Robin Berjon
@robin.berjon.com
Putting human agency back into technology. Brussels, 🇪🇺.
• tech, governance, science, politics, philosophy, infrastructure, cats, terrible puns
• blog: https://berjon.com/
• fmr W3C, NYT, ScienceAI, Protocol Labs
• he/him/Ishmael
• Signal robin.77
• tech, governance, science, politics, philosophy, infrastructure, cats, terrible puns
• blog: https://berjon.com/
• fmr W3C, NYT, ScienceAI, Protocol Labs
• he/him/Ishmael
• Signal robin.77
Pinned
Fascintern Media
We are facing a coordinated international fascist movement that works with explicit backing from Moscow, Washington, and tech monopolies, and is propagating itself through its own media apparatus. Yet...
berjon.com
2025 is coming to end and some people who claim not to be fascists are still associating themselves with fascist outlets like X.
I claim, perhaps charitably, that it's because they don't understand how the internet works. Either way, this needs to change.
berjon.com/fascintern-m...
I claim, perhaps charitably, that it's because they don't understand how the internet works. Either way, this needs to change.
berjon.com/fascintern-m...
Reposted by Robin Berjon
"La Route" by Manu Larcenet
An absolutely gorgeous graphic novel adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road.
After reading the novel I dreamt in shades of ashen grey for days; Larcenet's drawings feel like you're breathing in ash and despair. Tough, harsh, but unmissable.
An absolutely gorgeous graphic novel adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road.
After reading the novel I dreamt in shades of ashen grey for days; Larcenet's drawings feel like you're breathing in ash and despair. Tough, harsh, but unmissable.
December 25, 2025 at 6:14 PM
"La Route" by Manu Larcenet
An absolutely gorgeous graphic novel adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road.
After reading the novel I dreamt in shades of ashen grey for days; Larcenet's drawings feel like you're breathing in ash and despair. Tough, harsh, but unmissable.
An absolutely gorgeous graphic novel adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road.
After reading the novel I dreamt in shades of ashen grey for days; Larcenet's drawings feel like you're breathing in ash and despair. Tough, harsh, but unmissable.
Reposted by Robin Berjon
Japanese and Korean soon-to-be-former Twitter users are waking up. Merry Christmas everyone
December 24, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Japanese and Korean soon-to-be-former Twitter users are waking up. Merry Christmas everyone
Can anyone confirm that this is what's driving the user surge?
Heads up to artists still using Twitter- Twitter is now adding an "Edit image" button under all images posted on the site that allows everyone to feed it into genAI and modify it as they wish with a prompt
December 24, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Can anyone confirm that this is what's driving the user surge?
Where does one sign up to join this list?
In a major escalation against the EU, alongside civil society representatives the Trump Administration sanctions former Commissioner Breton for work he did in official capacity ↘️ www.state.gov/releases/off...
Announcement of Actions to Combat the Global Censorship-Industrial Complex - United States Department of State
The State Department is taking decisive action against five individuals who have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose....
www.state.gov
December 24, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Where does one sign up to join this list?
Gee, I wonder if there's some kind of European institution with the power to do something about this.
Santa can keep the toys…
What we really want for Christmas: people before algorithms.
What we really want for Christmas: people before algorithms.
December 22, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Gee, I wonder if there's some kind of European institution with the power to do something about this.
Reposted by Robin Berjon
basically all collective/interactive human activities: we have rules and processes and those are useful and helpful, but there are ALWAYS edge cases, and personalities and moods and non-obvious factors matter, and there is no way to make rules fit every case. That's why malicious compliance works,
They have made enormous headway. The central issue is that driving isn't _really_ a rule-based process; the rules are codifications of social mores but fundamentally driving around other people is about theory of mind and social negotiation, which ML is largely hopeless at; here's a thing I wrote.
Driving is a social process
Photo by Sangga Rima Roman Selia on Unsplash There is something very strange about automobiles. They are much faster and more dangerous than our brains are...
buttondown.com
December 22, 2025 at 11:55 AM
basically all collective/interactive human activities: we have rules and processes and those are useful and helpful, but there are ALWAYS edge cases, and personalities and moods and non-obvious factors matter, and there is no way to make rules fit every case. That's why malicious compliance works,
Reposted by Robin Berjon
the broad inability to leave a social media platform owned by a white supremacist and prolific manipulator of public perception really is one of the most discouraging data points right now
December 21, 2025 at 6:33 PM
the broad inability to leave a social media platform owned by a white supremacist and prolific manipulator of public perception really is one of the most discouraging data points right now
If you go through Leuven, don't miss Sint-Pieterskerk's exhibit of @faineg.bsky.social's earlier work, including this St Michael with a Big Naturals Dragon bottom centre and precursor Alf Hog on the smitten dragon.
December 21, 2025 at 8:24 PM
If you go through Leuven, don't miss Sint-Pieterskerk's exhibit of @faineg.bsky.social's earlier work, including this St Michael with a Big Naturals Dragon bottom centre and precursor Alf Hog on the smitten dragon.
Reposted by Robin Berjon
👇🎯 The entire problem is that it isn’t Eurobonds, & it isn’t big enough. As during the euro crisis, it’s a messy compromise that doesn’t meet the moment & again kicks the can on what really needs to be done down the road. Still waiting for the Hamiltonian Moment everyone claimed we had c.2015.
Counter-argument: this is not Eurobonds. It is borrowing against the EU budget headroom. So it is zero-sum, assuming the MFF isn't going to get bigger by a corresponding amount (it won't) -> you are going to end up not spending that money elsewhere. It's not a trick you can repeat endlessly.
December 21, 2025 at 3:21 PM
👇🎯 The entire problem is that it isn’t Eurobonds, & it isn’t big enough. As during the euro crisis, it’s a messy compromise that doesn’t meet the moment & again kicks the can on what really needs to be done down the road. Still waiting for the Hamiltonian Moment everyone claimed we had c.2015.
Reposted by Robin Berjon
🎊📜 NEW PAPER 📜🎊
Can we seriously build synthetic consciousness?
And if so, where do we start?
I’m super excited to present recent publication in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews where @jaanaru.bsky.social and I confront this challenge head on.
1/n
Can we seriously build synthetic consciousness?
And if so, where do we start?
I’m super excited to present recent publication in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews where @jaanaru.bsky.social and I confront this challenge head on.
1/n
On biological and artificial consciousness: A case for biological computationalism
The rapid advances in the capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) have galvanised public and scientific debates over whether artificial systems m…
sciencedirect.com
December 18, 2025 at 5:26 PM
🎊📜 NEW PAPER 📜🎊
Can we seriously build synthetic consciousness?
And if so, where do we start?
I’m super excited to present recent publication in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews where @jaanaru.bsky.social and I confront this challenge head on.
1/n
Can we seriously build synthetic consciousness?
And if so, where do we start?
I’m super excited to present recent publication in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews where @jaanaru.bsky.social and I confront this challenge head on.
1/n
Reposted by Robin Berjon
also, low-key, this coming year is the 10th anniversary of publication! Great time to celebrate by sharing it with your friends!
If you're looking for a quick present for someone, ebooks are always great, and I've got a great one for the poli-sci, cyberpunk, big data nerd, and/or sci fi political thriller fan in your life.
www.kobo.com/ww/en/ebook/...
www.kobo.com/ww/en/ebook/...
December 20, 2025 at 8:21 PM
also, low-key, this coming year is the 10th anniversary of publication! Great time to celebrate by sharing it with your friends!
Reposted by Robin Berjon
If academics & researchers in AI (like myself) don’t want the coming AI winter to destroy our field, we need to be accountable for how we allowed another hype cycle on our watch. We have the expertise to stop it. We need to speak truth to power in our own institutions!
September 28, 2025 at 6:59 AM
If academics & researchers in AI (like myself) don’t want the coming AI winter to destroy our field, we need to be accountable for how we allowed another hype cycle on our watch. We have the expertise to stop it. We need to speak truth to power in our own institutions!
Reposted by Robin Berjon
@seabass.bsky.social & @laurenshof.online are you two at the beach together?
December 19, 2025 at 11:06 AM
@seabass.bsky.social & @laurenshof.online are you two at the beach together?
You can tell they're pulling her leg because proper dropbear protection requires a helmet.
December 19, 2025 at 9:05 AM
You can tell they're pulling her leg because proper dropbear protection requires a helmet.
Reposted by Robin Berjon
Since it's come up again, I'll try to succinctly state my view on "AI" as we think of it in culture & tech these days. I think "Big AI" products (ChatGPT, Google Gemini) are mostly terrible for society, because they've been foisted without consent on millions, with lies about what they can do.
December 18, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Since it's come up again, I'll try to succinctly state my view on "AI" as we think of it in culture & tech these days. I think "Big AI" products (ChatGPT, Google Gemini) are mostly terrible for society, because they've been foisted without consent on millions, with lies about what they can do.
Reposted by Robin Berjon
The best part of this amazing short film is when the snow plow shows up and you're like AWW YEAH HERE COMES OUR HERO, and then it just glides into failure
if tumblr dies I need this video to make it's seasonal rotation here instead just in case, Happy holidays 🎄
December 18, 2025 at 8:39 PM
The best part of this amazing short film is when the snow plow shows up and you're like AWW YEAH HERE COMES OUR HERO, and then it just glides into failure
Reposted by Robin Berjon
If you need some hope as the year ends, try this anthology about protest, resistance, and building a more just world.
"We Will Rise Again" by @drkarenlord.bsky.social, @annaleen.bsky.social, and @older.bsky.social (eds.)
What better way is there to end the year than with a compendium of hope and resistance imaginaries!
What better way is there to end the year than with a compendium of hope and resistance imaginaries!
December 18, 2025 at 7:32 PM
If you need some hope as the year ends, try this anthology about protest, resistance, and building a more just world.
POV: you suddenly find out someone you thought you knew has a parallel career as a poet.
nom de cyber
present you WebActorReference
not that one, the other iPersona
tap your digiHandle
leverage the net_alias system
own your eNetwork ID 3.0
front of the line with GlobalPass
what is your millennium quorg?
just BlueYou
your vHandle
my GNU/Name
present you WebActorReference
not that one, the other iPersona
tap your digiHandle
leverage the net_alias system
own your eNetwork ID 3.0
front of the line with GlobalPass
what is your millennium quorg?
just BlueYou
your vHandle
my GNU/Name
December 18, 2025 at 12:19 PM
POV: you suddenly find out someone you thought you knew has a parallel career as a poet.
Reposted by Robin Berjon
Building a relationship with readers is hard for publishers. But for f**k's sake, this can't be the way to go??
December 17, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Building a relationship with readers is hard for publishers. But for f**k's sake, this can't be the way to go??
Reposted by Robin Berjon
If we are banning cell phones for kids we need to be talking about banning chatbots for boomers
www.persuasion.community/p/my-chatgpt...
www.persuasion.community/p/my-chatgpt...
December 17, 2025 at 4:38 PM
If we are banning cell phones for kids we need to be talking about banning chatbots for boomers
www.persuasion.community/p/my-chatgpt...
www.persuasion.community/p/my-chatgpt...
Reposted by Robin Berjon
Primer discurso público de la nueva jefa del MI6. Señala directamente a las grandes plataformas online y a sus dueños como una amenaza para la seguridad nacional e internacional. inews.co.uk/news/politic...
December 17, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Primer discurso público de la nueva jefa del MI6. Señala directamente a las grandes plataformas online y a sus dueños como una amenaza para la seguridad nacional e internacional. inews.co.uk/news/politic...
Reposted by Robin Berjon
"With its democracy now explicitly under threat, Europe must join India, Brazil and China in standing up to Trump."
And here's how; enforce Europe's laws and pop the AI bubble.
by @johnnyryan.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
And here's how; enforce Europe's laws and pop the AI bubble.
by @johnnyryan.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
This is Europe's secret weapon against Trump: it could burst his AI bubble | Johnny Ryan
Growth in the US economy – and the president’s political survival – rest on AI. The EU must use its leverage and stand up to him, says the Irish Council for Civil Liberties’ Johnny Ryan
www.theguardian.com
December 17, 2025 at 9:52 AM
"With its democracy now explicitly under threat, Europe must join India, Brazil and China in standing up to Trump."
And here's how; enforce Europe's laws and pop the AI bubble.
by @johnnyryan.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
And here's how; enforce Europe's laws and pop the AI bubble.
by @johnnyryan.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...