Toby Fenton

Security + Peace + Innovation + Research | Trying to be a rational mind | @warstudies alumnus

[Prof. Feynman @ProfFeynman]

"The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he's one who asks the right questions."

-- Claude Lévi-Strauss

[Toby Fenton @tobyfenton]

"I know that every generation thinks it is living through the most tumultuous and significant moments in history. But... we do live in a world which is more unstable and therefore more dangerous than it has been for a long time".

#spacesecurity

https://t.co/JqjjAXN3FU

[Daily Stoic @dailystoic]

"It's not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it." — Seneca

[Toby Fenton @tobyfenton]

“One consequence of the scramble for Africa… was that it caused direct conflict between Europe’s established powers. The race for real, or perceived, advantage in #space is already doing the same thing.”

https://t.co/jn6ScL54DW

[Prof. Feynman @ProfFeynman]

"The task is not to see what has never been seen before, but to think what has never been thought before about what you see every day."

-- Erwin Schrödinger (1887 - 1961)

[Toby Fenton @tobyfenton]

“There probably was a time in history where most people were thinking, ‘This is old and therefore good,’ and they carried the day.

Now I think that we live in a time where everyone says, ‘This is new and therefore better.’”

https://t.co/1ju1XIB6LA

[Toby Fenton @tobyfenton]

“Why is it that, during days or weeks when I have binged on technologically-produced knowledge — the kind which is at my fingertips online — I feel like I know more, but understand less?”

An essay worth contemplating.

https://t.co/rrqjLHg6X3

[Toby Fenton @tobyfenton]

Interesting view on war’s algorithmic future.

“Virtual war is not a war between soldiers, tanks or airplanes, but a clash between algorithms. Here victory means the ability to build the basic rules determining how the world works.”

https://t.co/WCOWTIxvJs

[Toby Fenton @tobyfenton]

“the novel risks posed by AI are currently too ill-defined to be fully addressed by policy, and so researchers and developers will need to take the lead.”

Agreed.

At @TRIResearch_, we’re pushing the needle forward. Get in touch to find out more.

#artificalintelligence

[RAND @RANDCorporation]

"Just as a company would be under pressure from consumers and shareholders to fire an executive who repeatedly made biased statements, a company should not tolerate this type of bias in the AI systems they use." https://t.co/Njsh6aiTsC

[Freeman Air and Space Institute @freeman_air]

🗺️🚀Space is a congested, contested, and competitive physical domain of growing strategic importance.

Pete Wooding argues that it's time to think about space in terms of strategic geography.

Read more @ASPC_Australia 👇
https://t.co/f7xHJbF75V

[Farnam Street @farnamstreet]

Good decision-makers understand a simple truth: you can’t make good decisions without good thinking, and good thinking requires time. You can pay the price now or later.

The time to get it right is less than the time to correct the mistake.

[Farnam Street @farnamstreet]

“When you first start to study a field, it seems like you have to memorize a zillion things. You don’t. What you need is to identify the core principles – generally three to twelve of them – that govern the field.”

— John Reed

[Farnam Street @farnamstreet]

One of the best ways to improve performance is to change where you start.

You don’t need to start at the bottom of the mountain to get to the top. You can learn from the people who came before you.

[Toby Fenton @tobyfenton]

“The future is a canvas vast in time and space. Its ultimate beauty will depend on what we paint.”

— @tobyordoxford (The Precipice)

#risk #future

[Farnam Street @farnamstreet]

The idea of First-Principles Thinking is common, yet it remains a competitive advantage because it's rare to actually see it.

Your thinking improves when you stop making assumptions and letting others frame the problem for you. Analogies can’t replace understanding.

[Toby Fenton @tobyfenton]

“As Beijing rapidly expands its #nuclear arsenal, [military planners] warn that the world of atomic superpowers is about to escalate to three from two… The outcome… could represent a dangerous new kind of unthinkable.”

https://t.co/vuzjIatBRz

#threebodyproblem #risk #future

[Toby Fenton @tobyfenton]

Interesting talk yesterday on #sustainability in #space exploration and development by Rt Hon Lord Willetts at @freeman_air.

“We can’t preach sustainability on earth and not practice it in space… deeper thinking” is required.
— Lord Willetts

[Toby Fenton @tobyfenton]

The long view “is a perspective that allows one to transcend the stresses of the moment… offers guidance in periods of uncertainty… [and] provides principles for understanding the world.”

— Richard Fisher

https://t.co/gpUZ5omeQs

#future #longtermism #time

[Prof. Feynman @ProfFeynman]

The difference between Knowledge and Experience.

[Toby Fenton @tobyfenton]

“There has been a robust trend towards increases in the power of humanity which has reached a point where we pose a serious risk to our own existence. How we react to this risk is up to us.”

— @tobyordoxford

From “The Precipice”. A significant and crucial read.