iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Just arrived. Looking forward to diving in. And to Byrne's live talk of the same name next month.

Photograph of a book cover. SLEEPING BEAUTIES (Why good ideas go dormant and how they wake up) by David Byrne. It's a plain cover design, with just the text and two simple illustrated eyes, one open and one closed.

000

Reposted by Phil Adams

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."

257183424847

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Enjoyed @tomduffinphotos.bsky.social at Edinburgh @creativemornings.bsky.social earlier, talking about the daily discipline behind a creative practice. What he calls his "stream of conscientiousness", which, as he demonstrated, is a great phrase for a Sean Connery impression.

121

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

1,000 editions. Well done Michael. And thank you. Edinburgh people should take a paid subscription if you haven't already. £45/year is crazy good value.

010

Reposted by Phil Adams

Matt Muir @mattmuir.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Good thread on the tedious, bullshit headline leading the BBC this morning

051

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

We’ve had worse views from rented apartments. (Marseille)

View of Marseille Old Port. Lots of boats in a marina with quayside buildings in the background.

View of the entrance to Marseille Old Port. Boats and masts in the foreground. Stone harbour walls behind them, with a tower and lighthouse on one side of the entrance.

020

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

A philosophy I can get behind.

Art gallery blurb in French and English. It describes a piece by Julian Farade, called, “I doubt, therefore I am.”

A large art work of a reclining figure
made of purple velvet cushioning. It is humanoid it that it has two arms and two legs, but also insect-like in the way the body and limbs are constructed.

000

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

French supermarkets. Almost worth the trip on their own.

110

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

This popped into my head for some reason. This album, and this song in particular, was the sound of the summer of 1982 (I was 16). A great time for Aussie bands. www.youtube.com/watch?v=oENq...

youtube.com

Almost With You (2002 Remastered)

YouTube video by The Church - Topic

000

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

This will be my last Fringe show of 2026 later. Last saw Bryony Kimmings at @matlock.bsky.social's Story conference in (yikes) 2014. bookings.shedinburgh.com/event/9854:1...

bookings.shedinburgh.com

Bryony Kimmings: Sex Idiot

Thursday 27 & Sunday 30 August: 8.30pm Designed by David Curtis Ring, Originally produced by Lindsey Price and Hannah Kerr Following an STI diagnosis, Bryony

010

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

This was quite something. A live documentary stage performance. A crossover format and a crossover story of migration and family ties. Last day today and well worth it if you're in Edinburgh. edinburghfestival.datathistle.com/event/298105...

edinburghfestival.datathistle.com

Aliens

Curious Industries and Dumbworld Join a daughter and her mother as they retrace their ancestors' journey across Europe. Peeling back the generational layers, travelling into the past from Northern Ire...

000

Reposted by Phil Adams

Natalie Bennett @nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Powerful and important letter about artificial so-called intelligence from Sheila Hayman from Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, University of Cambridge, in the FT today

$Margaret McGirr’s letter (“AI can lend a hand, but it will struggle to replace one”, July 21) and Chine McDonald’s guest column (“This retro revival is more than a longing for the past”, Opinion, August 7) both touch (sic) on something that should be obvious, but is carefully ignored by almost everyone in the tech world. Namely that our intelligence is embodied, evolved and biological, and inseparable from our bodies. The brain’s job is to control the body in the world; it is the last organ to develop. Every square centimetre of our hands (and of the rest of our skin) contains about a 170 touch sensors or nerve endings, sensitive to different kinds of touch: a slap, a burn, a caress, a hug — each of which travels to different parts of the midbrain, prompting the appropriate response. Quickly to the autonomic nervous system for something dangerous; more slowly via a different channel for something carrying meaning. In addition to the hand’s limitless versatility, it is self-repairing, regulates its own temperature, knows without being programmed how much pressure to exert on an egg, a tennis ball or a day-old chick, and can fuse neurologically to whatever it holds. So when we put a glass down on the table or slide a knife through an apple, we feel the table, or the apple, not the glass or handle in our hand (try it!). Finally, and most urgently, the entire human body — including the hands — does everything on 25 or so watts of completely renewable energy: a tiny fraction of what a humanoid robot, even one of the current primitive iteration of robots, needs. The “retro revival” is thus not cultural nostalgia. It’s millions of years of evolution crying out to be heard, before we suppress it totally in the service of an automated — and dead — planet. Sheila Hayman Member of the Advisory Board, Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, University of Cambridge, London NW1, UK$

14487264

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Loving, nostalgic back story to the Borland's Darts and Television shop on Leith walk. Includes a great story about Irvine Welsh and Damon Albarn visiting the store on an ill-fated Edinburgh pub crawl. HT the fabulous @edinburghminute.com threadinburgh.scot/2026/08/13/d...?

threadinburgh.scot

Darts and Television. The thread about Borlands of Croall Place

The closure and sale of Borlands of Croall Place marks the end of a 100 year chapter, but there’s much more to that story than just the sign above the door for Darts and Television.

093

Reposted by Phil Adams

Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

With his synapses ravaged by unlimited wealth, man who first had himself blasted into space and then hired the most beautiful city in the world for his wedding - but still found himself entirely unmoved - makes final desperate attempt to have a meaningful experience. news.sky.com/story/amazon...

news.sky.com

Amazon founder Bezos nears deal to buy stake in Liverpool Football Club

An announcement about a deal with the consortium led by Amit Bhatia, and including Jeff Bezos and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, could come as soon as this week, Sky News learns.

108529

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Lovely personal message from @buttondown.com's founder, responding to my support query and updating me on work that he is doing personally on the backend analytics. This is how you do it. This is how you build advocacy (look at me advocating!) in a world of enshittification.

130

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Acrobats warming up for the 10000 Hours show by Gravity & Other Myths at Assembly Hall yesterday. Astonishing. Also warm and funny. #edfringe www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...

A group of acrobats warms up on stage. There are several flight cases on stage with them. A large LED display at the back of the stage shows the number 10000.

010

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Wright&Grainger’s retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice: as brilliant as their retellings always are.

Two men on a stage, one in a check suit and baseball cap, the other in a dark vest.

000

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

My partner's first fully professional Fringe show starts tonight & runs to Sat 15th. She wrote the script & is underwriting the costs of the venue and paying cast & crew. Two-for-one tickets for the Monday & Tuesday shows are pretty much gone. Darkly funny theatre. www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...

edfringe.com

Wheelchair Access, Wheelchair Accessible Toilets, Audio Enhancement System

010

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Some much-needed balance and sense. In summary, why the rush? berthub.eu/articles/pos... "It’s remarkable how many AI pilots begin without anyone first deciding what the objective actually is." If you've worked for or with any organisations of a reasonable size, this isn't remarkable at all.

berthub.eu

AI: Considerations for people who make decisions - Bert Hubert's writings

Recently I gave two presentations in quick succession to the Dutch Network of Government Service Providers and the Dutch Advisory Council for Science, Technology and Innovation about AI. In these two ...

100

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Cleo Goodman talking to Creative Mornings Edinburgh earlier today about Universal Basic Income for artists. She's got her story straight and she knows how to tell it.

Photograph of a woman giving a presentation. A slide on a big screen behind her reads, "WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY IF YOU GOT AN INCOME OF £1000 A MONTH?"

020

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

When two people you could listen to all day have an intimate conversation. Worth it just to hear Cooper Clark say phrases like, "hat shop habitué," "morally incumbent", and "Sultan of Brunei". www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPOe...

youtube.com

John Cooper Clarke talks Poetry, Nico and James Brown | Fashion Neurosis Podcast with Bella Freud

YouTube video by Fashion Neurosis

000

Reposted by Phil Adams

Karen K. Ho @karenho.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

The quotes and replies to this made me laugh.

711724

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

David Byrne last night. Brilliant in every single way. The new stuff sounded great. The old stuff was sublime. His band is off-the-scale good. This is them performing Nothing But Flowers. I wrote a love letter to the lyrics (can it really be?) eleven years ago. medium.com/a-longing-lo...

A group of musicians on a stage. They are all dressed in orange suits. There is a back projection of an empty office/server room behind them.

000

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Kevin Keegan scored the opening goal in a 2:1 win against Man City in April 1977, the first time I saw Liverpool at Anfield. I was 11 years old and the stadium was jam-packed with 55,000 people. I wept for joy at the atmosphere. And I saw this hero in his pomp. RIP. www.lfchistory.net/games/966

lfchistory.net

Manchester City 09 Apr 1977 - LFChistory.net

Liverpool vs Manchester City - Full match details, lineup, goals, and statistics from 09 April 1977.

020

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

It’s quite the thing, this idea of an amnesty; applying the same remedy to AI tools in a business that you’d apply to knives, guns, or drugs in wider society. newsletter.lowfalutin.co.uk/archive/span...

newsletter.lowfalutin.co.uk

Spanner amnesty

In which there are three timely interventions. Flushing and forgetting One of my clients held an AI amnesty recently. They employ hundreds of inquisitive...

000

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

"I am in the rare position where my wellbeing is not contingent on paying lip service to madness, and to reassure the people trying to survive amidst all of this that they are not crazy." Brilliant witness testimony. hermit-tech.com/blog/ai-mani...

hermit-tech.com

AI Mania Is Eviscerating Global Decisionmaking

The reality of how much damage AI mania is doing to our ability to run institutions effectively.

121

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Saw Stop Making Sense on the big screen for the 2nd time last night. Genius in every way. Screen 2 @filmhouseedinburgh.bsky.social was sold out. 70% - 80% of the audience was a generation younger than us, born at least a decade, maybe two decades, after it was made. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rjM...

youtube.com

Stop Making Sense | Official Trailer HD | A24

YouTube video by A24

010

Reposted by Phil Adams

Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

But they’re not ‘being public about it’ This is a journalistic scoop. Baffling how so many people don’t get the problem with *foreign governments* funding U.K. political organisations

17308125

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

A sensible, understated, and therefore unusually bearable conversation about strategy. www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8Ev...

youtube.com

Martin Weigel's new book on lessons from the front line

YouTube video by On Strategy Showcase

000

Reposted by Phil Adams

Sarah Drummond @rufflemuffin.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

As much as we should really take this all seriously. Sometimes comedy and satire is the only way to fight fascists and bigots. Imagine if @countbinface.bsky.social really did beat Nigel Farage.

4596

Reposted by Phil Adams

Adam Ramsay @adamramsay.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

All of the kids at my daughters’ nursery are still singing “no Scotland, no party”. Which tells you something about how national self-impressions form.

0101

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Pitch theatre. Twelve filmmakers pitch their projects to funders and distributors in front of an audience. They were all great, but there was a common factor that set the best ones apart... newsletter.lowfalutin.co.uk/archive/the-...

newsletter.lowfalutin.co.uk

The logistics of mercy

In which I borrow language from another category to reposition a client and set them apart. But first… a lesson in pitching Back in my payroll days, when...

000

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

The irony of such care and attention being given to doing Bad Services so well.

010

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Loving that @filmhouseedinburgh.bsky.social is running a short David Byrne season ahead of his Edinburgh gig next month. It means I can see Stop Making Sense (4K) on the big screen for the second time. Can't wait. It's magical. Perhaps even transcendental. Talking Heads as David Byrne's warm-up act.

042

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Lies, damn lies, and "so-far" statistics. Then again, the way he's going... xkcd.com/3260/

xkcd.com

Messi

000

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Spent yesterday at Scottish Documentary Institute's Edinburgh Pitch. Twelve film projects pitching for funds, partners, and distribution to a panel of A-List funders, producers, and distributors. Each production team had received expert coaching on their pitch beforehand.

Photograph of various people on a stage in front of an audience. Three presenters and an MC are standing behind a lectern to the right of the stage as we look, and they are being questioned by a panel of three seated people in the centre. Above the stage is a large screen with a still from a film and a caption which says, "JOURNEY OF AN ARCHIVE: Hannah Papacek Harper, Francesco Amoruso & Yazeed Abu Khdeir"

110

Reposted by Phil Adams

Vince Raison @vincerai.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Open goal.

2134

Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

I get a weekly email with view/read stats for my Medium posts. This one, which I'd forgotten I'd written, has gotten some action in the last seven days. It will be ten years old on Sunday. Sheesh. And it's not bad if I do say so myself. Both videos are worth a watch too. medium.com/a-longing-lo...?

medium.com

She wants a car with a cupholder armrest.

A love letter to the lyrics of Short Skirt Long Jacket by Cake.

120