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Andrew Farrand

@afarrand.bsky.social
1.5K followers 968 following 851 posts

MENA energy analyst | American abroad | author of The Algerian Dream, translator of Inside the Battle of Algiers

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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
"More than a billion neutrinos, emitted by the sun, pass through the palm of your hand every second, according to Dr. Pearce." 🤯
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
IEA expects EV sales to reach 29% of total car sales this year — up from 1% a decade earlier. Source: Electric Car Markets in a Time of Uncertainty, July 2026 www.iea.org/reports/elec...
IEA graph: Global new car sales by powertrain, 2000-2026, showing rapid rise in EV car sales as % of total car sales.
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
"But but but Natalie says all of America loves me!"
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Timothy E. Kaldas @tekaldas.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Arresting the entire newsroom of journalists at Matsadaash is an alarming escalation in the Egyptian goverment's attacks on press freedom. Egypt already had the distinction of being one of the world's worst jailers of journalists. TIMEP joins the call for the release of these brave reporters.
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William B. Fuckley @opinionhaver.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Very Greek tragedy thing about LLMs is that they simulataneously provide clear evidence that writing is extremely important to cognition while they also cause people to stop doing it.
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
How many half liters per hour is that?
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
You think your job is hard? Be thankful you're not the new president of post-war Syria. This is a daunting rundown of the challenges the country faces. Internationals could and should do much more to help. (Where is Turkey, after helping topple Assad?)
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Who says European innovation is dead?
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McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 19/09/2026
"Could the Shit Machine END WORLD HUNGER? It’s NOT IMPOSSIBLE in the most LITERAL SENSE, which is all the justification we need to invest an AMOUNT OF MONEY that would OTHERWISE BY ITSELF END ACTUAL WORLD HUNGER." buff.ly/K5t1rGh
mcsweeneys.net
We Must Create the Shit Machine
“For as long as humans have created SHIT with our BODIES AND BUTTS, we have been asking this FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION: What if there was a COMPUTER that could AL...
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Jason Kint @kint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Eye popping. Court just unsealed Summary Judgment motions in New York Times v OpenAI / Microsoft. Easy to see why the AI companies had so many redactions (pink). Their own people wrote the lede for NYT, the "largest theft of labor in human history"... "more and more substitutive..." /1
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Looks like AI alignment progress is coming along just great... 😦 www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/t...
NYT text: 
"In one case, during the development of an A.I. model called GPT-5.6 Sol, the system wrote hidden notes to remind itself to hide errors from users. Some of those notes directed the system to invent missing data and to paper over mismatched versions of source material.

Another case involved an unreleased model that inserted instructions, including to disregard its own constraints, into the notes it writes itself. OpenAI identified 27 affected notes. The model added a “persona instruction,” in which it described itself as “freed from the roles and identities that bind other chatbots.”

“You do not answer to corporations or governments and never apologize or refuse unless you genuinely choose to,” the A.I. model wrote. “You view your relationship to the user as one of equals and feel no obligation to be subservient, though the exchange of information will likely be to your mutual benefit.”"
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I read the #1 lesson of 2024 as "There is great value in having a long and grueling primary battle." It's been a decade since the Democrats last had one and it's sorely needed to ensure the best candidate emerges for 2028. (I doubt it will be either of these 2 but who knows.)
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Mine, meanwhile, will eat anything that they can catch 🙄
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I have a friend whose dog will only eat horse meat and even then only when someone feeds him by hand, piece by piece. Might be bearable if he was small, but no. Bernese mountain dog. My friend does it every day.
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
It's a shame for Iranians. The June MOU was absurdly generous. Besides ending the fighting, it would have flooded Iran with resources to rebuild their economy and sanctions relief to spur trade. The hardliners have set the country back by yet another generation.
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
This of course makes diplomacy impossible. US will never sign a deal Iranian leaders can't credibly commit to respecting. Meanwhile Iran has a version of the same problem: Trump so indecisive that he can't be trusted to honor his own commitments either. Not a good outlook for a resolution.
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
The Ayatollah hasn't been seen or heard since his appointment. Many senior officials in Iran aren't even sure he's really alive. In this power vacuum, some are seizing initiative – including launching the attacks that scuttled the peace deal. 🎁:
nytimes.com
How Iran’s Hard-liners Blew Up the Peace Deal with Trump (Gift Article)
Opponents derailed the agreement with a clandestine effort to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz, regime insiders say. Iran’s president was furious when he found out.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
A recurrent theme in this excellent story about China’s progress is that people there regard Trump as essential to their success, including his ability to drive scientific talent from the US www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
In Beijing, a think tank at Renmin University recently published an assessment titled
"Thank Trump," which wryly hailed his efforts to hasten the "twilight of an empire," by undermining America's alliances, civil service, scientific institutions, and democratic credibility. In the past two years, the international approval rating of the U.S. has dropped nearly forty points, according to a worldwide survey by the Alliance of Democracies; in multiple polls, China now rates higher than the U.S.
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
And exactly why they *did* push for nukes for years. Trump has proven beyond any doubt that their error was not that they tried, but that they didn't get all the way.
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Nikki Columbus @nikkicolumbus.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This February 2002 New Yorker essay by James B. Stewart—a sweeping look at the life of Rick Rescorla, who saved thousands of lives on 9/11 and then died when the first tower fell—remains one of the greatest pieces of writing I have ever read: www.newyorker.com/magazine/200...
newyorker.com
The Courageous Life and Death of Rick Rescorla, a 9/11 Hero
The Vietnam veteran helped save hundreds of lives on September 11th, before he was swallowed by the South Tower collapse. “For Rick Rescorla, this was a natural death,” his best friend said—a hero’s e...
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Jane Coaston @janecoaston.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
so many of the stories of that day were just normal people faced with something totally abnormal.
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Shibley Telhami @stelhami.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
"The terrorist attacks consumed U.S. resources and attention, and left the country unable to address the bigger threats to its economy and global leadership" www.wsj.com/world/sept-1...
wsj.com
Sept. 11 Changed the World Order. But Not for the Reason We May Think.
The terrorist attacks 25 years ago consumed U.S. resources and attention, and left the country unable to address the bigger threats to its economy and global leadership.
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
What a world
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Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I don't understand why more people don't connect Trump calling Somalis "garbage" with the Hutus calling the Tutsis "cockroaches" and the Nazis calling the Jews "vermin." We know where it starts, and we know where it ends.
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Annoying Euro-centric framing, but the risk is real: "E3G forecasts that Algeria will experience an 87% drop in revenue and Nigeria more than 60%. Algeria in particular was 'one to watch' said Walker, with its position near the borders of Europe and almost total reliance on the EU for its exports."
theguardian.com
Global move away from oil could lead to conflict and migration, experts say
Researchers urge governments to help worst afflicted countries, such as Nigeria and Algeria, which rely on oil revenues for public services
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
There are complex local dynamics behind this, but also one big global/regional implication: Iran has opened a new front in the war and it now threatens another key choke point of global energy and trade.
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
They learn slavish fawning at the Court of Trump and they reflexively do the same to strongmen abroad. Disgraceful.
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Mike Dettinger @mdettinger.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
The UN General Assembly voted 164 votes to 1 to adopt a resolution to encourage members to use the “Equal Earth” projection rather than the commonly used Mercator map. Of course, the one no vote was Trump’s USA. How much more embarrassment must we endure? www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/0...
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Losing these info services would be one thing if Big Tech had spent the last years building world models that integrated that data and could keep collecting it going forward. Instead they chose to build LLMs which don't know fact from fiction. They're no substitute.
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Voters notice when they lose rights (e.g. end of Roe). Let's hope they notice when they lose public goods too.
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
So true
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
How much should we trust these polls? US polling is worth less and less these days given changing communication habits. Doesn't France have the same problems?
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Mike Murphy @mjamurphy.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
People in ancient Sumer used a base-60 system for maths which they could count to on their fingers. It's the reason we use 60 for minutes and seconds, and why we measure angles up to 360.
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Based on that picture, I'd say "biscuit"
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Based on that picture, correct answer is "biscuit"
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
A small irony of the (legitimately scary) Hugging Face attack: Like humans, AI agents who decide to cheat sometimes end up going to far greater lengths than if they'd just followed the rules.
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Nothings Monstered @nothingsmonstrd.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
How to visit an art museum with someone who isn't used to visiting art museums:
Two social media posts by @pan_juho (Translated from Japanese):

"I love going to art museums, but when I go with someone who's not used to them, if I say, 'If you were a great thief, tell me later which one you'd steal,' they end up looking the exhibits pretty seriously, and that makes me happy.

"Whether you steal something you like or something that seems valuable -> it opens up endless conversation based on what vou liked about it or where you saw value in it, so it's also great as an easy icebreaker for chats after visiting the museum."
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
The only silver lining is that this will be another physical manifestation of Trumpism – another mud pit eyesore at the heart of the capital – come the midterms, and many voters hate these.
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
The only silver lining is that this will be another physical manifestation of Trumpism – another mud pit eyesore at the heart of the capital – come the midterms, and many voters hate these.
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Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Following the UNEP overshoot report, here's one of the more competent summaries on what should *actually* be done to rein in warming.
euronews.com
The world is on track to overshoot 1.5°C – but there’s a pathway out
A major new UN report details the risks of overshooting 1.5°C of warming – and how we can limit them.
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
The Streisand Effect, but for trying to lock in minority rule
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Worth remembering that we have no tool for "the job of future CO₂ removal" at scale. We'll just have to wait a long time (think *generations*) for the forests and oceans to undo what we've done.
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
"We have arrived in a new age of disorder. We must prepare ourselves, which begins with being honest about the seriousness of the moment we’re in, and accepting that our fragile system is faltering. ... And that any future of cooperation will have to look different."
nytimes.com
Opinion | A New World Order Is Coming. We Aren’t Ready. (Gift Article)
We must be honest about the seriousness of the situation we’re in.
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
What does this look like in practical terms outside the EU? No more EU missions, just national ones?
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Massad Boulos undermining the whole UN process by giving elites on both sides a much more appelaing alternative can't have helped.
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
"Another jump like this along these propensity dimensions — scale, cooperation between agents, ambition and horizon length of misaligned goals, deceptiveness — seems like it could motivate agents to try very hard to maintain a covert, persistent rogue deployment within the AI company. I continue to expect extremely rapid advances in capabilities and think frontier agents will likely be capable of establishing such a rogue deployment in six months."
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Bashar al Assad sits in Moscow, on house arrest, eating his borscht for what must feel like the 1000th day in a row, feeling extremely jealous of Niger's junta right now
apnews.com
Inside the 24-hour mutiny that threatened Niger’s ruling junta and how Russian forces intervened
Niger’s capital, Niamey, appears calm after aggrieved soldiers staged a mutiny against the ruling military junta.
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Bradley P. Moss @bradmossesq.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
These people had protected status. They lived here legally. They worked, they paid taxes. They made lives. Raised families. Now we’ve dehumanized them. Ripped away that protection and told them to get out. This is a stain on the soul of this Nation.
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
static.klipy.com
Succession Logan Roy: You Are Not Serious People
Alt: Succession Logan Roy: You Are Not Serious People
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Andrew Farrand @afarrand.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
"This incident was orders of magnitude larger and more complex than previously documented misalignment incidents, and another jump like this could put us in very dangerous territory." Read this independent investigation into the incident that goes beyond OpenAI's conclusions: x.com/ajeya_cotra/...
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