Chris Marsden
@chrismarsden.bsky.social
1.8K followers 1K following 3.1K posts
Professional on LinkedIn, no quote without permission pls. I'm not the news. Often post blue skies. Mainly sports politics (not US) travel. Prof AI & Internet/tech co-regulation: views personal. He/him #FirstGen Liverpool, cricket & cycling tragic #JFT97
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chrismarsden.bsky.social
Is it worth reminding everyone that we wrote about the solutions to digital dominance in #RegulatingCode (2013) & #InternetCoregulation (2011), based on multi year multidisciplinary multinational (multiple) studies for the European Commission from 2004-7?! It's the 21st birthday of @ox.ac.uk report
Reposted by Chris Marsden
tupped.bsky.social
US lawyer John Yoo wrote a series of memos for the Bush administration in order to create a legal cover for torture.

He suffered no negative consequences. He later was made Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley.
Reposted by Chris Marsden
chrismarsden.bsky.social
“because we now have generations of younger producers who are coming into the business – and they are digital natives – they’re marinated in social media... the story was put on by a freelance journalist, who put [it] on her X feed. And no one questioned it"
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
BBC airing false claim about Euan Blair blamed on young producers ‘marinated in social media’
Broadcaster apologised after Have I Got News For You falsely said former PM’s son had won digital ID contract
www.theguardian.com
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coast1909.bsky.social
Dispatch from Portland last night:
Reposted by Chris Marsden
btpepper.bsky.social
Then the press needs to up the ante. Spend entire news hours on this repugnant shit. Stop sane washing what's happening in Washington DC, stop normalizing troops in American cities.

Set off all the alarms. That is their most pressing task at this time.

And sue. Sue every last one of them.
Reposted by Chris Marsden
niedermeyer.online
Tesla drivers are so willing to cheer for the robot that they are literally entrusting their lives to a "self driving" system that the manufacturer won't take legal liability for and dying, or being charged with vehicular manslaughter when the inevitable bad thing happens
Reposted by Chris Marsden
joshuafoust.com
“Do they give Nobel Peace Prizes to war criminals, Minna?”
“All the time. Aung San Suu Kyi, Henry Kissinger, and also the prize you think, it is not the Peace Prize.”
“Oh, don’t start with that.”
“It is a second tier peace price. It is made of very hard plastic.”

A world class character foil
Veep: Mina H turns Selina in as a War Criminal
YouTube video by Millicent D
www.youtube.com
Reposted by Chris Marsden
banxtoons.bsky.social
From today's @financialtimes.com #artificialintelligence
Reposted by Chris Marsden
bgrueskin.bsky.social
This week (so far) in expertise:

Bari Weiss is running CBS News, and Melania Trump is conducting direct negotiations with Vladimir Putin
atrupar.com
Melania Trump: "President Putin and I have had an open channel of communication."
Reposted by Chris Marsden
kathleenclark.bsky.social
A master class from MIT in responding to authoritarian overreach:

Your “premise … is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.
… America’s leadership in science & innovation depends on independent thinking & open competition for excellence.
Dear Madam Secretary,
I write in response to your letter of October 1, inviting MIT to review a "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education." I acknowledge the vital importance of these matters.
I appreciated the chance to meet with you earlier this year to discuss the priorities we share for American higher education.
As we discussed, the Institute's mission of service to the nation directs us to advance knowledge, educate students and bring knowledge to bear on the world's great challenges.
We do that in line with a clear set of values, with excellence above all. Some practical examples:
• MIT prides itself on rewarding merit. Students, faculty and staff succeed here based on the strength of their talent, ideas and hard work. For instance, the Institute was the first to reinstate the SAT/ACT requirement after the pandemic. And MIT has never had legacy preferences in admissions.
• MIT opens its doors to the most talented students regardless of their family's finances. Admissions are need-blind. Incoming undergraduates whose families earn less than $200,000 a year pay no tuition. Nearly 88% of our last graduating class left MIT with no debt for their education. We make a wealth of free courses and low-cost certificates available to any American with an internet connection. Of the undergraduate degrees we award, 94% are in STEM fields. And in service to the nation, we cap enrollment of international undergraduates at roughly 10%.

source: 
https://orgchart.mit.edu/letters/regarding-compact • We value free expression, as clearly described in the MIT Statement on Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom. We must hear facts and opinions we don't like - and engage respectfully with those with whom we disagree.
These values and other MIT practices meet or exceed many standards outlined in the document you sent. We freely choose these values because they're right, and we live by them because they support our mission - work of immense value to the prosperity, competitiveness, health and security of the United States. And of course, MIT abides by the law.
The document also includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution. And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.
In our view, America's leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence. In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences. Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education.
As you know, MIT's record of service to the nation is long and enduring. Eight decades ago, MIT leaders helped invent a scientific partnership between America's research universities and the U.S. government that has delivered extraordinary benefits for the American people. We continue to believe in the power of this partnership to serve the nation.
Sincerely,
Sally Kornbluth
chrismarsden.bsky.social
Destroyed our forests for soy & palm oil monoculture, poisoned our rivers with nitrogen fertilizer, set fire to the sky with hydrocarbons, now superheating our oceans. No Biggie. In my lifetime.
ourworldindata.org
Over the last 60 years, the world population has more than doubled.

This has inevitably reduced the land available per person to live and grow food.

How have we managed to feed a rapidly growing population with ever-shrinking land resources?
A line chart showing the change from 1961 to 2023 in global cereal production, yield, land use, and population. All figures are indexed to 1961, which is given a value of zero.

In this time, the world population has more than doubled. And the world can now produce more than three times as much cereal from a given area of land as it did in 1961 (i.e., an increase in yield of 214%). In the same period, land used for cereal has only increased by 14%.

The data sources are the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (2025); HYDE (2023); Gapminder (2022); and the UN WPP (2024). The chart is licensed CC BY to Our World in Data.
Reposted by Chris Marsden
atrupar.com
Melania Trump: "President Putin and I have had an open channel of communication."
chrismarsden.bsky.social
"federal budget papers showed an expected 450-person reduction in CSIRO staff, to 5,495 this financial year. The union said the cuts were the worst since 2014, when the Abbott government oversaw an estimated 20% reduction in staff." Not a serious productivity govt
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Hundreds more CSIRO jobs on the chopping block as experts raise fears over impact on science
Exclusive: Concerns Australia is gutting its research capability coincide with Trump’s deep cuts into US science agencies
www.theguardian.com
chrismarsden.bsky.social
“How can you raise these issues and then be kicked out of a club? It’s a legitimate question and it is about influence. Why the ALP members need to be sponsored by a gambling mob to play sports after the Peta Murphy inquiry into gambling just baffles. It’s crazy.”
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
PM criticises Pocock’s ban from parliamentary sports club but dismisses concerns about betting lobby
Exclusive: Senator accused of bringing social club into disrepute after raising concerns about its association with betting lobby
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Chris Marsden
adorabelleheart.bsky.social
A Tesla executive is leading Australia’s R&D review. That’s not OK. Public roles should serve the people – not billionaires. Add your name to demand Denholm’s resignation and new integrity laws: getup.to/QZAN3eS779SW...
Billionaire Hands off Public Policy!
Tesla's chair is in charge of our tech future - but it should be us shaping policy
getup.to
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iandunt.bsky.social
It's not just Badenoch or Jenrick. The entire British conservative project is dying iandunt.substack.com/p/the-empty-...
Reposted by Chris Marsden
aphclarkson.bsky.social
Pavel Durov tweeted this from UAE after making an immense fortune in Putin's Russia
Reposted by Chris Marsden
reuters.com
'When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognize courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist,' the Norwegian Nobel Committee said as it announced Maria Corina Machado as the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize
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rodcampbell.bsky.social
Amazing/depressing stuff in #Estimates.

Productivity Commish Chair Danielle Wood has been muzzled by the Government.

Once a fierce critic of fossil fuel subsidies, now "not able to give an opinion" #auspol
www.afr.com/politics/fed...
chrismarsden.bsky.social
Lunch with a view #Marengo
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mobydickatsea.bsky.social
How, then, with me, writing of this Leviathan?