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Antoine Bousquet

@ajbousquet.bsky.social
442 followers 524 following 113 posts

Martial Empiricist | Author of 'The Scientific Way of Warfare' & 'The Eye of War' | Currently has nukes & AI on the brain | Swedish Defence University

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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
AI-WAR, the new WASP-HS network on AI and war, opens on 8 October with @elkeschwarz.bsky.social and Keith Dear in conversation. Who Decides? Human and Machine Judgement in War 13:00–15:00, Swedish Defence University, Stockholm In person or online www.fhs.se/en/swedish-d...
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
New in Thesis Eleven: the military-industrial complex after Silicon Valley. I revisit C. Wright Mills's "triangle of power" as tech giants and VC-backed start-ups reconfigure it around a horizon of technological supremacy beyond the state. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com
Inverting the triangle of power: The military–industrial complex after Silicon Valley - Antoine Bousquet, 2026
The American military–industrial complex is currently undergoing a profound transformation, recasting the triangle of political, military and corporate power an...
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Deadline on January 6!
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
Fully funded (and salaried!) PhD positions to study the impact of AI and autonomous systems for strategic and military affairs in Stockholm! Deadline for applications on 6 January!
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
"With science, one can explain everything except onself." - Enrico Fermi
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
📢The Swedish Defence University is recruiting TWO fully-funded, salaried PhD positions to conduct research on Artificial Intelligence and War, supported by the national WASP-HS programme - a unique opportunity. Please share widely! www.fhs.se/en/swedish-d...
fhs.se
PhD positions in War Studies with specialisation in AI - Swedish Defence University (SEDU)
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Daniel Ellsberg in 1959 on the political uses of madness, the extraordinary case of Adolf Hitler & its implications in a nuclear age: "What Hitler was, no man - we must hope - aspires to be. But what Hitler knew, others can learn and use. And win with it - until they fail, and smash all humankind."
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
Last call for papers for this conference in Venice next year!
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
“There was never from about 2 weeks from the time I took charge [of the atomic bomb] project any illusion on my part but that Russia was our enemy and the project was conducted on that basis.” - General Leslie Groves, testifying at the J. R. Oppenheimer hearing in 1954
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
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Reposted by Antoine Bousquet
Frederik Carl Windfeld @fredwindfeld.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
⏳ Excited to share my new piece, published in @millennjournal.bsky.social! I explore how imagined futures of emergent and disruptive tech loop back to shape present-day politics of war - and how the early history of military ballooning (1783-1907) shows us this recursive logic at work.
journals.sagepub.com
Balloonomania! Disruptive Technologies, War, and the Amnesia of the Moment - Frederik Carl Windfeld, 2025
Contemporary discussions over emergent and disruptive technologies in military affairs are often framed in futurist and existential terms. The article theorises...
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Legal settlement with AI company Anthropic means authors may be in line for compensation if their work was used to train models.
alcs.co.uk
The latest on the Anthropic settlement with authors
The landmark $1.5 billion settlement between AI company Anthropic and authors has received preliminary approval. Here’s what you need to know.
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
🚨 CALL TO PAPERS 🚨 Honoured to be delivering a keynote at the 8th International PhD Congress at Ca' Foscari University of Venice held from 18 to 20 February 2026. call to papers is out for contributions on "systems and knowledge." Deadline: 09 November 2025 www.unive.it/web/en/8275/...
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
An excellent video on the past and perhaps future of Project Orion, the Cold War plan for space travel powered by nuclear detonations.
youtube.com
Earth to Mars in 10 Days
YouTube video by Real Engineering
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Words to ponder as we develop thinking machines whose inner workings are increasingly inscrutable and whose discoveries might soon surpass our understanding... From Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition (1958)
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
I am interviewed on one of the Dagens Industri podcasts on the topic of the new landscape of military tech innovation.
poddtoppen.se
Tech bros på frontlinjen - Den nya ekonomin
Framtidens försvar del 2: Kärnkraft, armbandsuret och internet – hundratals uppfinningar härstammar från det militära. Men håller den gamla sanningen om slagfältet som en plats för innovation på att b...
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall. The red ball indicates the hypocentre of the nuclear explosion on August 6, 1945.
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
‪My revisiting of The Scientific Way of Warfare in 2023: “The Persistent Appeal of Chaoplexic Warfare: Towards an Autonomous S(war)m Machine?” fhs.diva-portal.org/smash/record...
fhs.diva-portal.org
The Persistent Appeal of Chaoplexic Warfare: Towards an Autonomous S(war)m Machine?
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
A quarter of a century on from its advocacy by the likes of Ronfeldt and Aquilla, the mode of chaoplexic warfare I described in my first book still remains the unfulfilled horizon of the military imaginary, always just around the corner yet perpetually deferred.
warontherocks.com
Drones Aren’t Swarming Yet — But They Could - War on the Rocks
Despite the hype, drone swarming doesn’t exist yet. That’s because the U.S. Department of Defense has been focused on platform capability inputs like
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
“Scientists aren’t responsible for the facts that are in nature. It’s their job to find the facts. There’s no sin connected with it – no morals. If anyone should have a sense of sin, it’s God. He put the facts there." (Percy Bridgman, Robert Oppenheimer's undergraduate teacher)
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 06/07/2025
Einstein on relative difficulty of physics and politics (from John Herz, International Politics in the Atomic Age, 1959)
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
The Sedan crater left by the shallow underground nuclear test (104kt) conducted in Nevada in July 1962 for research into using nukes for construction projects. 390m wide by 100m deep, it helped determine that ancient craters formed on earth and beyond result from meteor strikes, not volcanoes.
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
“The technical arrogance that overcomes people when they see what they can do with their minds”
youtu.be
Freeman Dyson on the seductive power of nuclear weapons
YouTube video by I of War
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
Job opening at the Swedish Defence University for an Associate Senior Lecturer in System Science for Defence and Security with a specialization in cyber defence. Scholars with social science and STS backgrounds welcome! fhs.varbi.com/en/what:job/...
fhs.varbi.com
Associate Senior Lecturer in in System Science for defence and Security with a specialization in cyber defence
The employment is placed at Department of Systems Science for Defence and Security in Stockholm. Do you want to research and teach at the intersection of technology, society and defense? We are lookin
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
Leo Szilard, How to Live with the Bomb and Survive (1960)
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
Finally, the first english translation of Günther Anders's most important work!
upress.umn.edu
The Obsolescence of the Human
Now available in English—one of the twentieth century’s most important works on the philosophy of technology With this first English translation of influ...
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
“We have, in a real sense, reached a kind of “singularity”—but not the long-anticipated awakening of machine consciousness. Rather, what we’re entering is a new consciousness of ourselves.”
newyorker.com
Will the Humanities Survive Artificial Intelligence?
Maybe not as we’ve known them. But, in the ruins of the old curriculum, something vital is stirring.
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Second postdoc opening at the Swedish Defence University for work on narrative politics for those with quants skills (incl. machine learning, data mining, etc.) - Deadline 31 August.
fhs.varbi.com
Postdoc with a focus on quantitative narrative geopolitics
Description The postdoctoral position is part of the interdisciplinary research environment on narrative geopolitics, established with funding from the Swedish Armed Forces. The role involves interdis
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Opening for a three year postdoc with a focus on narrative geopolitics at our place! Deadline on 31 August.
fhs.varbi.com
Postdoc with a focus on narrative geopolitics
Description The postdoctoral position is part of the interdisciplinary research environment on narrative geopolitics, established with funding from the Swedish Armed Forces. The role involves interdis
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Open seminar at SEDU on 19 May (live broadcast available): Whose nuclear umbrella in 2040?
fhs.se
Open seminar: Whose nuclear umbrella in 2040? The future of deterrence and the transatlantic security in a fragmenting world order
Welcome to a seminar focusing on nuclear deterrence and transatlantic security in an increasingly uncertain global environment.
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Reposted by Antoine Bousquet
BISA - British International Studies Association @mybisa.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
🚨Register now for the Global Nuclear Order annual conference🚨 'Rethinking nuclear deterrence in an era of strategic uncertainty' - Friday 25 April 2025 on Zoom. link👉 buff.ly/WWcPbYt @gnobisa.bsky.social @lubazat.bsky.social @soulpark.bsky.social @ajbousquet.bsky.social @abhishek3690.bsky.social
buff.ly
Global Nuclear Order annual conference 2025: Rethinking nuclear deterrence in an era of strategic uncertainty- Global Nuclear Order (GNO) | BISA
- Global Nuclear Order (GNO) Working Group
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
The recording of this event is now available to view. Two really instructive panels on the current perilous nuclear situation, if I may so myself. Featuring Robert Dalsjö, Målfrid Braut-Hegghammer, Alexander Mattelaer, Lars-Erik Lundin, Tytti Erästö and Martin Goliath.
fhs.se
Panel talks: The new nuclear disorder
The Swedish Defence University brings together a range of experts from universities, think tanks, and research institutes to discuss the implications of our new nuclear disorder and the lessons we can...
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
The message is classic autocratic rhetoric (the infallible leader), cloaked in usual ironic overstatement. The past tense anticipates Trump's political "martyrdom" & nostalgic hagiography ("if only we'd listened!"). Pure Trumpism: grandiose self-aggrandisement & plaintive victimhood in one package.
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Last day of registration for in-person attendance at next week's event! Live stream for remote viewing will be available on the event page: www.fhs.se/en/swedish-d...
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
1. Trump tariffs plainly a punitive act of economic coercion with potential to spiral into economic warfare if targets do not meekly submit to it or offer concessions. EU is in a perilous situation. It cannot leave such an attack without a counter-response but has to expect more reprisals in turn.
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
I will be moderating this timely event on April 8 in which we bring distinguished experts together to discuss our new nuclear disorder. Register by April 4 if you want to attend in person. Live streaming available on the event page.
fhs.se
Panel talks: The new nuclear disorder
The Swedish Defence University brings together a range of experts from universities, think tanks, and research institutes to discuss the implications of our new nuclear disorder and the lessons we can...
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
bloomberg.com
Peter Thiel’s Network Is Quietly Shaping Trump’s Government
The tech magnate has many links to the new Trump administration and the cost-slashing effort led by Elon Musk.
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
I had the privilege of examining Mark's PhD, a really profound and insightful engagement with the phenomenology of war. Essential reading for all interested in critical and philosophical approaches to understanding the experience of armed conflict.
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Reposted by Antoine Bousquet
Mirko Palestrino @palestrinomirko.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Hot off the press! My new article on wartime gardening and the meaning and politics of military victory is now out #openaccess in @EuroJournIN at journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/.... What does it argue? A thread:
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
The landmine ban was heralded for decades as exemplary success story of weapon prohibition thru intl agreement & norm-setting, eliding fact that states complied only where militarily convenient (e.g. US excluding Korea from commitments). We are seeing right now fragility & contingency of this norm.
bbc.com
Poland and Baltics to quit landmine treaty over Russia fears
A joint statement said it was "paramount" troops had flexibility to defend Nato's eastern flank.
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
An event hosted next month at the Swedish Defence University bring experts together to discuss the new nuclear disorder. Register by April 4 if you want to attend in person. Streaming link will be forthcoming.
fhs.se
Panel talks: The new nuclear disorder
The Swedish Defence University brings together a range of experts from universities, think tanks, and research institutes to discuss the implications of our new nuclear disorder and the lessons we can...
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
Spotted in Chicago.
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
The idea that Europe can somehow make up for a complete US withdrawal of support to Ukraine is a dangerous fantasy. Even if European states could summon the resources to buttress Ukraine’s conventional capability (implausible in itself), they would remain utterly vulnerable to nuclear coercion. 🧵
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
"The reactionary internationale: the rise of the new right and the reconstruction of international society" - a programme centred on a new constitutive principle (birth-cultural sovereignty) and two new institutions (exclusive spheres of competence and transactionalism)
journals.sagepub.com
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
"Why so serious?" - how the Internet has taken over the totality of culture, from the Troll-in-Chief down.
americandreaming.substack.com
We All Live on 4Chan Now
Right-wing troll culture has gone mainstream, but the joke's on all of us.
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
Nearing the event horizon of the idiocracy singularity.
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
"This paper puts forth five hard problems that AGI's emergence presents for U.S. national security: (1) wonder weapons, (2) systemic shifts in power, (3) nonexperts empowered to develop weapons of mass destruction, (4) artificial entities with agency, and (5) instability."
rand.org
Artificial General Intelligence's Five Hard National Security Problems
Whether artificial general intelligence is ultimately realized or not, its development may pose serious challenges to national security, including the sudden emergence of wonder weapons, systemic shif...
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
The alignment of crypto grifters and populist demagogues tells you everything you need to know about the new politics. From here on, it's all confidence tricks and rug pulls. Guess how that's going to work out for the little guys.
apnews.com
Argentine lawyers accuse President Milei of fraud over cryptocurrency promotion
Argentine lawyers filed fraud charges against President Javier Milei in criminal court for promoting a cryptocurrency on his social media, one of the lawyers told The Associated Press.
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Trump’s push for great-power spheres of influence appeals to some on the left for ostensibly ending NATO and avoiding world war. Never mind that it tramples peoples of smaller states and that expecting an order based on rapaciousness & territorial conquest to be pacificatory is wholly delusional.
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Antoine Bousquet @ajbousquet.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Along with abandoning Ukraine, Trump’s stance on Canada, Greenland, and Panama signals a return to great-power spheres of influence. Taiwan’s independence may therefore last only as long as it takes to reshore high-end chip production.
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