tend not to focus on the fact that most big policy decisions create winners and losers, and it is this political trade off that’s hard www.ft.com/content/db8d...

ft.com

Fixing Britain’s paralysed state means hard choices

After 25 years as a civil servant, I see more clearly from outside that the centre of government needs re-engineering

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Reasons to be a little cheerful from @chrisgiles.ft.com. The piece also contains the comforting line ‘Britain is internationally far less useless than it appeared.’! www.ft.com/content/c819...

The accuracy of the UK's official economic picture still falls far short of what an advanced nation should expect. But the performance of the ONS is on the up. The UK economy is not as weak as we have been told. We are just as rich as we thought, but are not working ourselves into the ground.
Happy days.

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Ciaran Martin @ciaranm.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

2/2 * it emerges that in yet another incident from the summer of frontier AI testing fiascos a (presumably unmonitored, because it happened back in June) OpenAI agent accessed an Australian gov’t website and didn’t do anything. This is leading the morning news because the Machine God is alive.

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Ciaran Martin @ciaranm.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Two stories 1/2 * a group of not-far-off script-kiddies who have some UK links claim to have hacked into the world’s premier law enforcement agency and walked off with the names, home addresses, spousal details etc of thousands of current & prospective FBI agents. No one in the UK seems to care;

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

‘Dear sir/madam, to whom it may concern, we hacked one of your websites.’ Hilarious that OpenAI just sent an email to the public inbox of Services Australia, (and nearly two months after the hack)

Timeline: OpenAl agent hacks
Australian government website
Here is what we know of the timeline how things panned out:
• 18 June - OpenAl's agent accessed both public and non-public information on an Australian website
• August (precise date unknown) - OpenAl said it became aware of a potential breach during a broader review of "misaligned model activity"
• 10 September - An email from OpenAl lands in the public inbox of Services Australia, the general services hub of the federal government, informing of the incident

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Konstantin Bogatyrev @bogatyrev.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Glad to be among this year's British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant awardees! Thanks @britishacademy.bsky.social for supporting me in advancing my research on authoritarian politics at @lsegovernment.bsky.social 🙏🙏🙏

$SRG26\262557 Project Title: Benchmarking the Autocrat: How Comparisons Shape Regime Support London School of Economics and Political Science Value awarded: £10000 Funded by: BIST Authoritarian governments survive partly by shaping the comparisons their citizens make. People judge a government not against an absolute standard but against a reference point: the country's own past, or other countries. This project asks which comparison most affects whether citizens of an authoritarian state support their government and its institutions. The study offers the first experimental evidence on whether controlling the reference point is a tool of authoritarian resilience, and on which comparisons threaten or reinforce it.$

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Re-upping this piece on Coltrane's hundredth birthday

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Scientists have found a ‘fire amoeba’ in hot springs which survived at 70C by forming a protective outer layer. It has set a new record of the temperature at which complex life forms can thrive www.ft.com/content/83d1...

ft.com

New ‘fire amoeba’ breaks heat survival record

Organism found in California volcanic springs joins club of extremophiles that thrive in most severe environments

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

On what we learn from the arc of Seven Up to Seventy Up: in the end it’s our relationships which matter economist.com/britain/2026...

If the series delivers any clear message, it is about the importance of personal relationships. The subjects are saved by other people, often romantic partners but not always. Mr Hughes was brought back to society by another participant, Bruce Balden, who had said as a seven-year-old that he wanted to become a missionary and make people "good". In an unexpected way, he got his wish.

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Such a fascinating range of projects funded through our small grants including looking at who voters blame for inflation, evaluating implementation of UK security/defence reviews and how geopolitics is impacting the UK semiconductor sector www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...

thebritishacademy.ac.uk

British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grants Awards 2026

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

‘Kang Dedi Mulyadi… posts multiple videos online every day about his daily activities, explaining policies and answering complaints. KDM, as he is known, is shown chatting with the masses in markets and restaurants and is also seen distributing cash to people in need.’ www.ft.com/content/0e4a...

ft.com

Is this Indonesia’s next president?

Dedi Mulyadi’s prolific use of social media has helped establish a rapport with voters who see him as a man of the people

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