Antoine Bousquet
@ajbousquet.bsky.social
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Martial Empiricist | Author of 'The Scientific Way of Warfare' & 'The Eye of War' | Currently has nukes & AI on the brain | Swedish Defence University
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ajbousquet.bsky.social
How did philosophy respond to the advent of nuclear weapons? How did Cold War thinkers make sense of the unprecedented threat of planetary cataclysm presented by the Bomb? What remedies did they offer to escape its peril and what can lessons can we draw from them today? A🧵
ajbousquet.bsky.social
🚨 CALL TO PAPERS 🚨
Honoured to be delivering a keynote at the 8th International PhD Congress at Ca' Foscari University of Venice held from 18 to 20 February 2026. call to papers is out for contributions on "systems and knowledge." Deadline: 09 November 2025 www.unive.it/web/en/8275/...
ajbousquet.bsky.social
An excellent video on the past and perhaps future of Project Orion, the Cold War plan for space travel powered by nuclear detonations.
Earth to Mars in 10 Days
YouTube video by Real Engineering
youtube.com
ajbousquet.bsky.social
Words to ponder as we develop thinking machines whose inner workings are increasingly inscrutable and whose discoveries might soon surpass our understanding... From Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition (1958)
ajbousquet.bsky.social
Good point, I guess it would be the burst point. The shadow is the hypocentre properly speaking.
ajbousquet.bsky.social
Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall. The red ball indicates the hypocentre of the nuclear explosion on August 6, 1945.
ajbousquet.bsky.social
‪My revisiting of The Scientific Way of Warfare in 2023: “The Persistent Appeal of Chaoplexic Warfare: Towards an Autonomous S(war)m Machine?” fhs.diva-portal.org/smash/record...
ajbousquet.bsky.social
A quarter of a century on from its advocacy by the likes of Ronfeldt and Aquilla, the mode of chaoplexic warfare I described in my first book still remains the unfulfilled horizon of the military imaginary, always just around the corner yet perpetually deferred.
Drones Aren’t Swarming Yet — But They Could - War on the Rocks
Despite the hype, drone swarming doesn’t exist yet. That’s because the U.S. Department of Defense has been focused on platform capability inputs like
warontherocks.com
ajbousquet.bsky.social
“Scientists aren’t responsible for the facts that are in nature. It’s their job to find the facts. There’s no sin connected with it – no morals. If anyone should have a sense of sin, it’s God. He put the facts there." (Percy Bridgman, Robert Oppenheimer's undergraduate teacher)
ajbousquet.bsky.social
Einstein on relative difficulty of physics and politics (from John Herz, International Politics in the Atomic Age, 1959)
ajbousquet.bsky.social
The Sedan crater left by the shallow underground nuclear test (104kt) conducted in Nevada in July 1962 for research into using nukes for construction projects. 390m wide by 100m deep, it helped determine that ancient craters formed on earth and beyond result from meteor strikes, not volcanoes.
ajbousquet.bsky.social
“The technical arrogance that overcomes people when they see what they can do with their minds”
Freeman Dyson on the seductive power of nuclear weapons
YouTube video by I of War
youtu.be
ajbousquet.bsky.social
Leo Szilard, How to Live with the Bomb and Survive (1960)
ajbousquet.bsky.social
“We have, in a real sense, reached a kind of “singularity”—but not the long-anticipated awakening of machine consciousness. Rather, what we’re entering is a new consciousness of ourselves.”
Will the Humanities Survive Artificial Intelligence?
Maybe not as we’ve known them. But, in the ruins of the old curriculum, something vital is stirring.
www.newyorker.com
ajbousquet.bsky.social
The recording of this event is now available to view. Two really instructive panels on the current perilous nuclear situation, if I may so myself. Featuring Robert Dalsjö, Målfrid Braut-Hegghammer, Alexander Mattelaer, Lars-Erik Lundin, Tytti Erästö and Martin Goliath.
Panel talks: The new nuclear disorder
The Swedish Defence University brings together a range of experts from universities, think tanks, and research institutes to discuss the implications of our new nuclear disorder and the lessons we can...
www.fhs.se
ajbousquet.bsky.social
The message is classic autocratic rhetoric (the infallible leader), cloaked in usual ironic overstatement. The past tense anticipates Trump's political "martyrdom" & nostalgic hagiography ("if only we'd listened!"). Pure Trumpism: grandiose self-aggrandisement & plaintive victimhood in one package.
ajbousquet.bsky.social
Last day of registration for in-person attendance at next week's event! Live stream for remote viewing will be available on the event page: www.fhs.se/en/swedish-d...
ajbousquet.bsky.social
I will be moderating this timely event on April 8 in which we bring distinguished experts together to discuss our new nuclear disorder. Register by April 4 if you want to attend in person. Live streaming available on the event page.
Panel talks: The new nuclear disorder
The Swedish Defence University brings together a range of experts from universities, think tanks, and research institutes to discuss the implications of our new nuclear disorder and the lessons we can...
www.fhs.se
ajbousquet.bsky.social
4. Infuriating as these economic attacks are, avoiding overreaction is the smartest play - what Europe needs right now is time and stepping on the accelerator of geopolitical recomposition is not in its interest.