iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

For no particular reason at all, here is some excellent Turkish punk music: youtu.be/1LXNQQ9V8pE?...

youtu.be

THE RINGO JETS - Spring of War (Official Video)

YouTube video by THE RINGO JETS

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin

After the Atlantic published the texts this morning, Tulsi Gabbard is confronted today on why she lied in her testimony to the Senate yesterday. She says she misremembered.

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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin

Adam Payne @adampayne26.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Starmer phone call with Zelenskyy: “The Prime Minister expressed his support for President Zelenskyy as Ukraine’s democratically elected leader and said that it was perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during war time as the UK did during World War II.”

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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin

Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

A dictatorship hosting another dictatorship to negotiate with an aspiring dictatorship about the future of a democracy that’s not represented.

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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Watch him get confirmed, and then draw conclusions about those guardrails you think are there in the American system…..

Chenchen Zhang 🤦🏻‍♀️ @chenchenzhang.net · 26/01/2025

This is a very good read, and chimes with what I’ve been seeing since Labour came to power. The govt has not been without scandal, but the scale of some of the reporting has not matched the scale of some of the stories. Some stories need hounding down, but not every story is Starmer’s watergate.

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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin

kinda curious how deepseek decides when to use "can't answer" and when to give propaganda

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Thesis by B.Chaudry (2024): prism.ucalgary.ca/items/694490... Journal article by Muzumdar et al., (2025): www.researchgate.net/profile/Prat...

prism.ucalgary.ca

This sent me down a rabbit hole to see if any academics had written about the 'Dead Internet Theory' (read: 'conspiracy'). I haven't found much, but there's an interesting thesis submitted to the Uni of Calgary last month, and a comp-sci journal article. Both sound interesting. Links below:

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It gives me the same kind of heebie jeebies that I get when I hear of Google Gemini giving false medical information in search, or students using OpenAI to check sources. This technological revolution is coming with some SERIOUS red flags.

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It would be interesting if such interference applied if you hosted the model locally rather than accessing it through the company (since it is open source), but for now, we can just add this onto the pile of world-changing tech that we are distributing to millions of users completely uncritically.

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DeepSeek AI refuses to criticize Xi Jinping: "Talk about something else"

I was debating trying the new Chinese 'Deepseek' generative AI, but the official app lets you know that it collects key-strokes etc...; you need an account to try it on the web, and according to Newsweek, it refuses to talk about Tiananmen square. Yeah, no thanks. www.newsweek.com/deepseek-ai-...

newsweek.com

Chinese-owned DeepSeek AI was also unable to provide any information on Tiananmen Square when asked by Newsweek.

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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

It’d be nice if you could sort Bluesky lists by number of subscribers. I’d like to see the most used lists.

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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Presumably the goal will be a “discover video” feed, alongside these custom video feeds they are encouraging users to create. The combination of vertical video and custom feeds has fascinating implications for decentralising social media in the long run. Definitely something Bluesky will leverage.

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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Notably, the trending vertical videos (TikTok style) work way better for me:

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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin

Lewis Goodall @lewisgoodall.com · 20/01/2025

Trump confirms that the US is again withdrawing from the Paris climate accords. "We're not going to do the wind thing" says Trump, saying wind turbines are ugly. Reaffirms that the policy is to "drill baby drill."

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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin

John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 20/01/2025

"It was a Roman Salute" the Elon Musk/Paolo Di Canio crossover we didn't know we needed (because we didn't)

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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

I mean, I can’t even watch back my own video that I just uploaded 🙃

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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

I do like video, but… Am I the only one who experiences this consistently? Occasionally a video will work, but it’s the exception not the rule.

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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 19/01/2025

Vivek's involvement with DOGE lasted negative Scaramuccis

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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin

Josiah Mortimer @josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

A day later...

FTSE stock exchange reaches record highs

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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin

Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

Would be nice to have some breathless media coverage about what this tells up about market perceptions of the state of the UK economy..

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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

A pol comms side note - I’m sick of seeing news reports like: “100 killed, including 31 women & 27 children.” When it should be: “100 killed: 42 men, 31 women, & 27 children.” The former infantilises women, removes their agency, and at the same time acts like the deaths of men aren’t a concern.

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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

Biden: Good afternoon. It's a very good afternoon, because at long last I can announce a cease fire. And a hostage deal has been reached between Israel and Hamas

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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

Please let it hold. Please to all that is holy let it hold.

Charlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin

With the rise of AI, I imagine we will see a decline of political cartoons in news media: because they don't have to imagine or imply ideas now, they can just commission pictures that show exactly what they mean. And this has consequences (beyond annoying historians, who love political cartoons)...

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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Mogg ABSOLUTELY knows that for every person who reads the caption, there will be 5 who don’t. He knows this is disinformation. He just doesn’t care.

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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

It’s like we are on a train already careening off a cliff into a deep canyon and like, two people have noticed. There should be 10x the amount of shame attributed to anyone who depicts a politician using AI, even in the context of a ‘joke’ (thinly-veiled in this instance).

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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

This is utterly heinous. I can’t believe people act like Mogg has any pretence of civility. Childish, stupid, dangerous, and with a sexist undertone. Don’t people realise EVERY major female politician will already be in deep-fake/AI porn? Where is the concern over using this technology in politics?

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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

It’s going to take me a while to get over the idea of “unconditional discharge.” Quite hard to rationalise such an abject failure with the types of systems I usually put my faith in.

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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin

Institute for Public Policy Research @ippr.org · 08/01/2025

Making voting easier is the right call 👍 Our latest report on voter turnout recommended expanding accepted photo IDs or removing ID requirements entirely. This step from Angela Rayner is a welcome move in the right direction. www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

telegraph.co.uk

Labour could scrap voter ID rules, says Rayner

Deputy Prime Minister tells MPs that reports suggest ‘electoral fraud is very minor’

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Victoria Derbyshire @vicderbyshire.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

If 29 deaths in 3 years is enough to outright ban a form of transport, maybe these people should be looking at motor death numbers….. Do we need to get the E-scooter stuff right? Absolutely. Do I regularly encounter older people who have an irrational hatred for them with no introspection? Also yes.

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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin

The Prime minister hits back at Elon Musk ‘Those that are spreading lies and misinformation…are not interested in victims’

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Cas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

This is, to put it mildly, the punchiest statement I think Starmer has ever come out with. Musk has completely and totally embarrassed himself, and I think most people see that.

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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin

Welcome to the new political mainstream.

A racist screed by a leading Tory politician.

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A sentiment I whole-heartedly agree with, given what I’ve just been working on for the last 5 years!

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Liam Thorp @liamthorp.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

Recipes should factor in washing up time alongside prep time. If something’s “quick and easy” but it tells you to use a third pan it’s a scam.

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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin

Just the three weeks between these posts. This right wing business is a fickle game.

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Reposted by Dr. Rob Cronin

James Ball @jamesrball.com · 05/01/2025

It’s not an exact parallel, but Elon Musk abandoning Nigel Farage for not supporting Tommy Robinson would be roughly akin to him ditching Donald Trump for failing to endorse Nick Fuentes.

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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

The triangle of political incentive around Musk/Farage/Robinson is fascinating. Farage designed the Brexit Party (now Reform) from the ground up to be a ‘palatable’ right, especially re: the red wall. He’s never going to be comfortable endorsing Robinson. Whereas Musk has gone all in on him. Mad!

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Dr. Rob Cronin @robcronin.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

Yeah I mean when you are dealing with such an influx of users, I’m impressed all their new features have been as stable as they are, so I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.