ANZAC Day and a multipolar world: what “lest we forget” means now
On ANZAC Day 2026 I remember the ordinary diggers behind the legend and reflect on Australia’s place in an emerging multipolar world, from Gallipoli to today’s conflicts.
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AI, power, and why open institutions matter
Software and AI are never neutral; they can quietly lock in existing systems of control and power. To avoid surrendering autonomy to a few proprietary platforms, we need open, community‑governed institutions that keep AI accountable and share its benefits more fairly.
Beyond AI hype: building new institutions for AI and the Digital Revolution
In history I saw how the English working class responded to upheaval of the industrial revolution by building new institutions Today’s AI disruption raises a similar question: what new institutions do we need for the AI age?
Losing faith in the system: distrust, AI, and the turn to alternative beliefs
Etsy witches, AI, & young people quietly returning to the Catholic Church might look unrelated, but they all signal a crisis of trust in institutions.
Etsy witches, Claude’s mythos, and the strange mood we are in
Etsy witches, constitutional AI, and rising geopolitical risk are all symptoms of the same restless zeitgeist.
Australia’s data sovereignty ambitions will fail without research compute
Australia’s lack of serious, at‑scale compute is not just a research productivity problem, it is a sovereignty problem as well. Our universities are trying to do world‑class work on infrastructure that simply does not match the ambitions in our national AI strategies or data sovereignty rhetoric.
AI is now infrastructure: Why that changes everything
AI is no longer just a clever feature bolted onto apps - it’s fast becoming a core piece of digital infrastructure, as fundamental as electricity, networks and cloud.