iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Omair Ahmad @omairahmad.bsky.social · 5h

Damn, Lanterns was great. Even with some unevenness, it was really well cast, the dialogue was by-and-large tight, and the multiple strands of family trauma - the trauma of family - were really well tied up. Best show I've seen in a while.

010

Omair Ahmad @omairahmad.bsky.social · 10h

Amazing that the tech bros promoting "AI" have all the money in the world, massive government backing, a credulous media, and are generally hated. I mean there are substantial percentage of people that love nuclear weapons, for fuck's sake.

110

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Mae Nick Phra Khanong @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 11h

The anti-Zionists who are most open to legitimate criticism are those who are unwilling to take the logic of their anti-Zionism to its logical conclusion, nation-states are inherently exclusionary social formations

0121

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Ian @ianagp.bsky.social · 11h

In Iranian culture it's considered deeply offensive to bomb the country for a year. #Themoreyouknow

610421

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

عمو حسام @barracks.substack.com · 17h

This issue covers Sisi’s propaganda offensive, arrested fact-checkers, intelligence and judicial family ties, military business expansion, US arms contracts, and Emirati investment, alongside the Regeni verdict, delayed detention reforms, prisoner protests, and deaths in custody.

barracks.substack.com

All in the Family, All Under Watch

Egypt Security Sector Report

022

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Iris van Rooij 💭 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

The thread collects only what I published on the topic of “Cognition & Intractability”. I’ve also published on other topics, in case of interest, too: irisvanrooijcogsci.com/publications...

irisvanrooijcogsci.com

Publications

If you cannot access a publication, please email me and I’ll send you a copy. Selected publications van Rooij, I., Guest, O., Adolfi, F. G., de Haan, R., Kolokolova, A., & Rich, P. (2024)…

131

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Salmon Are Thriving After Klamath Dam Removals, Study Finds| Conservation need not be complicated. Often humans just have to stop doing the thing that was harming nature and it’ll repair itself. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/c...

05216

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Travis @someforeignfield.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

It comes as a shock to a lot of people that Iranians dont want their country forcibly dismantled and pushed into permanent civil war. The Islamic Republic persists because, at least for now, it prevents that fate.

0294

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Anil Dash @anildash.com · 04/10/2026

Alll of this. I started my career in construction, working office jobs alongside people who worked trades. Know how many 60-year-old guys I saw working as bricklayers? Doing demo? Zero. How many 50-year-old roofers there are? Zero. One reason unions fight for high wages is because careers are SHORT.

511548293

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Ian Ramjohn @iramjohn.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

The victim-blaming here is disgusting. Everyone "made mistakes"? Being the victim of a violent rape, and committing a violent rape are both "mistakes"? And treating them differently is holding men to a *higher* standard? WTF is wrong with people?

Regardless of the outcome in the Cornell civil lawsuit and the reopened criminal investigation, young women must take responsibility for their actions. Everyone at that Cornell party – including the alleged victim – made mistakes, from drinking too much to taking drugs to partaking in unwise sex. Why should the men involved be held to a higher standard?

Women shouldn’t expect coddling. And regretting one’s bad decisions is a far cry from rape.

243

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

China Law Translate / Jeremy Daum @chinalawtranslate.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

So many questions, but mainly... why?

2 boxes of KFC Original flavor Oreos stacked under some "retro" popcorn flavor Oreos.

4223

Omair Ahmad @omairahmad.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Think it's fairly easy to condemn and oppose the violent and dehumanising policies of the Israeli government without getting into what Zionism is, or is not.

072

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

#BruceSterling @bruces.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

*Meanwhile, in Elon-centric AI theology: #predictingthepresent

33012

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Local Observer 🇮🇶🇵🇸🍉 @observer46664.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Extremely proud of all the Iraqi female (and a number of male) social media influencers and activists who are speaking up against the highly regressive and misogynistic amended Personal Status Law in Iraq. They know that by speaking up they are putting so much at risk, but they are doing it anyways.

134849

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Manjushree Thapa @manjushreethapa.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Listening to Nayan Raj Pandey reading from Ulaar in Nepali, to Mukahang Limbu’s poetry—and to so much more from so many authors—was a joy. It’s also been a fascinating time to be in Berlin. (I sincerely hope the left-liberal forces of Germany find a way to counter the AdF). Onwards. 💫

011

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Manjushree Thapa @manjushreethapa.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

The diversity of writers & artists at the festival has been enlivening. I was happy to reunite with Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, whose poetry & prose I’ve loved for decades, & to meet Tsering Yangzom Lama, whose reading from We Measure the Earth With Our Bodies moved us all to tears.

142

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Manjushree Thapa @manjushreethapa.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Thank you to the Middle Ground - Nepal Literature Festival for hosting two days of intense, open-hearted, emotional, & mind-expanding conversations in Berlin. I find it so moving & hopeful that “Nepal” can include Kashmir & Tibet & Bhutan & elsewhere in the world, all the way to Germany.

132

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

User with this avatar just got blocked @avijustgotblocked.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

An account with this avatar was just blocked.

032

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Mae Nick Phra Khanong @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

The Chinese characters in Sinners explicitly speak Taishanese (a southeast Chinese language not mutually intelligible with Cantonese spoken by a very disproportionate number of Chinese migrants to the US) which I thought was an incredibly niche but very accurate note

829859

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Mae Nick Phra Khanong @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

It shouldn't be lost on anyone that Malaysia is all pan-Islamic solidarity when it comes to Palestine but incredibly the opposite when it comes to the Rohingya

1315

Omair Ahmad @omairahmad.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I realise that there are people who are neither intelligent enough, or well read enough, to understand my books. This pleases me.

100

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Local Observer 🇮🇶🇵🇸🍉 @observer46664.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Karradah Dakhil, on the other hand, has given me EVERYTHING. Each time I walk through it I feel free, like I can genuinely be happy, even if that freedom and happiness last only during the walk.

1271

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Local Observer 🇮🇶🇵🇸🍉 @observer46664.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Today is the 3rd of October, which is Iraq's National Day. I celebrated by taking a walk through Karradah Dakhil. Iraq has taken so much from me, my youth, my freedom, my full potential, my chance of finding love & happiness. I limp with clipped wings instead of flying freely because I was born here

1393

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 03/10/2026

What’s up everyone, why are you on this one this week

Butterfly meme.
Top: folks on social media
Butterfly: Black woman
Bottom: is this my punching bag?

239554

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 03/10/2026

The absolute disrespect with which even those of you who say you "have respect" for me teat my decades long expertise, receipts body of work and discourse based on that never ceases to amaze me.

432718

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Allison Thurman @adotnon.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Dang, I love learning about the existence of new (to me) pterosaurs!

093

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Kelsey Atherton @atherton.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

you should feel uncomfortable with frontier AI models not because the tools lack uses but because everyone who works in hyperscale AI wants to worship these machines and every algorithm that behaves unexpectedly is an enfant terrible they admire, love, and hope to have care for them in their dotage

347688

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Kelsey Atherton @atherton.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Not great that parsing the reality of modern tech capabilities involves speaking to an insular priest class who developed a morality around worshiping the gods in the machines, machines that happen to be plugged into all of how the modern web works.

322428

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Mae Nick Phra Khanong @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Succession fights in the Ayutthaya could get very violent, with a common tactic to survive them being to ordain as a monk Killing a monk is major demerit in Buddhism, and ordination is often only temporary A way to get around this was reportedly to hire Muslim assassins who didn't believe in karma

0111

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Lisa Diedrich @lisadiedrich.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

"This is not models going rogue. This is gross incompetence & negligence by a particular company, which actually they could be held criminally liable for." @timnitgebru.blacksky.app cuts to the AI chase.

3493160

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Jacob Tennessen @jacobphd.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

This was a fascinating read. Lots of neat facts on the history of this and other infectious diseases, then toward the end it really digs into how wealthy countries exploit the poor and sick in developing nations through patent laws and similar legal frameworks.

The Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan, a book about tuberculosis

043

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Nathan Goodman @nathanpgoodman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Thanks to @murosinvisibles.bsky.social for having me on Pirate Wire Radio to discuss border militarization and its adverse consequences for civil liberties.

044

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Joshua Collins @murosinvisibles.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

US President Donald Trump has earmarked $100 million to attack Brazil’s Supreme Court Accusation of US interference in the country’s Presidential elections on Sunday are piling up

12616

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 02/10/2026

This is a better epilogue to my January story about the private equity firm profiting off of ICE's cruelest flights than I could have ever possibly hoped for. CHICAGO: You went to the mat and protected (at a minimum!) thousands of immigrants from torture. Take a bow. prospect.org/2026/10/02/i...

prospect.org

The City That Brought Down an ICE Airline - The American Prospect

In Chicago, progressive alderpeople held up a contract until a private equity firm was forced to dispatch Omni Air International, protecting thousands of immigrants from deportation.

192151750

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I don’t think there’s any group of people I find most despicable than PoCs who are happy to tag along with white supremacy by convincing themselves that they’re being nuanced. She’s not sophisticated. She’s just a racist. It doesn’t matter that she’s not white. It just makes her more pathetic.

3698

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Setting aside the fact that this is obviously racist and idiotic, note how she says ‘English, Welsh, and Scottish’ but erases Northern Ireland. That’s because she’d have to awkwardly say Irish following the same ‘logic’, and that would be politically disastrous.

36514

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Dustin A. Chacón @lingdustin.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I've heard people make claims that AI would lead to a new Renaissance, but I didn't imagine it'd happen like this:

Screenshot of a Tweet from Pope Leo XIV. It reads:

"In this era of artificial intelligence, it is becoming urgen to distinguish human art from what machines produce. There is an ontological difference, even before an aesthetic one, between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of humanity. For this reason, the Church wishes to renew an alliance with artists and cultural institutions to safeguard our humanity."

260184014865

Omair Ahmad @omairahmad.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

"We as human beings invented states. If we discuss states more than we discuss human lives, I find that tragic."

031

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Scroll @scroll.in · 02/10/2026

Delhi Police detained several protesters on their way to Jantar Mantar, where they planned to protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and demand his resignation. Report by Kritika Pant #Jantarmantarprotest

066

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Dr Danny Bate @dannybate.com · 02/10/2026

Before people learned music with 'do re mi', the sequence once began with 'ut' as the lowest note. The absolute lowest note recognised in medieval music was 'Γ ut', with the Greek letter gamma, and 'Γ ut' came to refer to the full range of possible notes. This is behind the phrase 'run the gamut'.

617448

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Kieran Connell @kieranconnell.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Reviving the old substack with a review of Knife, the new Alex Gibney movie about the attempted murder of Salman Rushdie kieranconnell.substack.com/p/knife-the-...

kieranconnell.substack.com

Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie

I went to see Alex Gibney’s new movie last night, about the attempted murder of Salman Rushdie on stage at a literary festival in 2022.

002

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I think you can forgive people for not sussing that the Starmer project was a bleak and utterly cynical fraud in 2020 or 2021. Nobody after that was fooled, who didn’t want to be fooled.

15211

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Dr. Sarah Parcak @indyfromspace.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I just called us "Homey Sapiens" as a typo in my book, wake up babe, new species name just dropped

1959372

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

article-14.com @article-14.com · 02/10/2026

Sajra Jahan wants out of a Delhi homeless shelter. She wants to work, use the computer skills she's begun learning & raise her 3 daughters in a clean, safe room. But first, she has to find documents to prove her right to vote, writes @betwasharma.bsky.social article14.substack.com/p/field-note...

article14.substack.com

Field Note: ‘I Want A Life Of Dignity & Safety’

Betwa Sharma

001

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

we are so back

501608187

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

Brad Lander @bradlander.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

ICE’s courthouse arrests were always illegal—as we said from the start. Finally, they’re prohibited nationwide. Thank you to The Door @africansus.bsky.social @nyclu.org @aclu.org @maketheroadny.bsky.social @ecbawm.com & Judge Castel for upholding the rule of law. www.nyclu.org/press-releas...

nyclu.org

Federal Court Strikes Down ICE’s Courthouse Arrest Policy Nationwide - NYCLU

321257

Reposted by Omair Ahmad

ℝ𝕖𝕓𝕖𝕝𝕓𝕝𝕦𝕖 @rebelb1ue.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

If feeding a hungry kid accidentally benefits an "undeserving" kid, I am prepared to live with this devastating outcome.

1123705535