Lulu Garcia-Navarro in NYT: ‘Are we already in the middle of a new world war without realizing it? That’s the provocative question I wanted to explore when I sat down with someone in the rare position to know: Mirjana Spoljaric, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross.’ Spoljaric: ‘We hear more and more leaders say that the rules of war don’t apply anymore, and that there can’t be rules because of the pursuit of total victory. But that is not possible. In history, there has never been total victory; there has only been death and destruction, over and above what was necessary.’

Spoljaric: ‘Our motivation is not to live in rubble. How could it be?’

We don’t want to live in rubble, but we don’t mind if other people do. If the enemy lives in rubble, that’s mostly fine.

In the meantime, a firing squad, live on television.

(a sf 2256)

Anthony Vinci in NYT: ‘The greatest danger, though, isn’t A.I.’s ability to lie. It’s the ability to persuade. These new agents of influence are less like a traditional propaganda pamphlet — static and lifeless — and more like a living, breathing case officer, as I used to be.’

And: ‘Studies by the Network Contagion Research Institute at Rutgers University have shown that the amount of time spent on TikTok correlates with more benevolent views of Chinese human rights. What’s new about A.I. is its personalization and interactivity.’

His advice: ‘Trust no one. The hardest part of spycraft may be never taking anything as permanently true. A.I. makes it especially easy to go soft. Chat systems are good at providing answers, and it’s tempting to just accept their answers.’

Wittgenstein said that not everything deserves to be called into doubt. Not everything, perhaps, but everyone?

Moderate paranoia as a tool to remain truthful.

(a sf 2255)

The Süddeutsche: ‘[Ulrich] Siegmund had recently announced that he fully expected to secure the necessary absolute majority in the first round of voting in December. However, with 39 members, the AfD parliamentary group is three votes short of that majority. The state parliament has 83 members, meaning that 42 votes are required. Since the Alliance for Social Justice and Economic Reason (BSW) intends to abstain in this secret ballot, Siegmund would need three votes from other members of parliament.’

And: ‘In 2018, at a party conference, the CDU decided to reject coalitions and similar forms of cooperation with both the AfD and Die Linke. As party chairman, Merz has repeatedly insisted that this resolution of incompatibility must be upheld. Within the party, however, there is uncertainty about how to deal with suspected dissenters, who have so far not revealed themselves either.’

The CDU dissidents are secret AfD supporters.

(a sf 2254)

Shlomi Eldar in Haaretz: ‘I'll call him “Iyad.” He's a well-known figure in Gaza. Despite the hardships there, he never aspired to leave. Not even now. But he had to save his family, he says.’

And: ‘“So strongly did they believe in the idea that Allah was with them, and that they were going to bring Israel down, that they started dividing Israel into cantons, for the day after the conquest. (…) One day, a well-known Hamas figure calls and tells me with pride and joy that they are preparing a full list of committee heads for the cantons that will be created in Palestine.’

Also: ‘He notes that while Sinwar was “in prison in Israel, he only became more extreme, to the point where he believes truly and sincerely that he is ‘the helper of the prophet Mohammed.’”’

Be aware of helpers of prophets. Inside and outside Israel.

(a sf 2253)

The Economist: ‘Born some 20 years ago in Oxford philosophy seminars and Californian computer labs, effective altruism has already changed the world. It has shaped charity, by stressing data-driven giving; hoovered up students at elite universities, who are now ascending some of America’s leading firms; inspired Sam Bankman-Fried, a crypto billionaire responsible for one of history’s biggest frauds; become Silicon Valley’s defining fault line, motivating both boundless enthusiasm and a ferocious countermovement; and played a part in the creation of artificial intelligence—all largely unnoticed by the broader public.
That may soon change. The movement’s long-standing fears of an AI catastrophe make it a villain in the eyes of the Trump administration. “Americanism, not effective altruism,” is the Department of War’s attack line.’

And: ‘On a simple utilitarian calculation, humans possibly ought then to perish and resources go to the beneficiaries.’

Ultimate utilitarianism: no more humans.

Waiting for effective Americanism.

(a sf 2252)

Peter E. Gordon in NYRB: ‘By the time of his [Jürgen Habermas’] death, however, many felt that this principle had grown obsolete. In Germany and elsewhere the official obituaries were fulsome in their praise, but one could hardly ignore the widespread opinion among journalists and critics that he had outlived his time. Some condemned his entire life’s work, vilifying him for his alleged Eurocentrism or liberalism, as if these were the worst crimes imaginable at a moment when the European Union was threatened by Russian aggression and political parties fueled by xenophobia (…) were on the ascent.’

And: ‘Habermas never claimed that we are likely to reach a noncoercive agreement. His point was only that without assuming the possibility of rational consensus we would not engage in giving reasons at all.’

We may not convince anybody with our arguments, but we need reason to keep irrationality a part-time hobby.

(a sf 2251)

Jenny Turner in 2023 in LRB: ‘Jaeggy was born in Zürich in 1940 and writes in Italian, with intrusions from French, even English sometimes, but mostly German, “the language of funerals, of sermons”, and it can’t be an accident that the first bit of German in her most famous book, Sweet Days of Discipline (1989), is the word for “duty”, Zwang.’

Also: ‘In 2021 the New Yorker published an interview with Jaeggy by Dylan Byron, who found her “impeccably elegant in crisp whites and royal blues, her fine silver hair clipped back in a signature tortoiseshell barrette”.’

And: ‘“We retire to our rooms, we saw life pass by beneath our windows, observed it in books and on our walks,” the narrator says in Sweet Days of Discipline.’

According to a Swiss friend, Fleur Jaegy might win the Nobel Prize this year. She deserves it, if only for Sweet Days of Discipline.

(a sf 2250)