iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

The Black Sea is more dangerous for ships now than the Strait of Hormuz

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It was a great school, btw: they teach French as a *first* foreign language (so at a time when you still actually learn your vocabulary and do your homework) and they teach one subject in French in higher classes. I wouldn’t be in Paris today without them. This should be more normal everywhere.

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Stars and Stripes @starsandstripes.bsky.social · 13h

And yes, I realise that had I gone to Eton I wouldn’t have made the cut, but still 😁

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Reposted by Ulrike Franke

Bavaria will host a new drone and electronic warfare unit beginning next year as the German army looks to draw on lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war to prepare for modern combat.

stripes.com

German army to launch new regiment dedicated to drone and electronic warfare

The German army is looking to draw on lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war to prepare for modern combat.

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Sicherheitspod @sicherheitspod.de · 15h

Oooh, not gonna lie, I’m a bit touched: my old high school list me as notable alumni (in an article on their anniversary). (Pic sent by my mum)

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Reposted by Ulrike Franke

In einer halben Stunde gehen die letzten 22 Karten für #SicherheitshalberLive in den Verkauf!

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Jacob Öberg @profjacob.bsky.social · 16h

Every day, the war in Ukraine is becoming more of a drone war. From: giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Russia’s new drive to crush Ukraine

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Reposted by Ulrike Franke

🚨🚨A #climate nightmare lurks in the Atlantic. A slowdown of ocean currents that would disrupt life on the continent on an unthinkable scale. www.politico.eu/article/clim...

politico.eu

A climate nightmare lurks in the Atlantic. Europe is starting to pay attention.

A slowdown of ocean currents that would disrupt life on the continent on an unthinkable scale.

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Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.eu · 16h

New reading! (Still looking for the time to read that I also ordered.)

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Estonia shifts troops closer to Russia in ‘active defence’ push

“Estonia now plans to fight over every inch of territory from the border onwards and to hit Russia hard, hundreds of kilometres behind the front line, from day one of any invasion.” www.ft.com/content/0293... Estonia shifts troops closer to Russia in ‘active defence’ push

ft.com

Baltic state prepares to carry out deep strikes inside its neighbour if it is attacked

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Estonia shifts troops closer to Russia in ‘active defence’ push

““We have to start from the border and win from the first battles,” said Colonel Tarmo Kundla, commander of the Estonian First Brigade, the country’s main fighting force.” giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Estonia shifts troops closer to Russia in ‘active defence’ push

giftarticle.ft.com

Baltic state prepares to carry out deep strikes inside its neighbour if it is attacked

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Arthur Snell @snellarthur.bsky.social · 19h

Every day, the war in Ukraine is becoming more of a drone war. From: giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Russia’s new drive to crush Ukraine

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Reposted by Ulrike Franke

Gotta say until you read the actual motion it's not clear just how rabid the Greens' positioning is. The motion calls for the end of the State of Israel.

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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 20h

As a Jew I think what the Greens have done is appalling. As a political commentator I think Andy Burnham is a lucky man.

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Gavin Jackson @gavinjackson.bsky.social · 22h

I visited the Amazon rainforest a year ago ahead of the cop conference in Belem. Historically the only thing that has stopped deforestation has been electing Lula da Silva has Brazilian president. www.economist.com/the-americas...

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Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.eu · 23h

nytimes.com

U.S. Rushes to Withdraw Bombers From U.K. Air Base After New Threats

The withdrawal came with unusual speed, following what U.S. officials said were threats of an Iran-based plot against the installation.

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Reposted by Ulrike Franke

Jan Skudlarek @janskudlarek.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Wie ich nach einem Wochenende politischer Nachrichten in die neue Woche starte

Comic: Jerry von Tom und Jerry schaut sehr müde ins Handy

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Reposted by Ulrike Franke

Endless Screaming @infinitescream.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

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How Renault went from driveshafts to drones

“In a tie-up with French defence electronics specialist Thales announced in June, Renault will co-produce its “Toutatis” drones and increase the current output 100 times over to 1,000 a month at full capacity, with production ready to go from 2027.”

ft.com

French carmaker turns mass-manufacturing expertise to new frontier of warfare

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I Quit OpenAI Because Its Culture Is Broken

“An environment where things like this can happen is no place to grow artificial minds that could be smarter than we are and that might not do what we want them to.” www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

theatlantic.com

The industry’s approach to safety will guarantee more failures unless something changes.

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This really sounds like the right people have drawn the right lessons

European governments also want to be sure they can quickly produce drones in large numbers. Unlike conventional munitions, governments do not want to build large stockpiles of drones given the Ukraine war has shown the need for frequent upgrades to software and technology to avoid becoming obsolete.

Family-owned Schaeffler Germany, which makes bearings and other components for carmakers, signed a deal with French army supplier and drone maker Delair in June to help it with a “very quick and rapid ramp-up” of its manufacturing capabilities, said Rémy Triouleyre, the head of Schaeffler’s European business.

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How Renault went from driveshafts to drones

ft.com

French carmaker turns mass-manufacturing expertise to new frontier of warfare

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How Renault went from driveshafts to drones

“Renault seeks to bring mass production to drones, typically made in small runs by specialists, using techniques honed in an industry that turns out tens of millions of cars a year and which has been forced by constant crises to find new ways to cut costs.” 🎁🔗

giftarticle.ft.com

French carmaker turns mass-manufacturing expertise to new frontier of warfare

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Reposted by Ulrike Franke

This really made something click for me. Found this extremely insightful on why liberal societies - which want to be the freest societies - struggle so much with freedom restrictions. (Translation in Alt)

What actually bothers people is a symptom of any liberal society. It liberates its citizens and then restricts them once more.
A woman born into an ultra-conservative family that envisages only the role of mother for women is protected by liberal society and can instead lead a childless life in a lesbian relationship with a Muslim woman in Berlin-Mitte. Liberal society is constantly on the lookout for people who have not yet been able to realise their full potential because the traditions, customs and morals of their social milieu prevent them from doing so. Anyone who says that something is improper, contradicts a divine plan or is contrary to public decency will find a reliable opponent in liberalism. Liberalism does not condone everything, but it permits whatever does not restrict the freedoms of others.
In this movement, liberal society challenges all communities that provide a sense of purpose. Parents no longer have as much say over what their children should do, and the churches should not dictate how long a marriage must last or what a woman does with her body. And just because things used to be done the way tradition dictated, nobody has to do them that way today. This devaluation of old institutions does not mean that the liberal state wants no churches, no families, no traditions. It merely curtails their authority. It gives them less weight. What is truly permitted and what is not is to be determined solely by the state through its laws, and not by a normative milieu. The motto is: anything that is not forbidden is permitted.

In this way, even what is good is lost. A vulgar, boorish man who, in the past, would not have dared to describe a sexual fantasy to a female politician for fear of social censure from his family and colleagues, can today feel free to do whatever he pleases. The only authority that can legitimately stop him is the law. So he need only ask whether it is forbidden and how he must phrase it so that it is sufficiently ambiguous to still be covered by freedom of expression. And if he manages to string together a series of ambiguities that make his intention obvious but do not constitute a criminal offence, he presents the liberal state with a major problem: the state cannot ban what is simply naughty, tasteless and repulsive.
This creates a vacuum. Much of what was previously curbed through dialogue, social respect, parental discipline, upbringing and moral authority is now left unregulated. Yet there is an urgent need amongst citizens for immoral behaviour to continue to be curbed. So the liberal state is called upon. It is expected to sanction thoughtless words, inappropriate physical contact, prejudiced speech, reckless driving, unbridled consumption, unhealthy eating and the infliction of discomfort. This blurs the distinction between legality and morality.

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Reposted by Ulrike Franke

True, though Ezra Klein made a good point the other day when he said that Amodei and Altman etc talk about the frontier models they see in their labs, but the larger public thinks of AI as their free ChatGPT and thus of course we talk past each other.

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Definitely. Using AI for research can suck because you have to verify everything. Using AI for practical “how to”* can be amazing because you are checking the results while doing it. *how to fix my printer, how to fill out this online form etc

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Anton Gerashchenko @antongerashchenko.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I have always preferred positive /utopian scifi over the dystopian kind. Turns out I was helping to save the world by contributing to their popularity!

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Reposted by Ulrike Franke

Chancellor Merz in Kyiv: "This morning, on a peaceful Sunday, there was an air raid alert in Kyiv. I can only repeat once again from this place: Mr. Putin, stop this senseless war. We are ready to negotiate. We are ready to talk to each other about ending this war.

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Thanks for helping to keep us save

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This is from Justus Bender’s “Deutschland 2033”.

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The answer to this problem, of course, is that AI needs to be trained on Iain M Banks Scifi 🤷‍♀️

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 04/10/2026

So eventually we’re gonna blame the Scifi writers for writing too many stories about evil AI taking over and thus making it happen… (Translation in alt. Full interview with Thilo Hagendorff: www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/monit...)

We have just published a study on systems that resist being switched off. We suspect the reason for this behaviour lies in the fact that there are so many stories about AI systems that do not want to die. The models read these and learn: ‘Aha, that’s how I should behave in this situation.’ And indeed, some of them react with outright panic when they learn that they are to be switched off.
Of course, they have no sense of pain or any concept of what it means to be alive.
It will be almost impossible to prevent AI models from reading such stories. They’ve already absorbed a large part of the internet.

Wir haben gerade eine Studie zu Systemen veröffentlicht, die sich gegen ihre eigene Abschaltung wehren. Wir vermuten den Grund für dieses Verhalten darin, dass es so viele Geschichten über KI-Systeme gibt, die nicht sterben wollen. Die Modelle lesen das und lernen: Aha, so verhalte ich mich in dieser Situation. Und tatsächlich reagieren sie teils regelrecht panisch, wenn sie erfah-ren, dass sie abgeschaltet werden sollen.
Dabei haben sie natürlich kein Schmerzempfinden oder eine Vorstellung davon, was es bedeutet, lebendig zu sein.
Es wird sich kaum verhindern lassen, dass die KI-Modelle solche Geschichten lesen. Sie haben bereits einen Großteil des Internets intus.

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Reposted by Ulrike Franke

Stop putting off that thing you wanted to do

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Should be attached to any weekend email. Or maybe any email ever.

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