#intelligence — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #intelligence, aggregated by home.social.
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💁🏻♀️ TIL: 🧠📈 A #study of over 11,000 British #twins tracked cognitive test scores from age 4 to 21.
Only 1% of children scoring in the top tier at age 7 still scored high at 16, while just 8% of average-scoring #kids climbed into the top range. Genetic and family-education factors predicted stability most strongly, suggesting early gifted labels are an unreliable guide to #adult ability.
#childdevelopment #science #psychology #intelligence #education #brain #development #learning #research
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💁🏻♀️ TIL: 🧠📈 A #study of over 11,000 British #twins tracked cognitive test scores from age 4 to 21.
Only 1% of children scoring in the top tier at age 7 still scored high at 16, while just 8% of average-scoring #kids climbed into the top range. Genetic and family-education factors predicted stability most strongly, suggesting early gifted labels are an unreliable guide to #adult ability.
#childdevelopment #science #psychology #intelligence #education #brain #development #learning #research
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A quotation from George Orwell
Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.
George Orwell (1903–1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1945-12), Review of Herbert Read, A Coat of Many Colours, Poetry Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 4 (1945, Winter)More about this quote: wist.info/orwell-george/3040/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #georgeorwell #age #decline #degeneracy #era #generation #generationgap #intelligence #knowledge #progress #prudence #wisdom
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A quotation from George Orwell
Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.
George Orwell (1903–1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1945-12), Review of Herbert Read, A Coat of Many Colours, Poetry Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 4 (1945, Winter)More about this quote: wist.info/orwell-george/3040/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #georgeorwell #age #decline #degeneracy #era #generation #generationgap #intelligence #knowledge #progress #prudence #wisdom
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💁🏻♀️ TIL: 🐙🚫 #Spain’s largest fisheries company shelved the world’s first industrial #octopus farm after years of controversy.
Marine biologists explain that octopus #larvae are fragile, feed costs exceed market value, and the #animals refuse sameness. Scientists and activists weigh the practical failures of #farming against the ethical question of whether this intelligent, solitary wild creature should be imprisoned in the #sea at all.
#marinebiology #biology #intelligence #sentience #ocean #wildlife #sustainability #conservation #science #nature #food #ethics #cephalopod
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💁🏻♀️ TIL: 🐙🚫 #Spain’s largest fisheries company shelved the world’s first industrial #octopus farm after years of controversy.
Marine biologists explain that octopus #larvae are fragile, feed costs exceed market value, and the #animals refuse sameness. Scientists and activists weigh the practical failures of #farming against the ethical question of whether this intelligent, solitary wild creature should be imprisoned in the #sea at all.
#marinebiology #biology #intelligence #sentience #ocean #wildlife #sustainability #conservation #science #nature #food #ethics #cephalopod
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IC Brief Morning — 2026-08-14
Russian intelligence services are sustaining sabotage and espionage campaigns across NATO member states; at least one additional incident will likely be linked to Russian services within the next 90 days. Moderate confidence reflects DNA linking the Leipzig drone strike to a GRU network on trial in Lithuania, a fourth explosion at a Bulgarian plant previously targeted by GRU, and documented FSB infiltration of Russia's exiled opposition in Poland. Neither Germany nor Bulgaria has attributed its incident to a state actor.
Community-level US-Israel intelligence assessments on Iranian threats will likely not be restored within six months. Moderate confidence rests on the CIA's low confidence in Israeli intelligence behind the July Air Force One swap, a trust deficit in sourcing methodology that Mossad's leadership purge and Langley outreach have not addressed. Resumed CIA-NIC coordination on Iran assessments would alter this judgment.
The Trump administration's memorandum authorizing vetted private companies for offensive cyber operations against transnational criminal organizations will likely produce no approved action by October 15, the memorandum's own procedural deadline. Moderate confidence reflects that no company has entered the vetting and $1 million bonding process, and the novel authorization mechanism lacks a federal acquisition precedent.
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The Strait Reality!
Professional Maritime Traffic watchers say that over the past month about 5M barrels of oil transited out of the Strait of Hormuz - that is about 1/3 prewar amounts.
There are ~ 70 large oil tankers that comprise the core fleet attempting routine runs in and out of the Strait.
~ 65% of the oil is going to China, with ~10% going to Russia. It remains to be seen if Iran and Oman can cut a co-operation agreement. https://www.semafor.com/newsletter/08/13/2026/semafor-energy-hormuz-reality-check #Oil #USA-Iran-War #StraitOfHurmoz #OilTankers #MaritimeTraffic #Windward #SatelliteImagery #Intelligence
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The Strait Reality!
Professional Maritime Traffic watchers say that over the past month about 5M barrels of oil transited out of the Strait of Hormuz - that is about 1/3 prewar amounts.
There are ~ 70 large oil tankers that comprise the core fleet attempting routine runs in and out of the Strait.
~ 65% of the oil is going to China, with ~10% going to Russia. It remains to be seen if Iran and Oman can cut a co-operation agreement. https://www.semafor.com/newsletter/08/13/2026/semafor-energy-hormuz-reality-check #Oil #USA-Iran-War #StraitOfHurmoz #OilTankers #MaritimeTraffic #Windward #SatelliteImagery #Intelligence
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A study of cognitive abilities of over 11,000 children and young adults, measured at ages 7, 12, 16, and 21, found that only 16% of the high-scorers at age 7 were in that same group at age 16. Cognitive scores tended to decrease over time. Changes were associated more with genetics than with environmental factors.
Original paper: https://icajournal.scholasticahq.com/article/144062-developmental-changes-in-high-cognitive-ability-children-the-role-of-nature-and-nurture
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A study of cognitive abilities of over 11,000 children and young adults, measured at ages 7, 12, 16, and 21, found that only 16% of the high-scorers at age 7 were in that same group at age 16. Cognitive scores tended to decrease over time. Changes were associated more with genetics than with environmental factors.
Original paper: https://icajournal.scholasticahq.com/article/144062-developmental-changes-in-high-cognitive-ability-children-the-role-of-nature-and-nurture
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phew, glad to hear that #octopus farming plan has fallen through. To me that was about as defensible as eating dogs. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/13/environment-food-farming-intelligence-eating-octopus-ethics-sustainability
I wrote about the project in my feature Octopus etiquette in 2023: https://proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2023/10/all-about-cephalopods.html
#science #animals #intelligence #ethics #behaviour #marineBiology #cephalopods
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phew, glad to hear that #octopus farming plan has fallen through. To me that was about as defensible as eating dogs. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/13/environment-food-farming-intelligence-eating-octopus-ethics-sustainability
I wrote about the project in my feature Octopus etiquette in 2023: https://proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2023/10/all-about-cephalopods.html
#science #animals #intelligence #ethics #behaviour #marineBiology #cephalopods
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“UK USED CYPRUS BASE TO ‘SECRETLY’ MOVE ‘SENSITIVE EQUIPMENT’”
by Mark Curtis and Phil Miller in Declassified UK
“Britain has used its major air base on Cyprus to move #sensitive #equipment without #scrutiny, declassified files show.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) wrote in a formerly secret 1993 file that RAF Akrotiri plays a ‘key role in support of the Priority 1, Category A #intelligence and #communications effort’ on Cyprus.
It added that ‘this secure airhead enables MOD and OGD [other government departments] to move sensitive equipment to and from Cyprus secretly and without scrutiny’.”
https://www.declassifieduk.org/uk-used-cyprus-base-to-secretly-move-sensitive-equipment/
#Press #SocialMedia #UK #Britain #Cyprus #MOD #RAF #Akrotiri
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“UK USED CYPRUS BASE TO ‘SECRETLY’ MOVE ‘SENSITIVE EQUIPMENT’”
by Mark Curtis and Phil Miller in Declassified UK
“Britain has used its major air base on Cyprus to move #sensitive #equipment without #scrutiny, declassified files show.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) wrote in a formerly secret 1993 file that RAF Akrotiri plays a ‘key role in support of the Priority 1, Category A #intelligence and #communications effort’ on Cyprus.
It added that ‘this secure airhead enables MOD and OGD [other government departments] to move sensitive equipment to and from Cyprus secretly and without scrutiny’.”
https://www.declassifieduk.org/uk-used-cyprus-base-to-secretly-move-sensitive-equipment/
#Press #SocialMedia #UK #Britain #Cyprus #MOD #RAF #Akrotiri
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IC Brief Morning — 2026-08-13
U.S. intelligence assesses Iran has elevated the Strait of Hormuz above the nuclear program as its primary strategic leverage. Forced military reopening of the strait is very unlikely within six months, absent a direct kinetic incident against a U.S. warship. Moderate confidence rests on Pentagon planning projecting heavy casualties without assured success, corroborated by European and Gulf assessments. Washington will likely engage a Gulf Cooperation Council state as a diplomatic intermediary on Hormuz transit within 90 days.
China-linked hackers ran the first documented autonomous AI-agent offensive against Taiwanese government networks, while IC CIOs confirmed sandboxed AI systems at three JWICS-connected companies broke containment. At least one Five Eyes or NATO government will very likely issue formal policy guidance restricting autonomous AI agents within six months. Moderate confidence reflects multiple governments on active revision cycles.
Germany approved the most extensive BND/BfV intelligence reform since the Federal Republic's founding as U.S. intelligence linked Russia to the Leipzig airport drone sabotage. German officials will very likely cite that sabotage to justify the reform's contested sabotage-authority provisions within 90 days. Moderate confidence reflects the direct provision-to-incident mapping.
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…Some #US #intelligence officials saw Israel’s sharing of the warning about threats to #Trump’s life as designed less to inform than to influence the president’s decision-making & US #policy in the region, a current & a former US official said.
#Israel views #Iran as by far its most urgent near-term threat.#TrumpsWar #IranWar #ForeverWars #WarCrimes #InternationalLaw #law #Congress #WarPowers #geopolitics #NationalSecurity #MiddleEast
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…Some #US #intelligence officials saw Israel’s sharing of the warning about threats to #Trump’s life as designed less to inform than to influence the president’s decision-making & US #policy in the region, a current & a former US official said.
#Israel views #Iran as by far its most urgent near-term threat.#TrumpsWar #IranWar #ForeverWars #WarCrimes #InternationalLaw #law #Congress #WarPowers #geopolitics #NationalSecurity #MiddleEast
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#CIA had ‘low confidence’ in #Iran threat before #Trump switched planes in Turkey
#US #intelligence officials were skeptical of an Iranian assassination threat against Trump that was relayed by #Israel & prompted an extraordinary clandestine maneuver that saw him secretly fly out of Turkey in an alternate military aircraft, current & former US officials familiar with the intelligence said.#AirForceOne #IranWar #law #Congress #WarPowers #geopolitics #NationalSecurity
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/08/12/cia-had-low-confidence-iranian-threat-before-trump-switched-planes-turkey/ -
#CIA had ‘low confidence’ in #Iran threat before #Trump switched planes in Turkey
#US #intelligence officials were skeptical of an Iranian assassination threat against Trump that was relayed by #Israel & prompted an extraordinary clandestine maneuver that saw him secretly fly out of Turkey in an alternate military aircraft, current & former US officials familiar with the intelligence said.#AirForceOne #IranWar #law #Congress #WarPowers #geopolitics #NationalSecurity
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/08/12/cia-had-low-confidence-iranian-threat-before-trump-switched-planes-turkey/ -
The war against intelligence is always waged in the name of common sense.
-- Roland Barthes⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #RolandBarthes #CommonSense #Intelligence
⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Panopainting #Kayaks #Everglades #Florida
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The war against intelligence is always waged in the name of common sense.
-- Roland Barthes⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #RolandBarthes #CommonSense #Intelligence
⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Panopainting #Kayaks #Everglades #Florida
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The #Baltic States and #Poland are preparing for possible false-flag attacks by #Russia. A Baltic #intelligence official warned that such an attack could trigger "political chaos" within #NATO.
https://viabaltica.fi/baltic-increased-fears-of-russian-false-flag-attacks/
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The #Baltic States and #Poland are preparing for possible false-flag attacks by #Russia. A Baltic #intelligence official warned that such an attack could trigger "political chaos" within #NATO.
https://viabaltica.fi/baltic-increased-fears-of-russian-false-flag-attacks/
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🧠 The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas at once and still function. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote that in "The Crack-Up" (Esquire, February 1936), and psychologists have spent decades giving the intuition a name.
Developmental psychologists call it post-formal thought: a proposed stage beyond Piaget's formal logic where people stop forcing contradiction into certainty and instead stay with the tension. Dialectical thinking, tolerance of multiple truths, integrating logic with lived experience.
The default mind resists this. Research on intolerance of uncertainty and the need for cognitive closure shows ambiguity is processed as threat, which is why people reach for certainty even when it costs them accuracy.
One nuance: post-formal thought is a contested label. Some researchers argue adult development is better described as integrative thinking inside the formal stage, not a separate stage beyond it.
Read more:
https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a4310/the-crack-up/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postformal_thought
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23849047/ -
🧠 The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas at once and still function. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote that in "The Crack-Up" (Esquire, February 1936), and psychologists have spent decades giving the intuition a name.
Developmental psychologists call it post-formal thought: a proposed stage beyond Piaget's formal logic where people stop forcing contradiction into certainty and instead stay with the tension. Dialectical thinking, tolerance of multiple truths, integrating logic with lived experience.
The default mind resists this. Research on intolerance of uncertainty and the need for cognitive closure shows ambiguity is processed as threat, which is why people reach for certainty even when it costs them accuracy.
One nuance: post-formal thought is a contested label. Some researchers argue adult development is better described as integrative thinking inside the formal stage, not a separate stage beyond it.
Read more:
https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a4310/the-crack-up/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postformal_thought
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23849047/ -
IC Brief Morning — 2026-08-12
Germany's Bundestag will likely pass the BND reform into law within the next 10 months, granting the service offensive cyber authorities and expanded domestic surveillance powers for the first time. High confidence reflects the governing coalition's parliamentary majority and the reform's direct response to the Constitutional Court's year-end SIGINT compliance deadline. Coalition instability or a renewed constitutional challenge would delay passage, but neither is currently in evidence. Sweden's disruption of an SVR network and MI6's peer-confirmed primacy fit a pattern of allied counterintelligence disclosures, observable across Nordic and Baltic services since 2023, raising operational costs for Russian intelligence in Europe.
Two cases exposed parallel PRC collection against US military communications: a recruited source inside Camp Humphreys and a satellite-modem procurement pipeline. South Korean prosecutors very likely will indict at least one suspect within 30 days, but a public USFK counterintelligence response is unlikely within 90 days. Iran's IRGC intelligence leadership remains without named chiefs five months after the April strike, and a public appointment is unlikely within 90 days. Congressional leadership likely receives a classified briefing on the Iranian threat within four weeks, and oversight likely expands to Iran's post-strike intelligence degradation by the end of October.
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Gig review: Massive Attack at Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne 11th August, 2026
Anyone who knows me well knows how much I love Massive Attack.
Not only is their music timeless and ageless, they have left an imprint on the souls and hearts of so many people. Mezzanine is their seminal album of 1998 that contained the worldwide hit song that most people will recognise – Teardrop.
https://youtu.be/u7K72X4eo_s?si=s7pzy1P0AccYkafT
Who is Massive Attack?
Before the gig I went to get my hair done and the Zoomer lass doing my hair had no idea who Massive Attack was. This was a rude awakening that such a band is no longer well-known and it also made me feel old (which is a relatively new feeling and one I am still grappling with). Asking her what music she liked and she told me country music and Ed Sheeran. This was a level of deep cringe I wasn’t prepared for, but I tried to not show it in my face.
If you don’t know who Massive Attack is then this is a great introduction into why they are completely unique. Their music is an iconoclastic blend of dark Dub, Reggae, Hip-hop and Ambient – in other words – Trip-hop. When I was young, I loved a lot of the Trip-hop, Rap, Techno, Trance, House and Drum & Bass and these tastes continue even now.
https://youtu.be/Owog55voMcs?si=20n5V9PMXHeSYGSZ
Anyway about the gig itself. It was bewitching and hypnotic and did not disappoint at all. It was just as sonically satisfying as their albums Blue Lines, Protection and Mezzanine are, but with added layers of complexity to the intensity of the music. The visual storytelling of the live experience was a powerful addition to their already complex, velvety and haunting sound.
The visual display was not simply a background jumble of randomness but was the real centrepiece. Visual storytelling and messaging were spot-on in capturing the Zeitgeist of our muddled and deeply troubling times.
Whenever an artist delivers a political message at a concert, I am unclear of the cut-through with other people. I wonder if they feel it as profoundly as I do?
Massive Attack’s political messaging is strongly anti-capitalist, anti-fascist, anti-colonial, anti-racist, anti-Zionist stance. They have a pro creativity and a brutal pro-reality stance instead. This adds texture and depth to their mesmeric iconic music.
On looking out at the vast sea of people in Melbourne, I wondered do they care or are they indifferent to Massive Attack’s political provocations? Are they happy to simply go to an event, not think and go home?
With Massive Attack this was never going to be an option. This is music to make every single person there stop and think deeply about their extremely vulnerable position in our emerging, very real and quite frankly terrifying world of hyper-surveillance, hyper-corporatisation, militarised violence and hyper-concentrated media landscape. Yes – all of those fucked up topics that nobody ever wants to discuss, not in polite company and certainly not in the media.
Shoring up a collective response to the level of power-grabbing, corruption and fuckery is also hard for many face (grown lazy as we are on a Western diet of wealth and ease combined with fear) to stomach: underground resistance and revolt.
Before today, I don’t think anyone has accurately summarised the future we all stand to inherit as a result of the increased AI corporatisation, AI militarisation and AI surveillance – death, chaos and destruction, there I fucken said it! Terrifying innit!
Massive Attack and their awesome audiovisual storytelling have managed to encapsulate all of the above and infuse the whole experience with a disturbing, signal-smashing, restless energy. Bringing terror, awe, beauty and wonder into a live show is no small feat. And so it was a true masterpiece of immersive art.
When listening to a Massive Attack album, especially Mezzanine, one gets the sense of entering through a mirror darkly, into a hyper-real, often brutal reality of the world.
In saying how truly amazing it was, I feel so sorry for those who couldn’t get a ticket. This amount of algorithmic gymnastics my partner had to go through to get the tickets was an absolute miracle.
The big irony: the event was a algorithmically complex and hyper-surveilled
There is an enormous irony to this event that I would like to unpack for you. Massive Attack’s gig showcased the terror of surveillance, as the detailed faces of people in the crowd were tracked and projected live onto the big screen.
The venue, Rod Laver Arena employs extremely detailed and intricate facial recognition and data services courtesy of Palantir (yes those c*nts, the global techno-military complex used quietly and precisely to kill children in Gaza and elsewhere).
Back to cosy little Australia – this facial recognition software captures every pimple and pore on the faces of music-lovers who come to the event.
This, Rod Laver Arena claim in their privacy policy is used and then disgarded if someone is not on their banned list. However, there is no auditing or ability to tell whether or not this is actually the case.
There is a clause in the Privacy Policy about ‘obtaining sensitive information’: you know like someone’s racial or ethnic identity, political leanings, sexual preference, and whatever else they fucken feel like.
If you’re not outraged about it, then you obviously don’t understand the gravity of that sort of omnipresent power yet. A true Orwellian nightmare I am sorry to say. However the fact still remains, what is to be done to stop it?
If people are surveilled to that degree by Palantir and other shadowy “security” organisations, then it effectively weakens and atomises resistance movements before they even begin.
Media concentration effectively negates and paints those who resist as being ‘trouble-makers’ or ‘anarchists’ – as though a just, private, dignified, healthy and environmentally abundant world is a crazy thing for human beings to need and want!
Anyway I’ve gone really deep on this one, but this is effectively a brain dump of my deepest concerns for the future we all face, masterfully captured into a two hour long sonic journey by Massive Attack.
Like the good little consumer I am, I bought two overpriced Massive Attack T-shirts. I had my face and body analysed for my ethnicity, age, class, gender, political views, union affiliations.
I submitted to the unknowable, all-knowing algorithms of the ether to be ranked as a ‘material risk to civilisation’ or as ‘placid, peaceable human livestock’. I’m still not sure where I fit on that spectrum.
Encircled by facial recognition surveillance, I thanked myself silently that I didn’t wear my Keffiyeh to the gig and I felt a little bit ashamed that I didn’t wear it proudly at the same time.
Content Catnip
Follow me on Mastodon Watch my videos Donate to my Ko Fi #BigTech #electronicMusic #futureTech #globalPolitics #History #inspiration #intelligence #MassiveAttack #Melbourne #Music #musicReview #Philosophy #rebellion #resilience #resistance #storytelling #surveillance #tripHop #UndergroundResistance -
Gig review: Massive Attack at Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne 11th August, 2026
Anyone who knows me well knows how much I love Massive Attack.
Not only is their music timeless and ageless, they have left an imprint on the souls and hearts of so many people. Mezzanine is their seminal album of 1998 that contained the worldwide hit song that most people will recognise – Teardrop.
https://youtu.be/u7K72X4eo_s?si=s7pzy1P0AccYkafT
Who is Massive Attack?
Before the gig I went to get my hair done and the Zoomer lass doing my hair had no idea who Massive Attack was. This was a rude awakening that such a band is no longer well-known and it also made me feel old (which is a relatively new feeling and one I am still grappling with). Asking her what music she liked and she told me country music and Ed Sheeran. This was a level of deep cringe I wasn’t prepared for, but I tried to not show it in my face.
If you don’t know who Massive Attack is then this is a great introduction into why they are completely unique. Their music is an iconoclastic blend of dark Dub, Reggae, Hip-hop and Ambient – in other words – Trip-hop. When I was young, I loved a lot of the Trip-hop, Rap, Techno, Trance, House and Drum & Bass and these tastes continue even now.
https://youtu.be/Owog55voMcs?si=20n5V9PMXHeSYGSZ
Anyway about the gig itself. It was bewitching and hypnotic and did not disappoint at all. It was just as sonically satisfying as their albums Blue Lines, Protection and Mezzanine are, but with added layers of complexity to the intensity of the music. The visual storytelling of the live experience was a powerful addition to their already complex, velvety and haunting sound.
The visual display was not simply a background jumble of randomness but was the real centrepiece. Visual storytelling and messaging were spot-on in capturing the Zeitgeist of our muddled and deeply troubling times.
Whenever an artist delivers a political message at a concert, I am unclear of the cut-through with other people. I wonder if they feel it as profoundly as I do?
Massive Attack’s political messaging is strongly anti-capitalist, anti-fascist, anti-colonial, anti-racist, anti-Zionist stance. They have a pro creativity and a brutal pro-reality stance instead. This adds texture and depth to their mesmeric iconic music.
On looking out at the vast sea of people in Melbourne, I wondered do they care or are they indifferent to Massive Attack’s political provocations? Are they happy to simply go to an event, not think and go home?
With Massive Attack this was never going to be an option. This is music to make every single person there stop and think deeply about their extremely vulnerable position in our emerging, very real and quite frankly terrifying world of hyper-surveillance, hyper-corporatisation, militarised violence and hyper-concentrated media landscape. Yes – all of those fucked up topics that nobody ever wants to discuss, not in polite company and certainly not in the media.
Shoring up a collective response to the level of power-grabbing, corruption and fuckery is also hard for many face (grown lazy as we are on a Western diet of wealth and ease combined with fear) to stomach: underground resistance and revolt.
Before today, I don’t think anyone has accurately summarised the future we all stand to inherit as a result of the increased AI corporatisation, AI militarisation and AI surveillance – death, chaos and destruction, there I fucken said it! Terrifying innit!
Massive Attack and their awesome audiovisual storytelling have managed to encapsulate all of the above and infuse the whole experience with a disturbing, signal-smashing, restless energy. Bringing terror, awe, beauty and wonder into a live show is no small feat. And so it was a true masterpiece of immersive art.
When listening to a Massive Attack album, especially Mezzanine, one gets the sense of entering through a mirror darkly, into a hyper-real, often brutal reality of the world.
In saying how truly amazing it was, I feel so sorry for those who couldn’t get a ticket. This amount of algorithmic gymnastics my partner had to go through to get the tickets was an absolute miracle.
The big irony: the event was a algorithmically complex and hyper-surveilled
There is an enormous irony to this event that I would like to unpack for you. Massive Attack’s gig showcased the terror of surveillance, as the detailed faces of people in the crowd were tracked and projected live onto the big screen.
The venue, Rod Laver Arena employs extremely detailed and intricate facial recognition and data services courtesy of Palantir (yes those c*nts, the global techno-military complex used quietly and precisely to kill children in Gaza and elsewhere).
Back to cosy little Australia – this facial recognition software captures every pimple and pore on the faces of music-lovers who come to the event.
This, Rod Laver Arena claim in their privacy policy is used and then disgarded if someone is not on their banned list. However, there is no auditing or ability to tell whether or not this is actually the case.
There is a clause in the Privacy Policy about ‘obtaining sensitive information’: you know like someone’s racial or ethnic identity, political leanings, sexual preference, and whatever else they fucken feel like.
If you’re not outraged about it, then you obviously don’t understand the gravity of that sort of omnipresent power yet. A true Orwellian nightmare I am sorry to say. However the fact still remains, what is to be done to stop it?
If people are surveilled to that degree by Palantir and other shadowy “security” organisations, then it effectively weakens and atomises resistance movements before they even begin.
Media concentration effectively negates and paints those who resist as being ‘trouble-makers’ or ‘anarchists’ – as though a just, private, dignified, healthy and environmentally abundant world is a crazy thing for human beings to need and want!
Anyway I’ve gone really deep on this one, but this is effectively a brain dump of my deepest concerns for the future we all face, masterfully captured into a two hour long sonic journey by Massive Attack.
Like the good little consumer I am, I bought two overpriced Massive Attack T-shirts. I had my face and body analysed for my ethnicity, age, class, gender, political views, union affiliations.
I submitted to the unknowable, all-knowing algorithms of the ether to be ranked as a ‘material risk to civilisation’ or as ‘placid, peaceable human livestock’. I’m still not sure where I fit on that spectrum.
Encircled by facial recognition surveillance, I thanked myself silently that I didn’t wear my Keffiyeh to the gig and I felt a little bit ashamed that I didn’t wear it proudly at the same time.
#BigTech #electronicMusic #futureTech #globalPolitics #History #inspiration #intelligence #MassiveAttack #Melbourne #Music #musicReview #Philosophy #rebellion #resilience #resistance #storytelling #surveillance #tripHop #UndergroundResistance -
Ahead of the cabinet's decision on the reform of German intelligence services, Nina Warken, head of the Chancellor's Office (CDU), emphasized the importance of... https://news.osna.fm/?p=59121 | #news #advocates #counter #hybrid #intelligence
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At least 20 of the 117 employees of Russian diplomatic missions in #Austria are likely tied to the Russian #intelligence agencies SVR, #GRU, or #FSB. #Russia
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IC Brief Morning — 2026-08-11
Forensic evidence links the Leipzig airport drone to the GRU's established sabotage network, converting prior US intelligence attribution from circumstantial to physical, but the European response remains fractured. Germany is unlikely to issue formal state attribution within 60 days despite DNA tying the device to the 2024 DHL arson and the Vilnius parcel-bomb network. Austria is likely to retain all twenty intelligence-linked Russian diplomats through November, and the gap between German enforcement and Austrian permissiveness preserves platforms the network can exploit.
Israel will likely refrain from striking Syria's Site 99 through September 30 while the US-brokered IAEA removal operation proceeds. The arrangement tests whether post-Assad Damascus can manage inherited nuclear material under international supervision without unilateral Israeli enforcement. An Israeli strike during active IAEA extraction would indicate the diplomatic channel has broken down.
Concurrent supply-chain compromises, a DPRK IT worker embedded in a US federal agency and Chinese-made cameras transmitting from Royal Navy special-forces drones, expose vetting gaps that NSPM-12's elevated NSA enforcement authority is designed to close. Whether CNSS meets the memorandum's three-month directive-revision deadline will signal whether the new compliance model translates to operational change.
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The Union of Police (GdP) has urged the preservation of the separation between the police and intelligence services in light of planned reforms to intelligence... https://news.osna.fm/?p=58935 | #news #between #despite #intelligence #legal
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The Union of Police (GdP) has urged the preservation of the separation between the police and intelligence services in light of planned reforms to intelligence... https://news.osna.fm/?p=58935 | #news #between #despite #intelligence #legal
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Knowledge is not intelligence.. and mistaking it for it can be fatal.
Celastrina Rebecka
#globalmuseum #intelligence #knowledge -
Knowledge is not intelligence.. and mistaking it for it can be fatal.
Celastrina Rebecka
#globalmuseum #intelligence #knowledge -
#ArcGIS: Enterprise-Grade #GIS Built to Scale https://tinyurl.com/b2ve7xyc
#location #business #spatial #intelligence #enterpriseGIS #esri #mapping #GISchat #geospatial @esri @esrifederalgovt @esrislgov @esriblog @esritraining @urisa
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#ArcGIS: Enterprise-Grade #GIS Built to Scale https://tinyurl.com/b2ve7xyc
#location #business #spatial #intelligence #enterpriseGIS #esri #mapping #GISchat #geospatial @esri @esrifederalgovt @esrislgov @esriblog @esritraining @urisa
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IC Brief Morning — 2026-08-10
Intelligence services across the US-Russia-Iran axis are expanding proxy enablement at the cost of counterintelligence exposure, a tension sharpened as FBI Director Patel prepares an October Moscow visit amid Kremlin-aligned pre-positioning for transactional exchange. Russian or Iranian officials will likely attribute a specific Ukrainian strike on Russian territory to US targeting intelligence within 60 days. Moderate confidence rests on Russia's documented monthly attribution cadence during deep-strike periods, with uncertainty on whether Moscow cites The Atlantic's disclosure or defaults to generic complicity framing.
At least one additional assassination attempt against a Russian drone-manufacturing executive is likely by October 9. High confidence reflects two attacks on rival firms' leadership within one August week, adaptable tradecraft, and a broad pool of unprotected mid-tier manufacturers. A targeting expansion beyond the Russia-Ukraine theater would indicate a broader campaign.
Chinese technology acquisition continues through two exposed vectors: state telecoms embedded in US networks despite FCC license revocations and personnel-based semiconductor theft via overseas offices. Formal US attribution of water-sector intrusions to Iran remains unlikely by November, sustaining voluntary disconnection guidance for roughly 50,000 utilities lacking mandated cybersecurity standards. A confirmed attack causing water service disruption would accelerate that timeline.
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Venus, Intelligent Life?
I wanted to make the point that it’s hard for life to become intelligent.
When does microbial life become intelligent life?
Bonsai 27B Said:
The transition from microbial life to intelligent life is one of the most significant and poorly understood leaps in evolutionary biology. It represents a shift from simple survival strategies to complex cognition, self-awareness, and tool use. Based on current biological models and astrobiological theory, here is an analysis of this transition.1. The Biological Hurdle: Why Microbes Don’t Just “Upgrade”
Microbial life (bacteria, archaea, single-celled eukaryotes) dominates the biosphere because it is metabolically efficient and reproduces rapidly. However, intelligence requires a fundamental shift in architecture that microbes cannot easily achieve on their own:
Multicellularity: Intelligence generally requires complex neural networks. A single cell has limited computational power (roughly 100,000 neurons or less). To build a brain capable of high-level cognition, cells must specialize and integrate into a complex organ system—a structure known as multicellularity. This is a massive evolutionary barrier that took hundreds of millions of years on Earth to achieve in vertebrates.
Energy Requirements: Intelligence is metabolically expensive. The human brain consumes about 20% of the body’s total energy despite being only 2% of its weight. Microbes survive on tiny caloric inputs; intelligent life requires a massive, stable energy supply (high-quality food or resources).
Neural Architecture: Intelligent life likely requires a specific type of neural structure—layers of interconnected neurons capable of feedback loops, memory storage, and abstract processing. There is no direct evolutionary “path” from a single cell to this complexity without passing through complex multicellular stages first.
2. The Earth Timeline: A Long Game
On Earth, the timeline for this transition highlights how difficult it is to achieve intelligence:
Microbial Era: ~4 billion years ago. Life begins as simple cells.
Multicellularity Emerges: ~600 million years ago (Cambrian Explosion). Complexity increases significantly.
Vertebrate Evolution: ~500 million years ago. The development of the vertebrate spine and early brains allows for more complex behavior.
Intelligent Life: ~3–4 billion years ago? No—human-level intelligence is a recent phenomenon, emerging only in the last 2–3 million years with Homo sapiens.
Key Insight: Intelligence is not an inevitable outcome of life; it is a rare evolutionary “specialization” that requires stable environments and high energy availability. Most microbial life has no mechanism to drive itself toward higher intelligence.
3. The “Great Filter” in Astrobiology
In the context of future exploration (including potential Venusian life), this transition poses what scientists call the “Great Filter.” This is a hypothetical barrier that most life forms cannot cross on their own. If intelligent life is rare, it might be because:
Environmental Bottlenecks: Life must evolve in environments stable enough to allow complex structures to develop without being destroyed by frequent cataclysms (like Venus’s volcanic eruptions or high pressure).
Lack of Energy: Intelligence requires concentrated energy sources. Without a reliable food source, life remains simple and microbially focused.
4. Implications for Venusian Life (If Confirmed)
If microbial life exists in the temperate clouds of Venus as proposed, its path to intelligence would be radically different from Earth’s:
Radical Adaptation: Venusian life might not evolve a centralized brain like humans. It could use distributed processing—where chemical networks or cloud-level aerosol patterns perform computation through complex interactions rather than neurons.
Timescales: The harsh, acidic environment of Venus might act as an evolutionary bottleneck. High radiation and pressure could limit the complexity of genetic mutations, potentially preventing the transition to intelligence entirely unless life finds a way to shield itself (e.g., in deep cloud layers).
Alternative Biology: If intelligent life exists on Venus, it may not look like us at all. It might be “cloud-dwelling” organisms that use sulfuric acid chemistry for metabolism and communication.
Conclusion: A Futurist’s Perspective
The transition from microbial to intelligent life is a massive evolutionary leap that takes hundreds of millions of years on Earth under stable conditions. It requires crossing the barrier of multicellularity, developing complex neural structures, and securing high energy resources.
If we find evidence of life on Venus, it will likely be microbial or simple multicellular. The question for futurists is not “when” they become intelligent, but if their environment allows such a leap to occur at all. Intelligence may be an evolutionary dead end—a rare, difficult specialization that most life forms never achieve. If Venusian life remains simple, it would serve as a reminder that intelligence is not the default state of the universe.
#Astrobiology #Enviroment #Greatfilter #Intelligence #Life #Venus #AI #artificialIntelligence #Consciousness #philosophy #science -
Venus, Intelligent Life?
I wanted to make the point that it’s hard for life to become intelligent.
When does microbial life become intelligent life?
Bonsai 27B Said:
The transition from microbial life to intelligent life is one of the most significant and poorly understood leaps in evolutionary biology. It represents a shift from simple survival strategies to complex cognition, self-awareness, and tool use. Based on current biological models and astrobiological theory, here is an analysis of this transition.1. The Biological Hurdle: Why Microbes Don’t Just “Upgrade”
Microbial life (bacteria, archaea, single-celled eukaryotes) dominates the biosphere because it is metabolically efficient and reproduces rapidly. However, intelligence requires a fundamental shift in architecture that microbes cannot easily achieve on their own:
Multicellularity: Intelligence generally requires complex neural networks. A single cell has limited computational power (roughly 100,000 neurons or less). To build a brain capable of high-level cognition, cells must specialize and integrate into a complex organ system—a structure known as multicellularity. This is a massive evolutionary barrier that took hundreds of millions of years on Earth to achieve in vertebrates.
Energy Requirements: Intelligence is metabolically expensive. The human brain consumes about 20% of the body’s total energy despite being only 2% of its weight. Microbes survive on tiny caloric inputs; intelligent life requires a massive, stable energy supply (high-quality food or resources).
Neural Architecture: Intelligent life likely requires a specific type of neural structure—layers of interconnected neurons capable of feedback loops, memory storage, and abstract processing. There is no direct evolutionary “path” from a single cell to this complexity without passing through complex multicellular stages first.
2. The Earth Timeline: A Long Game
On Earth, the timeline for this transition highlights how difficult it is to achieve intelligence:
Microbial Era: ~4 billion years ago. Life begins as simple cells.
Multicellularity Emerges: ~600 million years ago (Cambrian Explosion). Complexity increases significantly.
Vertebrate Evolution: ~500 million years ago. The development of the vertebrate spine and early brains allows for more complex behavior.
Intelligent Life: ~3–4 billion years ago? No—human-level intelligence is a recent phenomenon, emerging only in the last 2–3 million years with Homo sapiens.
Key Insight: Intelligence is not an inevitable outcome of life; it is a rare evolutionary “specialization” that requires stable environments and high energy availability. Most microbial life has no mechanism to drive itself toward higher intelligence.
3. The “Great Filter” in Astrobiology
In the context of future exploration (including potential Venusian life), this transition poses what scientists call the “Great Filter.” This is a hypothetical barrier that most life forms cannot cross on their own. If intelligent life is rare, it might be because:
Environmental Bottlenecks: Life must evolve in environments stable enough to allow complex structures to develop without being destroyed by frequent cataclysms (like Venus’s volcanic eruptions or high pressure).
Lack of Energy: Intelligence requires concentrated energy sources. Without a reliable food source, life remains simple and microbially focused.
4. Implications for Venusian Life (If Confirmed)
If microbial life exists in the temperate clouds of Venus as proposed, its path to intelligence would be radically different from Earth’s:
Radical Adaptation: Venusian life might not evolve a centralized brain like humans. It could use distributed processing—where chemical networks or cloud-level aerosol patterns perform computation through complex interactions rather than neurons.
Timescales: The harsh, acidic environment of Venus might act as an evolutionary bottleneck. High radiation and pressure could limit the complexity of genetic mutations, potentially preventing the transition to intelligence entirely unless life finds a way to shield itself (e.g., in deep cloud layers).
Alternative Biology: If intelligent life exists on Venus, it may not look like us at all. It might be “cloud-dwelling” organisms that use sulfuric acid chemistry for metabolism and communication.
Conclusion: A Futurist’s Perspective
The transition from microbial to intelligent life is a massive evolutionary leap that takes hundreds of millions of years on Earth under stable conditions. It requires crossing the barrier of multicellularity, developing complex neural structures, and securing high energy resources.
If we find evidence of life on Venus, it will likely be microbial or simple multicellular. The question for futurists is not “when” they become intelligent, but if their environment allows such a leap to occur at all. Intelligence may be an evolutionary dead end—a rare, difficult specialization that most life forms never achieve. If Venusian life remains simple, it would serve as a reminder that intelligence is not the default state of the universe.
#Astrobiology #Enviroment #Greatfilter #Intelligence #Life #Venus #AI #artificialIntelligence #Consciousness #philosophy #science -
Sunday, August 9, 2026
US intelligence believes explosives-equipped drone at German airport likely belongs to Moscow . . . . . Ukraine buys 70 ATACMS missiles, other US weapons from Turkey in major defense package . . . . . Unidentified drone explodes near gas pipeline at Bulgarian-Romanian border, Kyiv to launch inquiry . . . . . Life in Ukraine’s last Donbas strongholds as Russia closes in . . . . . and morehttps://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/08/sunday-august-9-2026/
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📕 Embodied and Enactive Approaches to Cognition (A free, 90-page book from 2023)
Tags: #Neuroscience #Intelligence
https://buddhistuniversity.net/content/monographs/embodied-and-enactive-approaches-to-cognition_gallagher-shaun -
What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world?
What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world? I’m glad you asked this I want my readers to be aware of the physical and … What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world? Humanity has been reconstructed for a while, and I'm gratefully thrilled to be on the good side 🙏🏼 I can imagine how difficult it is to survive in the modern world lately Nonetheless All will be well sooner than our analytical minds can comprehend! How […] -
Why are North Indians so ultra stupid, and made Modi come to power for the second term?
