Maru Mormina

Pandemics, like all wicked problems inhabit a postnormal space where stakes are high, facts uncertain & decisions urgent. They demand broad expertise, yet COVID-19 policy has narrowly focused on technofixes. Why? Epidemic injustice in the system of science advice may be the clue.

Billionaires shouldn't be able to buy a bigger voice in politics. Add your name to @electoralreform call to put a cap on how much they can donate in the #ElectionsBill action.electoral-reform.org.uk/page/179420/pe…

Trump tariffs have wiped out +60 years of economic consensus, exposing the failures of globalisation. The question is whether we can channel such seismic disruption into a just transformation, rather than regression. open.substack.com/pub/marumormin…

@JeffreyTowson @_KarenHao Singling out SHEIN as an example of innovation without any reference to their wholly unethical business practices? Cheap for whom? Because the costs are always borne by someone, and it’s usually the most vulnerable.

“China can’t innovate: it can only copy.” Wrong for 30 years. China is outstanding at cost innovation. Finding ways to make things way cheaper with comparable quality. Huawei / telco, Gree / white goods, oppo / smart phones, BYD/EVs, SHEIN, and so many others. Deepseek fits that pattern. And robotics is next up.

As someone who has reported on AI for 7 years and covered China tech as well, I think the biggest lesson to be drawn from DeepSeek is the huge cracks it illustrates with the current dominant paradigm of AI development. A long thread. 1/

@jeremycorbyn Jeremy, I admire you for your integrity and honesty, but I really cannot see how a diplomatic solution can be achieved when it entails negotiating with the likes of Putin and Netanyahu. They don't want peace. We don't need more conflict but stronger international sanctions.

The Prime Minister should make a statement to Parliament, immediately, to confirm whether UK missiles have been fired into Russia. He must tell the British public if this means we are now at war with a nuclear power, what risk this poses to people in Britain, and why this action was taken without any approval from Parliament. I have consistently condemned Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and called for a diplomatic solution to stop the endless bloodshed. As we edge closer and closer to catastrophe, we should be doing everything in our power to bring about de-escalation and peace. Instead, our political leaders have added fuel to the fire and gambled with people’s lives for political gain. Presidents and Prime Ministers must know that in the event of nuclear war, nobody wins. I’m not interested in bombs. I’m interested in peace – and I will continue to campaign for peace in Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen, Sudan, the DRC and beyond.

I just signed the petition to the incoming UK Government to intervene and block Shein's application to list on the London Stock Exchange. Will you sign too? you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/say-… via @38degrees

No, the British public is not stupid, they’re taking the mickey out of an unbelievably amateurish consultation. Who’s the maverick behind this? @wesstreeting you need proper advice on participatory methods. Happy to chat about real #coproduction

@J_Schoeneberg Good luck with whatever comes next, Julia!

If ordinary citizens figure into the traditional innovation process at all, it is as unskilled labor or even raw material. Despite being essential, these contributions are devalued and subordinated to “real” technical work. @ShobitaP bostonreview.net/articles/can-i…

The power of brevity. Less is more, for sure, but be careful of unsubstantiated claims or empty rhetoric. There’s much craft in ‘concise nuance’ when communicating with attention-poor policy makers

"the battle for education is inseparable from the larger struggle for democracy and social justice. Education is not simply a path to individual advancement—it is the foundation of collective liberation." laprogressive.com/education-refo…

This sums up my uneasy relationship with an academia that talks the talk but does not walk the walk

@Jackstilgoe Better still: “Do you think the respect these groups get is commensurate with the public good they provide?” A badly worded question from the pollsters, indeed.

The trouble with this question is that we don't know how much respect people think these groups get, or whether people are implying 'too much' or 'too little'. Would have been better to ask if they think these groups get enough respect.

⁦@RachelReevesMP⁩ ⁦⁦@BBCr4today⁩ this is my child’s school today, closed due to safety concerns. No mater what you say, you ARE returning to #austerity and this is what it looks like.

Thrilled to have contributed to this important report. Culture, like science, is an irreducibly social good, realised only through social relationships. Governments must foster the collective production of knowledge and culture by strengthening communities not by sowing divisions

@SFuntowicz Is this a final farewell or are you switching over to Bluesky or another platform? I enjoyed your posts

Interested in #decolonisation of research? Check out i2insights.org/tag/decolonisa…, especially this new contribution by @cyberalex on decolonisation of scientific knowledge at i2insights.org/2024/07/02/dec… #I2Sresources @marumormina @CrystalTremblay

Excellent explainer of austerity economics from the Labour Party… of 6 years ago.

@federicarusso @GuidoCaniglia @eivinden @BMuellerSN @WeckwerthWolf

Thrilled to see this paper out. The fruit of a truly multidisciplinary collaboration exploring how systems thinking can better mobilise knowledge and expertise during and after crises nature.com/articles/s4159…

The system is not working. thelancet.com/journals/lance…