Mir Nazir PhD

Researcher| Nonresident Fellow RCAS | nationalism & international conflicts | identity formation & recognition | IR thick/critical constructivism | SA| humanist

[Mir Nazir PhD @MirNazir110]

finally! @amitjulka & I try 2 explain formation of hegemony/its failure using #Gramsci & #RWilliams We develop a theoretical framework of ideational resonance tht distinguishes b/w hegemonic & dominant ideas at the mass level @pasupdates @Sage_Publishing
https://t.co/K8gjMwRn2l

[Big Brain AI @realBigBrainAI]

Roger Penrose, Nobel Prize-winning physicist and mathematician, explains why we should stop calling it AI and start calling it "artificial cleverness":

He believes the entire field is mislabelled, and the label itself is doing damage.

His objection is simple but cuts deep:

"The name is wrong. It's not artificial intelligence. It's not intelligence. Intelligence would involve consciousness. Well, if it's a machine, it's not conscious."

For Penrose, people have confused raw computing power with genuine understanding.

"People have lost the plot. They've lost it in the power of computing. The thing is that computers have got so powerful that they've lost the thread of what they're doing. But I think consciousness is something different. It's not computational."

He believes the term itself has hypnotized people into a category error:

"People are so hypnotized. The trouble is that AI is a bad term. It means artificial intelligence. Now intelligence in my view is conscious. That's what intelligence is about."

So he proposes a rename. Artificial Cleverness. AC instead of AI.

To illustrate the distinction, Penrose draws on his experience teaching mathematics:

"You have mathematics students. Some of them understand what they're doing. Some are just clever. They can repeat what they've learned. They know how to do it very cleverly. They can calculate very well, but they don't necessarily understand what they're doing."

That gap, between calculating well and actually understanding, is the gap Penrose sees between today's machines and genuine intelligence.

Cleverness can be manufactured. Consciousness, in his view, cannot.

So the question worth sitting with: when we call a system "intelligent," are we describing what it does, or quietly assuming something about what it is?

[Mir Nazir PhD @MirNazir110]

in @SCMPNews "Wars have been, and are, waged as pre-emptive measures. But a war that is being fought to prevent war is both a contradiction and part of a vicious cycle.
How China is making the most of the US’ faltering global leadership
https://t.co/3pBVFuU9dR via @scmpnews

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

Stunning lyrics by Siba Alkhiami, a German-based artist, against Israel's repression of Palestinians.

[Sohail Abid @sohailabid]

Sita Ram Haveli in Lahore has been restored to serve as an art gallery.

Originally built for Lala Sita Ram Mehra, the five storey haveli follows a traditional courtyard layout and blends intricate floral motifs, sculpted plasterwork, and ornamental railings.

[Jacobin @jacobin]

Iran is home to one of the richest cinematic traditions in the world, built on empathy, resistance, and human connection.https://t.co/V6J1rO0qSu

[Mir Nazir PhD @MirNazir110]

fascinating by @mukulkesavan @Telegraph "These films are seldom about the natives killed by these wars"
These movies & the narratives in general would portray the monster as victim of the oppressed & r artfully targeted at the still colonised minds...
https://t.co/bDApg0NSJ6

[Mukul Kesavan @mukulkesavan]

To listen to Zakaria and Klein mourning Trump's destruction of US moral leadership is to realise that Beltway liberals are strange orchids rooted in the fungus of American exceptionalism.
https://t.co/yb6NaMlXcu

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

At the Arab Center conference in Washington, John Mearsheimer starts his address by pointing out that when he and Walt published *The Israel Lobby* in 2007, many thought they exaggerated. "In reality, we only addressed the tip of the iceberg," he says.

[Owen Jones @owenjonesjourno]

The moral collapse of the West.

The whole world can see it!

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

Israel bombed the Rafie Nia Synagogue in Tehran.

Yes, you read that right. Israel bombed a synagogue. In Iran.

Most Americans probably didn't know that there are ~100 synagogues in Iran, 30 of which are in Tehran.

[Mother Jones @MotherJones]

The author of How Fascism Works and Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future is clear:

He believes the United States is currently under an authoritarian regime led by a fascist leader. https://t.co/RhUuM4MpPY

[Robert A. Pape @ProfessorPape]

In my new piece in The New York Times today, I argue the Iran war has reached a point Washington still refuses to say out loud:

either the U.S. escalates to a ground war—or Iran emerges as a new center of global power.

Think about—what stops this future?
https://t.co/Udw2M72QJR

[Kourosh Ziabari @KZiabari]

This photo was taken by Oxford scholar @viraameli when she visited Sharif University of Technology as a researcher years ago, showing a tribute to the late Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman to win a Fields Medal. Mirzakhani's alma mater was bombed by Israel and the US last night

[Sandhya Ramesh @sandygrains]

Alma mater of Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman to win the mathematics Fields Medal.

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

"Unhinged madman’: US politicians react to Trump’s expletive-laden threat to Iran"
https://t.co/LltMoQnIMv

[Kourosh Ziabari @KZiabari]

Aria Fani, an Iranian-American associate professor of Persian studies has been fired from his role as the director of Middle East Center after sending a group email criticizing Israel. Fani is the latest academic to face reprisal over Israel-related speech
https://t.co/ekdK6W01qV

[Seth Harp @sethharpesq]

Fairy tales to comfort affluent libs. In reality, the Iran-Contra cabal returned to power in the judicial coup of 2001 and has run American foreign policy as a joint US-Israeli black op ever since. War on Iran was inevitable but destroying Libya, Syria, Ukraine, & Gaza came first

[Kaushik Basu @kaushikcbasu]

India’s economic news is worrying. Youth unemployment is very high: 15.6%. Unemployment among young graduates is even higher. GDP growth is mostly going to the rich. The rupee is falling. Such things happen when politics replaces policy.
Sad for a country with so much potential.

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

The New Imperialism is alive & well

[Mir Nazir PhD @MirNazir110]

@MearsheimerJ @stephenWalt #IranWar #AmericanImperialism
Iran: The Illusion of a Peace Deal | John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt https://t.co/TFc5q3KfoI via @YouTube