iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 05/10/2026

This quote, from the Politico article, is bog-standard effective altruism: sure some people will be (verifiably) harmed, but the (hypothetical) benefits will be so worth it!

"I wouldn't take a trade of saying like, 'We'll make sure there's no major hacks, there's no kind of like misuse of this technology, there's zero scams, there's zero all the other bad things that will happen, said Altman. "Because I think people will do tremendously orders of magnitude more good stuff."

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 28/09/2026

Great discussions at this conference on “Impacts of AI on multilingual and multiracial democracy.” But I am disappointed - though not surprised - that the AI industry’s role in dismantling US democracy by rolling back decades of work to make it truly multilingual and multiracial - wasn’t mentioned.

Flyer for the “impacts of ai on multilingual and multiracial democracy” event at GWU law, co-sponsored by CDT

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 28/09/2026

This is very good www.theguardian.com/technology/n...

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 21/09/2026

Pop quiz: what is this excerpted from, and/or who wrote it ? Wrong answers only.

These are digitally native intelligences navigating digital worlds, and our world is increasingly built atop the digital world. Our physical infrastructure is a layer of atoms atop code. It is critical to our future that the A.I.s act reliably inside this world, upon which ours depends.

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 20/09/2026

I will not link to it, but @theatlantic.com has published a transparent piece of AI cult propaganda, authored by a self-described “AI safety and policy” researcher who is funded by Coefficient Giving. Shameful.

Screen shot of the title and byline of the Atlantic article “the data-center debate is divorced from the facts” by Andy Masley

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andy Masley
Andy Masley is a writer and researcher focused on AI safety and policy, working on a grant from Coefficient Giving. His writing can be found on his Substack and website.

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 20/09/2026

This conclusion to my trip to Chicago for #fightingtechnofascism is a bit too on the nose. Flight is delayed endlessly then cancelled (typical, Chicago in late summer). Gate agent hands out biz card with a QR code for help with rebooking… which leads to this

Screenshot of an infuriating exchange with an AI chatbot

Screenshot in which I curse out the chatbot, AI as a whole, and United Airlines

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 19/09/2026

Stoked to be at #fightingtechnofascism in Chicago today! If you’re here too, I’d love to say hi 👋🏻

Selfie with the Palmer House lobby ceiling in the background

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 15/09/2026

Always read @karlbode.com. This bit stood out to me: “AI researcher” and “AI expert” are largely self-descriptions, and IMHO tend to correlate with adherence to the AI cult. Personally I’m more likely to trust the analysis of someone who does NOT identify as an “AI” or (worse) “AI safety” expert.

So...a few things. "AI researchers" are not sociologists, anthropologists, or historians.
Sometimes they're not even programmers or engineers.
They're overpaid young gentlemen from IT who got a bad vibe because their company's automatic hacking software did what it was programmed it to do. They got spooked by their own card tricks and the sudden, oddly-belated realization that their managers are a bunch of unethical dumbasses.
And they're only now, after years of making a ton of money and with the horses long-since out of the barn, suddenly here to help. With fearful conspiracy theories that broadly anthropomorphize software.

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 25/08/2026

I’ve been waiting for these books for over a year, so naturally they came out when I on vacation. But I’m back and excited to dig in @gilduran.com @cjcmichel.bsky.social

Covers of the books The Nerd Reich (Gil Durán) & United States of Oligarchy (Casey Michel)

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 31/07/2026

Essential reading for anyone who’s thinking about what comes next. Reconstruction must start with (re)building political power for pro-democracy actors *and* deconstructing the power of authoritarian actors. The one I’m focused on is Silicon Valley’s broligarchy and surveillance capitalism.

Without a sustained effort to diminish the political and economic power of business models built on corrupt practices, oligarchs trying to buy elections and reshape the government without any democratic accountability, and powerful economic actors working to stop Americans from organizing collectively to advance their interests, our democracy is at risk of further backsliding.

De-powering authoritarian power centers has to be done through general, publicly defensible standards rather than enemy lists; through transparent legal processes that can survive public scrutiny; through criteria focused on protecting the social and institutional foundations of inclusive democracy rather than punishing political opponents; and through consistent rules that apply to allied as well as adversarial actors. This is a stringent test, but democratic rebuilders have to be stringent, because the alternative would be to legitimize, by example, the very tactics used to undermine democracy.
If the deconstruction side of this agenda sounds challenging, remember that every major democratic advance in American history has paired power-building with power deconstruction, often requiring what David Bateman has called "democracy-reinforcing hardball"

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 27/07/2026

The Venn diagram of political project of AI, MAGA authoritarianism, and global white Christian nationalism is basically a circle. Political leaders and policy experts ignore these connections at our peril

Musk constantly talks about a technological future of dazzling plenty that will extend to all: In the Economist interview, he predicted that by 2036 we'll see such "amazing abundance" that money will become meaningless. But his own rhetoric suggests he envisions something more like techno-utopia only for a select interplanetary elite
—after the dust settles from racial apocalypse on Earth. And as he himself has cryptically intimated on occasion, he's gearing up his SpaceX rockets for exactly that future.

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 21/07/2026

*Parasites* ??? Really, @theatlantic.com ? We get it, you love centrism, but dehumanizing language is never ok.

IDEAS
The DSA Is Only Using the Democratic Party
The left-wing faction is a parasite.
By James Kirchick
Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty.
JULY 21, 2026, 6 AM ET
E
VEN AFTER A string of recent victories in congressional primaries by members of the Democratic
Socialists of America, national Democrats

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 17/07/2026

I especially appreciate the connection drawn to effective altruism, an intellectual movement and belief system that is essential to understanding arguments put forth by the AI industry, especially as EA money floods civil society.

=
POLITICO
Traditionally, the "safety-focused"
community has been broadly associated with the effective altruist movement, which has significant ties to much of the AI world, in particular to the leading firm, Anthropic. But even among effective altruists, there is significant debate about how best to regulate AI - and as the issue has spread beyond Silicon Valley, where many of them reside, the concept of "AI safety" has grown more amorphous.

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 02/07/2026

These bonkers beliefs are load-bearing for basically all the broligarch shenanigans. Here’s SpaceX’s mission from its SEC filing ahead of the IPO (screen cap from the 6/12 edition of the @bcmerchant.bsky.social’s BITM newsletter, which you should read)

Our mission is to build the systems and technologies necessary to make life multiplanetary, to understand the true nature of the universe, and to extend the light of consciousness to the stars. To do this, we have formed the most ambitious, vertically integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth with unmatched capabilities to rapidly manufacture and launch space-based communications that connect the world, to harness the Sun to power a truth-seeking artificial intelligence that advances scientific discovery, and ultimately to build a base on the Moon and cities on other planets.

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 01/07/2026

Billionaires are a scourge who treat other people like NPCs, even their own children. From www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/o...

These billionaire megafathers, by contrast, have the cultural and political winds at their backs. Tech-bro philosophers have mounted sophisticated-sounding defenses of aristocratic rule, eugenics and selective breeding, providing intellectual cover or even moral justification for the billionaires’ unorthodox paternal pursuits. And leaders around the world have gone to sometimes comical lengths to encourage their citizens to have more children.

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 02/06/2026

I'm thrilled to share that I'll be speaking at @netrootsnation.bsky.social this coming Thursday in Philadelphia alongside MEP @alexandrageese.eurosky.social, @accessnow.org's Isedua Oribhabor, & @omidyarnetwork.bsky.social's Gus Rossi! Join us IRL or virtually #netrootsnation

Photo of Nathalie Maréchal with her name, title/affiliation (managing policy director, institute for information, the internet and democracy), and details of the Netroots Nation panel (Thursday June 4, 2:15-3:15pm, The cost of convenience? big tech's power, data and public accountability)

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 20/05/2026

For context, the "Blue Horizon Project" is a Silicon Valley effort to court Democrats into kowtowing to Big Tech again, you know, just in case the Eternal Reign of MAGA doesn't work out.

Screenshot of Blue Horizon Project's substack bio. The relevant part reads, "The Blue Horizon Project is a new initiative from Chamber of Progress to restore tech optimism in the Democratic Party and reset the relationship between Democrats and the technology sector."

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 20/05/2026

The louder we get about resisting the AI industry's mass immiseration project, the more industry mouthpieces like the Chamber of "Progress" will try to convince the Democratic party to avoid aligning itself with voter sentiment. Case in point: this drivel from the "Blue Horizon Project"

Screenshot of substack post by Dave Vorland

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 04/05/2026

Tech policy folks: are you on the right side of history ?

An upside down US flag looms large over the US capitol building, against a night sky

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 30/04/2026

Another incisive newsletter from @bcmerchant.bsky.social, responding to @hollyjeanbuck.bsky.social's piece in @jacobinmag.bsky.social. This is the key paragraph. www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/the-data-c...

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 15/04/2026

Area Man Grossly Misunderstands Tolkien

Screen shot from the article linked in the first post of the thread

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 15/04/2026

The political project of AI is to abolish labor, and in doing so abolishing the economic argument for labor rights: the super-rich keep us alive and marginally healthy so we can work for them. What do you think happens when they no longer need us to?

A screenshot from a passage in the linked article

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 25/12/2025

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, and hammers up to all who know what’s up!

“Luddite” nameplate necklace on a holiday sweater.

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 12/11/2025

We’re now starting the People’s CFPB Oversight Hearing

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 12/11/2025

The People’s FTC Oversight hearing is about to start

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