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Robin Berjon

@robin.berjon.com

12K followers 2K following 12K posts

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

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · Feb 25

Digital sovereignty is almost entirely an infrastructure problem, and it's a tough one. How can we understand the problem and start outlining strategies? Read on to find out!
berjon.com/digital-sove...

Digital Sovereignty

Digital sovereignty has a bad reputation. In internet governance circles, sovereignty is considered awkward enough to be referred to by as the "s-word." It is often associated with misguided attempts ...

berjon.com

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 2h

This is not an exaggeration.

Everything — *everything* — is downstream of energy. Our technological prowess is downstream of the massive power subsidies we have been getting from fossil fuels.

mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 14h

You're living through one of the biggest technological transformations in world history and it has nothing to do with AI

Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 1d

Grid scale batteries are changing our electricity system. Excellent new visual story on batteries in FT today shows just how far this technology has evolved.

Fasten your seatbelts, this is just the beginning.

ig.ft.com/mega-batteri...

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 3h

we’ll see how his mayoral tenure shakes out but i am convinced that Mamdani has the juice. not just the charisma to win an election but the temperament to govern and the measured pragmatism of someone who genuinely believes what they’re saying and wants to accomplish real things.

Inside the Improbable, Audacious and (So Far) Unstoppable Rise of Zohran Mamdani

www.nytimes.com

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 7h

I'm so B♭ minor — obscure and terrible!

Keith Wooo-schmann Wilson 👻 @keithwilson.eu · 8h

Tag yourself. (I’m D minor, the saddest of all keys!) OP: infosec.exchange/@catsalad/11...

Key and mode descriptions from Marc-Antoine
Charpentier's Regles de Composition ca. 1682

Key
Descriptive comments
C major
gay and warlike
C minor
obscure and sad
D major
joyous and very warlike
D minor
serious and pious
Eb major
cruel and hard
E major
quarrelsome and boisterous
E minor
effeminate, amorous, plaintive
F major
furious and quick-tempered subjects
F minor
obscure and plaintive
G major
serious and magnificent
G minor
serious and magnificent
A major
joyful and pastoral
A minor
tender and plaintive
B major
harsh and plaintive

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 7h

Infrastructure x Democracy — what could be more interesting? I'm very excited to be moderating this panel!

Open Future @openfuture.bsky.social · 7h

🗳️ Don't miss "The Future of Democracy" conference organized by @openmarkets.bsky.social and @article19.bsky.social. Tomorrow we will speak at the "Role of digital infrastructure in strengthening EU democracy" panel at 15:00 CEST.
Full program: www.openmarketsinstitute.org/publications...

The Future of Democracy: Speech, Thought, Sovereignty, and Power in the Age of Platforms and AI — Open Markets Institute

Join The Open Markets Institute and ARTICLE 19 on October 15th & 16th for a convening of high-level leading thinkers, lawmakers, technologists, and advocates to discuss the direct and growing…

www.openmarketsinstitute.org

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Doctora Malka Older @older.bsky.social · 20h

has anyone written on the narrative structuring of movie trailers over time? #acsky

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 21h

Brilliant, thank you!

Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 21h

Congratulations! Do you know the European release date? I can't seem to find it anywhere.

Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 1d

It's like slower, poorly-edited writing :)

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 1d

2. I want to learn kung-fu (à la Matrix). The kind of prompt I've tried is like "I'd like a study plan to learn sheaves" (with all kinds of variants). I've been trying to get some lateral shifts, finding material that's adjacent but not obviously-so (to espace the usual compsci/maths stuff). No luck

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 1d

For research, it tends to be two broad buckets:

1. Something is wrong with how we think about X (e.g. "public" or "information wants to be free), I want to unfuck it. Not much help for that. Unsurprising but I thought it could work to try to outline the common views and find issues, but not so far.

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 1d

Ah, that makes a lot of sense. I write comparatively little code, most of it is trying seventeen variants of loading a service worker over a Tauri custom protocol. It's dumb enough that a computer should be able to figure it out, but weird enough that LLMs tend to just barf 😂

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 1d

Not saying any of this as criticism at all, I'm just interested in people for whom it's working, trying to suss out if I'm missing something or it's just not working for me (like podcasts).

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 1d

…strongly stated very mainstream views with little depth. It leaves me feeling just as drained as those IRL conversations do. For research, I think it's also that I pick up much more on weak signals that I'm not getting through the chat.

As a benchmark, the people in my head work *much* better.

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 1d

Ah, that's interesting. I've been trying various options for tasks that are more or less what you've both been describing, and it really hasn't worked for me.

The worst has been for framing/research. I don't have a good word for it, but it has the same feel as a conversation with someone who has…

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Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 1d

Yes AI is having an effect on me. I’m getting closer to buying a fountain pen than I’ve been for decades.

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 1d

Can you share how you use it for that? It's definitely a use case I have, but it definitely doesn't work (that way or so far any other way) for me. The best assistive aid I've found for that so far is... a sheet of paper.

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"How" @myoneandonlykat.bsky.social · 2d

Timeline cleanse!

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Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 3d

UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera

In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion.

As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 3d

If you're looking for some rock solid techno-geopolitical analysis, get the good stuff from @leevisaari.bsky.social.

Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 3d

China last month banned companies from purchasing Nvidia’s H20 chips, signaling a breakdown of a corporate strategy designed to navigate complex geostrategic tensions, Leevi Saari writes.

The Rise and Fall of Nvidia’s Geopolitical Strategy | TechPolicy.Press

Nvidia's geopolitical balancing act between the US and China flopped after an arduous lobbying campaign, Leevi Saari writes.

buff.ly

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Xan López @xanlopez.xyz · 3d

China ya recauda más exportando sus tecnologías verdes que Estados Unidos vendiendo energía fósil. Por ahora no es beneficio, es recaudación, pero creo que no es complicado ver qué nos conviene más emular a los países que no tenemos recursos fósiles. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 3d

Ah, yes, Linden is lovely. We were on Riverside the whole time!

Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 3d

Oh, where were you?

Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 3d

I spent four years in what may be the best kind of American suburb (Princeton) and I love the greenery and the 1950s houses. But other than that, yeah, the architecture, lawns, and urbanism are deeply backwards.

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 3d

Huh, I wonder which side is better prepared for a trade war...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...

In Retaliatory Move, Trump Threatens 100% Tariffs on Chinese Goods

www.nytimes.com

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 3d

in 2011, the president of antifa hired me to give fashion consultancy to the organization. i recommended everyone wear navy suits with tan shoes, dress sneakers, and golf polos with slim chinos. if you arrested everyone today wearing these things, you'd destroy antifa

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