Diplo Blog
Machiavelli’s hypotheses vs historical facts
10 December 2023
Italian diplomat, author, philosopher, and historian, Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) is still the icon of diplomacy—or at least of those who think that he overturned religion as a guide to statesmanship and unlea...
Challenging conventions: The vital role of contrarians in shaping policy and knowledge
05 December 2023
Editorial note: In an era marked by cancel culture, Aldo Matteucci's examination of contrarians gains new relevance. As we navigate a world quick to silence dissent, this piece illuminates the crucial role of contrari...
Four seasons of AI: From excitement to clarity in the first year of ChatGPT
30 November 2023
Winter of excitement | Spring of metaphors | Summer of reflections | Autumn of clarity ChatGPT was launched by OpenAI on the last day of November in 2022. It triggered a lot of excitement. We were immerse...
How can legal wisdom from 19th-century Montenegro and Valtazar Bogišić help AI regulation
23 November 2023
Note: I had the pleasure of talking often with the late Ambassadors Ljubiša Perović and Milan Begović about the applicability of Valtazar Bogišić's legal philosophy to our era. I am dedicating this text to the me...
A tale of Incan communal knowledge and Plato’s elite rulers
23 November 2023
For hundreds of years, the Q’eswachaka rope bridge in Peru has been rebuilt every year in the same location. Local communities on either side of the canyon, employing traditional Inca engineering techniques, activel...
‘Soft power’ is nothing more than influence
16 November 2023
The term ‘soft power’ (and its siblings ‘hard power’ and ‘smart power’), employed to embrace a particular category of resources of potential power, originated in the stable of Joseph S. Nye Jr, a Harvard U...
From life insurance to earthquakes: Applying the precautionary principle
13 November 2023
In a risk-averse society, the 'Precautionary Principle' (PP) ('Better Safe than Sorry') has enjoyed wide popularity. PP plays a crucial role in situations where scientific evidence is uncertain and the stakes are high...
How can we deal with AI risks?
08 November 2023
Clarity in dealing with ‘known’ and transparency in addressing ‘unknown’ AI risks In the fervent discourse on AI governance, there’s an oversized focus on the risks from future AI, compared to more immedi...
Jua Kali AI: Bottom-up algorithms for a Bottom-up economy
07 November 2023
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes a cornerstone of the global economy, AI’s foundations must be anchored in community-driven data, knowledge, and wisdom. 'Bottom-up AI' should grow from the grassroots of socie...
The curse of ‘best practice’
06 November 2023
Efficiency is the game in town, and 'best practice' is the way to go forward. Such is the received wisdom. But is it so? On the most banal level, best practice leads to boredom. When all tennis players have learned...
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