iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 02/10/2026

Louise Casey should be brought in to sort things out if the faithful consistently fail to unmask the traitors.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 29/09/2026

I think I’d have a bit more respect for AI if it just said “oh shit oh fuck”, rather than this pathetic snivelling

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 27/09/2026

Let’s have an annual flagship science and technology prize for the UK - @nestauk.bsky.social ‘s event at the Labour conference in Liverpool

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 26/09/2026

I agree with this, and I think AI is going to make it a million times worse. ojusher.medium.com/theory-of-mi...

ojusher.medium.com

Theory of mind

When LLMs rewrite things for us, we lose something important: empathy

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 24/09/2026

(It's just the cherry on the cake that that font is called "Westminster".)

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 24/09/2026

An opinion I semi-seriously hold is that AI text, by law, should have to be rendered in that 1980s-style robot font. You know which one I mean. I am now extending this to say that you should, by law, have to read it out through a vocoder. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westmin...

en.wikipedia.org

Westminster (typeface) - Wikipedia

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 23/09/2026

The UK scrapped birthright citizenship in 1983

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 22/09/2026

Fun fact - his replacement at UK Space Agency (Rebecca Evernden) studied English Literature.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 16/09/2026

Not gonna lie, I am not tempted to eat one of these AI oysters

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 16/09/2026

We should make them actually have to follow through on leaving the UK. It’s the will of the people.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 12/09/2026

My previous washer-dryer gave time estimates based on how long users would expect a particular level of dryness to require, rather than how long it would actually take ojusher.medium.com/measuring-mo...

ojusher.medium.com

Measuring moisture in minutes

What tumble dryer design says about the philosophy of measurement

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 11/09/2026

Also they think we are in the Andromeda galaxy

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 11/09/2026

What happens in a world in which all text is reprocessed for us by LLMs? ojusher.medium.com/theory-of-mi...

ojusher.medium.com

Theory of mind

When LLMs rewrite things for us, we lose something important: empathy

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 10/09/2026

See also: R&D funding calls.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 07/09/2026

I don't like this argument at all. Civil partnerships weren't created as 'marriage-lite', but as an 100% equal equivalent to marriage for LGBT people, when same-sex marriage was politically unviable. It's retrospectively cheapening it to now say 'you actually signed up to no frills marriage'

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 03/09/2026

Fun fact. Technically… Australia’s constitution claims New Zealand.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 02/09/2026

For years there seemed to be no appetite for that to change. But some very positive changes recently (end of s21 in particular) - I guess generation rent is getting some political heft at last.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 02/09/2026

The reality is that the private rented sector is a horrifically dysfunctional market of a kind I don't think we'd tolerate for other essentials. It's insecure, exploitative, expensive - a real blight on people's lives.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 02/09/2026

And indeed everyone has the right to dine at the Ritz. My experience of renting - thankfully over - was that I usually wouldn't be told the name of the landlord and wouldn't get to see the tenancy agreement until the day it started.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 02/09/2026

Why don’t tenants get to credit check their landlords? Tenant can lose their home if the landlord is behind on their mortgage. It can take months to get a deposit back from a non-responsive landlord. The creditworthiness of the landlord is just as relevant as the tenant’s.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 02/09/2026

Depends if they put it in a custodial or insured scheme, but yes they absolutely can.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 02/09/2026

I completely agree with building more houses and that that would go a long way to improving the experience of tenants. But "somebody has market power and can abuse it" is usually seen as a reason for regulation, not as a reason for a shrug.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 01/09/2026

Why should tenants need credit checks? Rent is usually paid in advance. They aren’t taking out debt. The one borrowing is usually the landlord, in taking a deposit. Maybe the landlord should be the one being checked?

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 19/08/2026

Seems a bit harsh, surely he can complete the test in less time if he’s going at 140mph

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Reposted by Olivier Usher

Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

I do not need to be jumped scared into not buying a disposable BBQ. Fucks sake.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 13/08/2026

No books. Never any books. 🤦‍♂️

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 12/08/2026

I was never quite able to take the BBC series seriously after my dad said he thought the triffids looked like celery

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 12/08/2026

Delighted to be targeted for ads for, uh, whatever these are. I wouldn't dream of penny-pinching and going for the £4,600 option.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 06/08/2026

It shows the forces of deregulation sweeping through the nanny state, as represented by a deconstructed “no parking” sign?

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 31/07/2026

It costs us all a penny when copyright terms are extended, partly through royalties. But also through proliferation ambiguity and orphan works of unclear age, ownership or status, that are effectively removed from circulation. Both of these stifle future creativity and recombination.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 31/07/2026

This is a terrible idea. Permanent enclosure of the cultural commons. Goes against the principle that copyright and patents were founded on - a *time-limited* grant of intellectual property over what would otherwise be in the public domain, to incentivise creativity.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 30/07/2026

This sounds like the Google Slides friend, who is similarly like a friendly, hardworking but totally useless intern.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 28/07/2026

This was quite paper efficient

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 26/07/2026

Most recent scam I got, from Goldcar (criminals), was adding on a “logistics fee”, deducted from the deposit without telling me, when the prepaid booking said “all inclusive”, then tried to wear me down with AI slop from their customer service email.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 26/07/2026

You can practically see them type en dot wikipedia dot org slash wiki slash car as they look utterly perplexed at your request

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 25/07/2026

I think I may have got perilously close to that on my blog (“say what you like about the tenets of national socialism, at least he would have hated AI”) ojusher.medium.com/chatkgb-what...

ojusher.medium.com

ChatKGB: what would the Soviets have made of AI?

And other what-ifs from the history of tyranny

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 24/07/2026

Dear @changeist.bsky.social, I am out of office until 1 October. I will reply to your post when I return.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 23/07/2026

I would simply ask Jeeves.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 23/07/2026

My vibes-based but strongly-held opinion: 🪖 The Soviets, Pinochet, Mobutu and Mussolini would have loved AI. 🎖️ The Khmer Rouge, English Puritans, Nazis and Falangists would have hated it. ojusher.medium.com/chatkgb-what...

ojusher.medium.com

ChatKGB: what would the Soviets have made of AI?

And other what-ifs from the history of tyranny

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 22/07/2026

This excellent question from @zachweinersmith.bsky.social has been playing on my mind, so I've had a go at thinking through what various horrible dictatorships would have made of AI. ojusher.medium.com/chatkgb-what...

ojusher.medium.com

ChatKGB: what would the Soviets have made of AI?

And other what-ifs from the history of tyranny

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 21/07/2026

I stand partially corrected - I had missed that Chris Bryant now runs NI. That's a real job unlike Scotland/Wales Offices. bsky.app/profile/davi...

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 21/07/2026

I stand corrected on Bryant. NI is a real job.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 21/07/2026

Unless I’ve missed some there are two (Kinnock and Alexander), in non-jobs. Most departments have national remits. If you want it to remain the union government - I appreciate not everybody does - then I don’t think it’s sustainable or defensible that SoSes can only ever come from England seats now

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 21/07/2026

Devolution was already in place prior to 2010, and I really don’t think talent is the blocker given Nandy is in the cabinet. Westminster is the union government and the union is not sustainable if that is always entirely staffed by English MPs, I don’t think it’s more complicated than that.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 21/07/2026

Zero proper departments led by Scottish or Welsh MPs, as has been the case in every single cabinet since 2010.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 21/07/2026

Caveats in case anyone pipes up: * Scotland and Wales Offices are historic anomalies, they barely do anything. * Danny Alexander was Chief Secretary in the Coalition, which is in the cabinet, but doesn't lead a department.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 21/07/2026

It's now over 18 years since there was a government department led by a Welsh MP (Hain, DWP) and over 16 years since there was a Scottish MP (Darling, Treasury; Alexander, DFID). I know there's a lot going on, but I think this is genuinely insane if you care even slightly about the union.

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 21/07/2026

Everyone in science and technology policy world today

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Olivier Usher @ojusher.com · 20/07/2026

I imagine Burnham would be keen on the Northern Department. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secreta...

en.wikipedia.org

Secretary of State for the Northern Department - Wikipedia

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