Prabir Purkayastha
Remembering Allende and his Project Cybersyn

During Salvador Allende’s brief term in power, a revolutionary project sought to use technology, specifically information from factories for real-time planning and interventions in the economy. What does this tell us about knowledge and the struggle over the infrastructure that produces it?

Oppenheimer military industrial complex La paradoja de Oppenheimer: el poder de la ciencia y la debilidad de los científicos

La bomba lanzada sobre Hiroshima en 1945 anunció la era atómica e inauguró el complejo militar-industrial que se apoderó de Estados Unidos.

Oppenheimer military industrial complex Oppenheimer paradox: power of science, weakness of scientists

The bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 heralded the atomic age and ushered in the military-industrial complex that took over the United States

Twitter vs Meta Clash of Twitter Vs Meta’s Threads: Zuckerberg and Musk fight over digital real estate

Twitter vs Threads is interesting because until now, the digital monopolies had carved out their exclusive spaces, which had some overlaps, particularly in technology and infrastructure, but not in the primary “product” they were selling to the people. Threads marks the first major change in this trend an instance of direct competition

US-India semiconductor Micron If chip-making is India’s goal, Micron deal won’t deliver it

If chip-making is India’s goal, the Micron deal to set up a plant in India won’t deliver it. What India is getting—assembling and testing chips made elsewhere—is the lowest end of the chip-making technology

Daniel Ellsberg Daniel Ellsberg matters more than ever to global peace movements

Daniel Ellsberg released the ‘Pentagon Papers’ which gave new life to a generation struggling against the US war on Vietnam. Though he is no longer with us, his commitment and goals never mattered more to the peace movement

India’s worst train accident in 20 Years: Privileging vanity over safety

The government’s bizarre conspiracy theories to explain the Balasore tragedy strengthen the recipe, brewed over the years, for such accidents to occur

Biggest threat from Ukraine War: Last nuclear agreement suspended

War rarely stays within the boundaries set or desired for it. That makes returning to arms control crucial for the survival of humanity

Hypocrisy of rich countries: Ignoring the storage problems in rich countries

A low fossil fuel path needs grid-level storage costs to drop drastically. Pretending this is not necessary is hypocritical of wealthy countries

Real challenge at COP27 is private greed versus devastation of all

In the hands of capital, ‘clean’ natural gas is worse than ‘dirty’ coal. But rich nations have devised an elaborate system to conceal facts and shift blame to poorer nations

Chip wars Chip War v2: US decoupling from China or declaring war by other means?

Sanctions can best slow China from taking the global lead in chip manufacturing. At their worst, they will raise the chances of chip wars spilling into a physical or economic sphere

When market fundamentalism overcomes common sense: Myth of electricity markets

The so-called electricity markets were created to help private capital, not people. It is time we wound up these bogus markets and returned public services to people, to be run cooperatively for their benefit