iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Natalia Cote-Muñoz

Melissa Chan @melissakchan.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

An important piece by @ncotemunoz.bsky.social on China in Latin America — and what many US policymakers may be overlooking: Beijing "is pioneering a kind of statecraft that privileges quiet, subnational capture over big, flashy projects."

foreignaffairs.com

China’s Quiet Quest to Dominate Latin America

Small projects, big influence.

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Adam Isacson @adamisacson.com · 04/10/2025

Rights defenders at the US-Mexico border tried for years to warn about Border Patrol's abusive culture. We built a database of abuses (borderoversight.org/event) and several reports. Maybe 2 dozen national Democrats were responsive; the politics were tricky. We couldn't keep that work funded. Now:

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Reposted by Natalia Cote-Muñoz

National Committee on U.S.-China Relations @ncuscr.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

Are Labubus the new face of “Made in China”? @ncotemunoz.bsky.social (CEO, Vantage Point Strategies) joins us to share how Labubus are resonating across different cultures and changing the way people perceive China. ▶️ Watch: www.ncuscr.org/video/labubu-soft-po…

ncuscr.org

Why Labubus Are Changing China's Soft Power Strategy

Natalia Cote-Muñoz shares how Labubus are resonating across different cultures and changing the way people perceive China.

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Natalia Cote-Muñoz @ncotemunoz.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

In a few 1000 years there will be an especially toxic type of bro obsessed with the “American Empire” and its fall. One of their integrated AI microchips will be full of just facts from the past 6+ months Imagine going on a date with this guy and him mansplaining “the Jimmy Kimmel moment” to you

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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.net · 30/08/2025

🧵 Authoritarianism, Democratization, and Coalition Politics. The consensus around here is, more or less, that the United States is currently a consolidating authoritarian regime controlled by a mix of reactionary populists and fascists.

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Natalia Cote-Muñoz @ncotemunoz.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Effective AI writing assistance doesn't involve AI writing for you. When I was concussed, I experimented with AI to support my writing while keeping my voice. My latest piece breaks down the workflows that worked. open.substack.com/pub/artifici...

open.substack.com

What Effective AI Writing Assistance Can Look Like (Hint: It Doesn't Write for You)

Use cases where AI enhances your writing process rather than replacing it

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Natalia Cote-Muñoz @ncotemunoz.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

A friend in Beijing had a Labubu on his briefcase before a client meeting. When advised to put it away: “Trust me.” Client: “Nice Labubu! Hard to get and expensive. Business must be going well.” Here I explore “cuteness” as a strategic asset in my latest: open.substack.com/pub/ncotemun...

open.substack.com

The Labubu Phenomenon: What Cute Culture Reveals About Modern Soft Power

Why we should pay more attention to China's accidental cultural export

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Natalia Cote-Muñoz @ncotemunoz.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

Washington DC right now like: I’m at the ICE raid. I’m at the FBI stop. I’m at the combination National Guard-Metropolitan Police Department-ATF-DEA-U.S. Marshall-Park Police-FBI-ICE raid stop checkpoint.

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forwardfolio.bsky.social @forwardfolio.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

I don't get the blanket resistance to AI art. As if obsession and choice haven't been acknowledged as valid facets of art practice for at least a century.

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Natalia Cote-Muñoz @ncotemunoz.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

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Daniel Binns @clockworkpenguin1.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes. @ncotemunoz.bsky.social on the money again. This is what most of those who can’t understand why I — a critical thinker and lover of language, artists’ rights, and creative expression — use AI. And why and how it’s genuinely changed my life.

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Natalia Cote-Muñoz @ncotemunoz.bsky.social · 21/06/2025

TL;DR: the CEO of Gumroad moonlit at DOGE, created AI slop code that slashed veterans’ benefits, talked about it openly and posted code on GitHub, got fired. The biggest story nobody is talking about here👇 open.substack.com/pub/artifici...

open.substack.com

“Munching” Veterans Affairs

How Weaponized AI Slop Facilitated Institutional Demolition

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Natalia Cote-Muñoz @ncotemunoz.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

My latest for @inkstickmedia.com : Pope Francis revolutionized diplomacy without armies or sanctions - just moral clarity. He proved influence can be relational, not transactional. His death leaves a void when values-driven diplomacy is needed most. Read here: bit.ly/3YI7dsV

bit.ly

Pope Francis Left Behind a Diplomatic Toolkit for a Fractured World

The late Pope Francis wasn't without shortcomings, but he left behind a diplomatic toolkit that offers hope to a fractured world.

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Natalia Cote-Muñoz @ncotemunoz.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

#2 this week on AI and art:

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Natalia Cote-Muñoz @ncotemunoz.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

“I used AI to vibe code an app that made me a millionaire” Well I used AI to help me re-learn HTML I haven’t used since the 90s and make a single use website about an ant rebellion ant-rebellion.glitch.me

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Reposted by Natalia Cote-Muñoz

Júlia @ihateonionrings.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

A última vez que eu pisei na China foi em 2019 e eu peguei muito o período citado pela Natalia. Tenho pensado muito sobre esse tempo, sobre como escrevo uma newsletter sobre China e tenho estado fisicamente distante sabendo as mudanças bruscas que acontecem em 6 meses na China, que dirá em 6 anos.

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Reposted by Natalia Cote-Muñoz

Artificial Inquiry @artificialinquiry.substack.com · 22/04/2025

What happens when AI refuses to vote—then quietly picks the same candidates anyway? I asked 6 top models how they’d vote. Their answers? Reasonable. Predictable. Almost… ideological. The catch: Their values aren’t how they’re used. Read here: bit.ly/4jgEJhV

bit.ly

Empiricocracy: The Ideology Beneath the Interface

What Six LLMs Told Me About Voting, Values, and the Strange Politics of Machine Conscience -- What happens when artificial intelligence simulates political values, but is deployed in ways that contrad...

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Natalia Cote-Muñoz @ncotemunoz.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

I asked 6 LLMs how they would make decisions in elections and applied it to the 2024 US & Mexico Presidential elections and 2022 Colombia presidential election. They all voted for Kamala and Petro and were split for Mexico. What does that mean? Read below for more. bit.ly/4jgEJhV

bit.ly

Empiricocracy: The Ideology Beneath the Interface

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Reposted by Natalia Cote-Muñoz

Vespe Savikko @vespesa.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Great read 👍

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Natalia Cote-Muñoz @ncotemunoz.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

“In China, a 5-year absence can leave you 30 years behind." After 8 years away, I returned to find my Beijing replaced by something new—digitally seamless yet strangely distant. Read here: bit.ly/4jggZuu

bit.ly

The China That Replaced Mine

A Return After Nearly a Decade to a Country That Never Stays Still - A personal journey returning to China after 8 years reveals dramatic transformations in technology, urban spaces, and social dynami...

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Natalia Cote-Muñoz @ncotemunoz.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

This is merely the cost one must bear to curry favor with our future overlords

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Matt Johansen @mattjay.com · 18/04/2025

🧵 THREAD: A federal whistleblower just dropped one of the most disturbing cybersecurity disclosures I’ve ever read. He's saying DOGE came in, data went out, and Russians started attempting logins with new valid DOGE passwords Media's coverage wasn't detailed enough so I dug into his testimony:

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Natalia Cote-Muñoz @ncotemunoz.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

“[China] is … ahead of the curve. And at the same time, it appears to be pursuing a development path that prioritizes internal cohesion over international integration. … [And] as China has become more difficult to access physically, its global presence has only expanded.”

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Natalia Cote-Muñoz @ncotemunoz.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

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Jared Cram @jscram3254.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

How is The Onion so right all the time?

The Onion Headline - Historians: Quibbling Over Exact Definition Of Concentration Camp Sign Of Healthy Society

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Ari Drennen @aridrennen.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

The MAGAverse is splintering over tariffs

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Natalia Cote-Muñoz @ncotemunoz.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

bit.ly

The China That Replaced Mine

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Natalia Cote-Muñoz @ncotemunoz.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

If you’re interested in #gametheory and #tariffs, check out my latest where AI simulates the tariff endgames with various players: bit.ly/42mmRfP

bit.ly

Game of Tariffs

AI Simulates the 2025 Tariff War—And Reveals What Might Happen Next

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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

total clarity here from @edwardluce.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/4c4b...

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Reposted by Natalia Cote-Muñoz

Artificial Inquiry @artificialinquiry.substack.com · 14/04/2025

Live tomorrow!

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Natalia Cote-Muñoz @ncotemunoz.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

Preview of my upcoming post for @artificialinquiry.bsky.social, "Game of Tariffs", where I use AI to simulate the tariff war via game theory Live on Tuesday, April 15, 9AM ET here: bit.ly/42mmRfP For more posts, see bit.ly/ArtificialIn...

bit.ly

Game of Tariffs

AI Simulates the 2025 Tariff War—And Reveals What Might Happen Next

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Reposted by Natalia Cote-Muñoz

Artificial Inquiry @artificialinquiry.substack.com · 07/04/2025

The goal of this Substack is to write satirical AI policy. Trump beat me to it. The “Libertation Day” tariffs read like they were written by ChatGPT at 2am. So I asked: were they? Does it matter? What does it mean? I broke it down. Live tmr 4/8 AM @ artificialinquiry.substack.com

artificialinquiry.substack.com

Artificial Inquiry | Natalia Cote-Munoz | Substack

Exploring AI-generated analyses of current affairs—and questioning what it means for how we think, understand, and evolve. Click to read Artificial Inquiry, by Natalia Cote-Munoz, a Substack publicati...

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Edward Wong @ewong.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

NEW: For decades, the Wilson Center in DC has produced valuable research on foreign policy for US policymakers and the public. Today, its 130 workers were put on leave and will be fired because of Trump and Musk ordering a shutdown. Our @nytimes.com story: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/u...

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Natalia Cote-Muñoz @ncotemunoz.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

I lived in Beijing and saw these posted across the campus I taught at. It seemed absurd and excessive. And now we are doing the same…

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Natalia Cote-Muñoz @ncotemunoz.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Memes are the opium of the extremely online people . . . . . Please give me more

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Natalia Cote-Muñoz @ncotemunoz.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Idiocracy was sent to us as a warning from the future but we were too stupid to see it

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MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 03/04/2025

ECONOMY IN SHAMBLES U.S. job cuts hit 275,240 in March 2025, the highest since the pandemic peak in 2020, surpassing 2001 & 2008 recessions. Layoffs surge as federal cuts, led by DOGE, echo Covid-era losses. It's the third highest monthly total on record.

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Natalia Cote-Muñoz @ncotemunoz.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

My ridiculous White Lotus theory is that nobody dies, they’re just high on lorazepam and floating. Is it based on any Easter eggs on the show? No. Is it going to happen? Also no. I’m just here for a good time.

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