Amazing talk by Sally Haslanger @shaslang.bsky.social on "Social systems & their micro, meso, & macro interactions'' @ucisocsci.bsky.social & dinner afterwards with Ari Koslow, Tori Cotton @wittgencism.bsky.social, Cailin O’Connor @cailinmeister.bsky.social & Kate Ritchie @kateritch.bsky.social !!!

“At the forefront of AI thought thought leadership leadership,” lol.

Anyways, 🫳🎤

If we accept that certain topics can be erased entirely, it won’t stop with this one issue. it will spread to whatever happens to be unpopular next.

Universities are meant to be spaces for dialogue and exploration, where you meet and learn from people with all kinds of different ideas than you, not places where ideas are policed.

Higher education is supposed to challenge students to think critically and to grapple with ideas they might disagree with. If we start banning every topic that someone finds uncomfortable, we will be left with nothing but a hollow shell of what was once an education.

Let’s go a step further. Even if you personally disagree with gender studies, consider: even if a professor chooses to teach gender theory to adult college students, that is precisely what academic freedom is for!

Regardless of your personal beliefs, the idea that a professor could lose their job simply for discussing a topic should be deeply concerning. When we start erasing entire subjects because they don’t fit a current political narrative, we risk losing valuable knowledge and forgetting our own history.

First, there are times when a teacher simply covers certain topics because they are part of the subject matter. Teaching about gender identity doesn’t necessarily mean endorsing any particular position. It’s about presenting information. You know, teaching?

A Texas A&M processor was fired for teaching about gender identity in the classroom. I’d like, for a moment, to talk about why this should be alarming to anyone—regardles of where you stand personally or politically. 🧵🪡

Putting artificial intelligence on overcooked steak is our future

In less than one week, many Americans will no longer be able to apply for Social Security benefits over the phone, setting the stage for disruptions and upheaval. Nearly 6 million seniors live more than 46.6 miles, roundtrip, from a field office, per a new analysis. trib.al/5XSPqyL

Are you a woman who changed your name when you got married? Congress is considering a bill that could make it much harder for you to vote. Call your rep—this is not a drill. indivisible.org/resource/cal...

I feel like my relationship to bluesky is that we seem to log in, go “wow I wish everybody was on this app” and then forget to log on for a month. But we’re basically all on here? Just… logging on at different times of the month?

So which part of America are we trying to 'make great' again? Say you ignore all of the public benefits of federally funded scientific R&D (because screw the common good, amirite?), can you really afford to willfully ignore the economic gain in being a global leader in research?