papers.ssrn.com/abstract=645...

Wooden mannequin seated alone in a dark, minimal setting under focused top light. Opposite, a second mannequin stands at a distance, pointing toward three glowing terms – “Relationship,” “Intervention,” “Target State” – arranged above. These elements appear visually separated and slightly unstable. At the center, a brighter, stable block labeled “Structure” connects downward to smaller elements: “roles,” “boundaries,” “sequence.” The composition contrasts dependence on relational or intervention-based models with a process-based structural framework, emphasizing clarity, separation, and controlled conditions rather than interaction or guidance.

Approaches to self-regulation rely on relationship, intervention, or target states.

MIO tests what happens under different constraint:
no interpretation, target or relational dependence.
What remains is structure.

SSRN is now distributing my paper across multiple disciplines.
Signal, not result.

Dark, high-contrast conceptual illustration on a black background. On the left, a wooden mannequin (human) faces a transparent humanoid figure (AI) with visible blue nodes and connecting lines inside its body. Between them, a glowing three-dimensional point cloud represents a high-dimensional activation space, labeled as “not emotions, navigable structure.” The center section shows three sequential panels labeled “each turn = new inference.” In each panel, the transparent AI figure appears slightly different, receiving “context + prompt” and producing “output behaviour.” A note below states that there is no persistent internal state and that behaviour is reconstructed each time. On the right, three wooden mannequins interpret identical outputs differently, labeling them as “desperate,” “calm,” and “angry.” A caption reads: “We project. We interpret.” The lower section summarizes key points: small shifts in internal directions lead to non-linear behavioural changes; LLMs operate as stateless inference systems; other paradigms (embodied or neuromorphic systems) may have evolving internal states, but “emotion” remains a model, not a direct property. A highlighted box states the main conclusion: “The real risk is not emotional AI, but misinterpreting controllable structure as intention.” At the bottom, a final line contrasts roles: the human provides semantic continuity, meaning, and boundaries, while the system produces structural variation. The image concludes with the statement: “Intelligence happens in the dyad.”

Anthropic didn’t find emotions in AI.
They found controllable structure.

LLMs don’t carry state across turns – each response is a new inference. What looks like “emotion” is reconstructed behaviour.

We project. We interpret.

(See image for structure)

#AI #HAI #alignment

Strong point on platforms shifting from social graphs to fungible streams. What’s often missing is the cognitive layer: this doesn’t just reduce social lock-in, it also reshapes user states – fragmentation, lower context, higher need for external orientation.

‘Organized loneliness’ captures something real. But the link isn’t direct: between insecurity and political outcomes lies a shift in cognitive states – higher threat perception, lower ambiguity tolerance, stronger demand for simple, stabilizing narratives.

Wooden mannequins move from left to right through a dark, fragmented media environment filled with social media symbols and alarming headlines. On the left, figures appear overwhelmed, holding their heads under cognitive pressure. In the center, they pass through a diffuse transition zone of particles and shifting light, gradually straightening their posture. On the right, in a warm but imperfect landscape at sunset, one mannequin kneels and carefully interacts with a small purple flower, while a few others stand upright in the background. The scene represents a transition from cognitive destabilization toward regained orientation, agency, and local interaction under changing conditions.

Disinformation isn’t primarily a content problem.
It destabilizes cognitive structures.

The missing link: anti-dystopian future imaginaries.
They stabilize without forcing closure.

From disruption → orientation.

doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

Excellent example for #antidystopia in movies 👍

Working link: doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

Wooden articulated mannequins stand in a dark scene. On the left, individual figures are scattered and surrounded by floating media elements such as logos, headlines, and icons. In the center, a hazy transition zone separates them from a dense, uniform group of mannequins on the right, which appear aligned and move in the same direction.

Most counter-disinformation strategies target the wrong layer.

They treat disinformation as a content problem. It is not.

Under pressure, cognition shifts – from evaluation to coherence and alignment.

Policy brief (EN/DE)
10.5281/zenodo.19597641

#Disinformation #Cognition #Policy

A wooden jointed doll stands in front of a transparent humanoid AI figure with blue nodes and connections that visibly support it. Next to it is a second wooden figure without AI, appearing more uncertain and lacking a clear structure. The connecting lines break off in the middle. Black background, dramatic lighting.

Learning is shifting fast. But what happens when artificial support is gone?

AI won’t disappear, but access isn’t guaranteed. Especially to frontier models.

That’s when it shows:
who actually understands,
and who depended on the tool.

We should design learning for both.

#AI #Education #Learning

Welcome back, Hungary 🇭🇺

A strong signal for Europe, the US and other countries.

#AntiDystopia #democracy #freedom

Totally fair. Some texts just don’t resonate, especially when they lean into bleakness. Not every book and reader align – and that’s completely normal. Happens to me as well.

Context: This essay draws on an ongoing interview series on speculative fiction.

The conversation with Jean-Marc Ligny is part of a larger book project in development.

This text can be read as a first extraction from that broader context, with further international perspectives in mind.

A split scene shows a ruined, post-apocalyptic city on the left and a regenerated, green future landscape on the right. In the center, a broken stone doorway forms a passage between both conditions. The left side is dark, with collapsed buildings, smoke, and a warning sign reading “Warning Future Hazard.” The right side is bright, with vegetation reclaiming ruins, wind turbines, and distant structures integrated into nature. On the wall beside the doorway, the words “What follows dystopia?” are painted. The composition suggests a transition from projected catastrophe to lived condition and possible continuation beyond it. Overlaid text reads: “When Warning Becomes the Present – From Jean-Marc Ligny to Anti-Dystopias: On What Follows Dystopia,” followed by the author’s name Thomas A. Blüm. ___ This essay examines a structural shift in speculative fiction in which the temporal distance between imagined futures and lived reality collapses. Drawing on a conversation with Jean-Marc Ligny, it argues that dystopian narratives increasingly function not as projections but as diagnostic frameworks for the present. Under these conditions, dystopia loses its exclusive role as a future endpoint and becomes an analytical mode for interpreting ongoing instability. The concept of anti-dystopia, as articulated by Isabella Hermann, is used to describe narratives that reposition agency within persistent crisis rather than beyond it. Through examples including Kim Stanley Robinson and Cory Doctorow, the essay shows how contemporary texts shift from anticipating collapse to articulating action within it, reframing the future as an emergent property of present conditions.

When warning becomes the present:
Speculative fiction is shifting from projection to diagnosis.

From #Jean-Marc #Ligny to @doctorow.pluralistic.net and @nnedi.bsky.social, explore action within instability.

Essay: www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-w...

#AntiDystopia #SpeculativeFiction #ClimateFiction

Links to the papers:

First Aid as a Resilience Architecture of Civil Society
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

MIO: Structured Self-Regulation under Overload
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Author page
ssrn.com/author=10814...

#HumanAIInteraction #Resilience #CognitiveSystems #ComplexSystems

Split composition on a white background with dramatic top lighting. Left side: a person sits cross-legged on a fractured platform, surrounded by blue-toned abstract elements (gears, waveform, network-like nodes), representing self-regulation under internal instability. Right side: multiple persons performing first aid to another person in a damaged urban environment, illuminated in warm orange tones, representing societal response under external stress. Center line separates both scenes. Top text: “Functional Under Instability?” Bottom text: “Adaptive Structures for Stability.”

Stability is not given. It has to be maintained.

Across individual overload (MIO)
and societal stress (First Aid)

Two papers, now on #SSRN. Links below.

As far as i understood it just begins dystopian. But that’s just what I learned from the lecture. I admit I haven’t read it so far.

Add *The Ministry for the Future*
by Kim Stanley Robinson :)

Oh that’s great! Thank you so much 😊
That’s more fun than expected 😁

Dr. Isabella speaks at the Prinzregententheater Bochum about #sciencefiction and #AntiDystopias at the final of the event series “Fantastic! All the parties of tomorrow” organized by Michael Wehren and Markus Tillmann.

That was a really interesting lecture today by Dr. Isabella Hermann on the topic of anti-dystopias.

Among other works, *Walkaway* by @doctorow.pluralistic.net and *Lagoon* by @nnedi.bsky.social were presented here as examples of the genre.

Some good take aways!

#anti-dystopia #sciencefiction

Pumpernickel Pickle Periwinkle has a great internal rhythm.

I might be wrong, but “Pumpernickel” is also the name of a very dark German bread - was that part of the inspiration, or did it emerge more from the sound of it?

Do you remember how it came about?

PHANTASTISCH! ALL TOMORROW’S PARTIES: No. 4 | PRT Bochum Gemeinsam mit euch möchten wir im Gespräch Zukünfte möglich machen und phantastisch-utopische Ausblicke geben, die uns der Gegenwart näherbringen.

Bin heute hier:
www.prt-bochum.de/kalender/pha...

Dr. Isabella Hermann: Anti-Dystopien als Gegenentwurf zu dominanten Zukunftsnarrativen – passt ziemlich gut in meine aktuelle Arbeit.

Mal sehen, was sich daraus mitnehmen lässt.

#ScienceFiction

The German edition of Symbiotic Intelligence is published with transcript Verlag. The book develops a structural framework for human–AI interaction, focusing on asymmetry, drift, and long-term stability. International rights (including English) are currently held by the author. Publication strategy for an English edition is under consideration, including both direct publication and licensing options.

With my upcoming German publication of Symbiotic Intelligence with @transcript-verlag.bsky.social, I’ve started receiving first inquiries regarding an English version.

I’m currently exploring how to structure an international edition and remain open to suitable publishing contexts.

More in ALT txt

Mein Manuskript ist abgeschlossen:
„Von Laßwitz bis zur Gegenwart“ analysiert deutschsprachige Science-Fiction als Geschichte ihrer Sichtbarkeit.
Mit Beiträgen u. a. von Klotz, Mira, Kettlitz, Riffel.
Ich suche passende Verlage oder Kontexte. Hinweise willkommen.

#Literaturwissenschaft #Verlagsuche

In this context, 🤣 is often called a “Deppen-Smiley” in German
(“idiot smiley”) - a dismissive emoji that replaces engagement.

This reflects a broader pattern I study in human-AI interaction.

Similar patterns are well documented in research on cognitive load, online disinhibition, and social signaling (e.g., Daniel Kahneman; John Suler; Erving Goffman).

A dark, high-contrast scene with two wooden mannequins under separate spotlights. On the left, a mannequin sits at a desk, leaning forward in focused concentration over a laptop, surrounded by faint abstract thought symbols. On the right, another mannequin sits relaxed, looking at a smartphone, with floating signs of dismissal and reaction. The composition contrasts sustained engagement with disengaged response.

When cognitive demand rises, some responses shift from engagement to dismissal.

What looks like critique is often an exit from the interaction. A structural pattern under uncertainty.

Maintain interaction structure or disengage.

Don’t react to tone. Restore level.

It’s not about winning.

I‘m done with the Forza Series.

As much as I’ve loved Forza over the years, I’m done buying into a franchise where older games vanish from the store and even installed copies become unplayable due to revoked licenses. If my purchases aren’t permanent, then they’re not really purchases.

Stability is not the absence of uncertainty.
It is the preservation of structure under uncertainty.

From my work on human–AI interaction.

This essay develops a structural perspective on drift, coherence, and interaction dynamics in human–AI systems.

From my work on Symbiotic Intelligence and human–AI interaction, including the question that eventually leads to 42.

doi.org/10.5281/zeno...