Creepy! Visited the abandoned Fort de la Chartreuse. The fort was built in 1817 by the Dutch to defend Liège. After the revolution of 1830, it came into Belgian hands. Decommissioned in 1891, it was converted into a barracks. In 1988, it was finally abandoned by the Belgian army.
V interesting. And maybe multicausal, but I reckon Fraser Nelson gets at one of the reasons - apathetic, screen addicted young men aren’t getting drunk and violent… link below:
‚Drones don’t replace troops; in fact, each flight of a first-person-view drone can require up to four soldiers. For flights last week in northeastern Ukraine, a drone squad consisted of a pilot, a navigator, an armorer and a pilot of a retransmitting drone.‘ www.nytimes.com/2025/04/28/w...
Ukraine Pinning War Hopes on Expanded Drone Program
Ukraine has adapted strategies and weapons during its fight against Russia. It is now banking on expanding the use of domestically produced drones, even though American arms remain crucial.
nytimes.com
Russian satellite at centre of nuclear weapons allegations is 'spinning out of control' www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
Russian satellite at centre of nuclear weapons allegations is spinning out of control, analysts say
Data indicates the Cosmos 2553 – which US officials claim is aiding Moscow’s development of nuclear anti-satellite weapon – may no longer be functional
theguardian.com
Robustly demonstrated by now that you don’t need a mind to have theory of mind:
Simulating the Russia Ukraine conflict with AI: open.substack.com/pub/kpayne/p...
Simulating the Russia-Ukraine Conflict
A Project Schelling update
open.substack.com
Human brain cells engineered to evade detection by the immune system have successfully restored muscle control in a rat model of Parkinson’s disease https://go.nature.com/4lqDT3w
Brain cells given an ‘invisibility cloak’ fix Parkinson’s symptoms in rats
Neurons engineered to evade the immune system could work as cell-replacement therapy.
go.nature.com
Artificial intelligence complicates nuclear deterrence strategy in more ways than you might expect. warontherocks.com/episode/thin...
Pundits are - in vain - looking to economics and politics when trying to explain Trump's behavior. But, in reality, the central place to look if we want to understand Trump and his policies is this: The psychology of dominance. 🧵(1/5)
Nature research paper: Complete sequencing of ape genomes https://go.nature.com/3EfWwqk
Complete sequencing of ape genomes - Nature
Complete sequences of chromosomes telomere-to-telomere from chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla, Bornean orangutan, Sumatran orangutan and siamang provide a comprehensive and valuable resource for future evolutionary comparisons.
go.nature.com
Giving a talk in June, with more updates on our experiments so far - www.kcl.ac.uk/events/shall...
DSD Research Seminar Series: Shall we play a game? Using artificial intelligence to simulate strategic decision-making.
Professor Kenneth Payne discusses the role of Artificial Intelligence in making strategic choices. Do they look anything like human ones?
kcl.ac.uk
And yet, few signs of anything other than business as usual
And I’m not stopping there
Nerdic Defence@nerdicdefence.bsky.social · last yr.Saab has seen orders to the tune of tens of billions of SEK the last two years from a "secret" customer. Radars, recoilless rifles and air defence has been purchased, and the mystery customer is now the company's fifth largest. ekonomibladet.se/hemligt-land...
This is super - Mike and Shashank feel the AGI and discuss much else besides: www.chinatalk.media/p/agi-and-th...
AGI and the Future of Warfare
Shashank and Horowitz go beyond superweapons
chinatalk.media
This would be a huge cultural change. Dutch leader of the Party for the Animals announces there is a majority in parliament for banning private fireworks—a mainstay of New Year’s celebrations.
Esther Ouwehand@estherouwehand.bsky.social · last yr.Geweldige doorbraak! Kamermeerderheid in zicht voor de wet van Partij voor de Dieren en GroenLinks voor een vuurwerkverbod! Met dank aan jarenlange strijd door dierenbeschermers, oogartsen, politie en vele anderen. Heel goed nieuws voor mens en dier!
Scientists have created the first map of the crucial structures called mitochondria throughout the entire brain https://go.nature.com/4c2YMxw
First map of human brain mitochondria is ‘groundbreaking’ achievement
Hundreds of cubes of human brain tissue help scientists to chart the energy-making capabilities of various brain regions.
go.nature.com
Bluesky is the home of cakeist thinking - especially when it comes to HE spending
Peter Foster@pmdfoster.bsky.social · last yr.New Public First polling shows how tough the “gun and butter” debate is for Starmer — public is wildly cakeist and Lab voters think butter more important. With @theboysmithy.ft.com dataviz for @financialtimes.com on.ft.com/421yt6y New poll shows risks for Keir Starmer over spending choices
Agree with all this. But a way needs finding to make extended deterrence as credible as the US version. New thinking on nuclear sharing needed; and you can’t easily share the UK weapon…
Jenny Mathers@jgmaber.bsky.social · last yr.For a nuclear deterrent to be effective, it needs to be credible and reliable. That is not a function of quantity. Minimum nuclear deterrence works. It's about political will, clearly and convincingly communicated.
U.S. military commanders will use artificial intelligence tools to plan and help execute movements of ships, planes and other assets under a contract called “Thunderforge” led by start-up Scale AI, the company said Wednesday.
Pentagon signs AI deal to help commanders plan military maneuvers
Start-up Scale AI will develop AI tools for the Pentagon to help commanders plan military movements, using technology from Microsoft and Anduril.
wapo.st
'The current focus on percentage figures as a test of political virility risks obscuring the fact that what NATO and Europe in particular require are credible armed forces capable of fighting and winning' writes @mtsavill.bsky.social in the latest RUSI Commentary.
Starmer Shows his Hand on Defence Spending
The increase in UK defence spending announced on 25 February has been welcomed by many, but the focus on fractions of a percent must not be a distraction from the real issue of output and generating a...
rusi.org
