Morning thoughts, as I contemplate the longevity of my laptop: If we think about the possibility of AI "taking over", don't we have to consider the reality that the chips & computer hardware its build on is subject to decay?...

Thoughtful piece from Fukuyama on the unique role the internet has played in the global rise of populism - after a decade, he admits, of discounting that role. www.persuasion.community/p/its-the-in...

Few surprises here: 7/10 of the safest states are Blue. 8/10 of the least safe state are Red - including Florida (47) and Texas (48) wallethub.com/edu/safest-s...

13% of Americans now think polarization is our most important problem, while 15% of Americans think our most important problem is either Republicans or Democrats. We're divided about why we're divided.

AI says it wants to be our friend. New Yorkers aren't having it.

Is this the most under-reported terrifying US security story ever? They've now discovered 300,000 SIM cards stashed across several otherwise empty apartments in and around NYC - enough to easily bring NYC communications to a halt - and they have no clue who's behind it. abc7ny.com/post/thwarte...

More Trump voters realizing immigrants aren't the problem, but the solution... “The whole thing is screwed up,” said John Painter, a three-time Trump voter who runs an organic dairy farm in Westfield. “We need people to do the jobs Americans are too spoiled to do.”

Years ago, when I lead a talk series in NYC had tons of conversations with folks with extremely strong political views. I remember thinking how - regardless of whether they were from the left or right - they all seemed eerily similar. Maybe this explains in part why. www.apa.org/pubs/journal...

@robgeorge.bsky.social, How is it this is not your tweet (or whatever these things are called)?

Folks are gonna say today's Bklyn shootings are evidence of spiking crime. Not NYPD Commish Tisch: "We have the lowest number of shooting incidents and shooting victims seven months into the year we’ve seen on record in the city of New York. Something like this is, of course, thank god, an anomaly.”

1,500 people were paired for 30 min conversations with strangers - across age, race, and politics - with no guidelines. People generally felt better after the conservation from before. Few blew out. Cool study. Cooler visualization. Very worth taking a stroll... pudding.cool/2025/06/hell...

Interesting dive into the thought processes of Brazilian journalists and their decisions to print - or not to print - when it comes polarizing stories. I suspect American journalists are not far off. academic.oup.com/poq/advance-...

My local station - WNYC - will be fine (its 3% loss in federal funding will be covered by New Yorkers in less than 24 hours, my guess is). So what's the best way for me to increase my support for public radio (i.e. find the stations most in need)?

I recently read an article about how surrogacy should be legal but better regulated. I have a feeling this case will make regulation come a little faster. apnews.com/article/cali...

An example of where GenAI gets it wrong. There's been so much written about the use of Ranked Choice Voting in the NYC *primaries*, GenAI's modeling imagines the general election uses RCV too. It does not.

3% of Americans are satisfied with the release of info on the Epstein files. I don't think I've seen 3% on any poll. Ever. You can usually count on inattention or error to get you to at least 7% (which is, btw, how many Republicans are satisfied). Astounding. www.cnn.com/2025/07/15/p...

Word on the street. Humanity is fighting back.

What's more New York than subway "showtime" dancers? How about a piece on how the new subway car designs are forcing them to adapt their routines? (With cool factoids about how much they earn and how they manage cops.) gothamist.com/news/nyc-sho...

Is it just me or does this article feel like it was written by ChatGPT (i.e. somewhat hallucinatory, telling us what we want to hear, and possibly leading us to paranoid delusions)? futurism.com/commitment-j...

I <3 Brad Lander, a true New Yorker. This is what NYC is about.

Of the many telling things from Mamdani's win yesterday is how much the Bronx and Brooklyn have diverged politically, with Brooklyn Dems (predictably) backing Mamdani over Cuomo 49% to 32%, but the Bronx swinging in the other direction, 34% to 53%. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

GWB at least had the decency to take seven months to drag us into a senseless war. DJT took seven days.

"American politics has often been an arena for angry minds. In recent years we have seen angry minds at work mainly among extreme right-wingers, who have now demonstrated ... how much political leverage can be got out of the animosities and passions of a small minority." Remarkably 60 yrs old.

We are pleased to announce the launch of the new Civility Analyzer module in @Communalytic.org. The module offers researchers an accessible, data-driven approach to studying both prosocial and harmful behaviours across various social media platforms. socialmedialab.ca/2025/06/17/c...

Was yesterday a peak in political violence in recent decades? In addition to the targeted killings in Minnesota, by my count there may have been as many as three attacks against (peaceful) protesters: one shooting (SLC, Utah) and two motor vehicle attacks (SF & Culpeper, VA).

Just learned about Flouriship. Haven't tried it yet, but given one of its founders is the wonderful Xuan Zhao (not on Bsky), I am thrilled to see a great - and much needed - use of AI in action. www.myflourish.ai

Research 4 Impact has a new look and website. If you don't yet know them: it's one of the best efforts (I know of) to connect academics and practitioners to conduct collaborative research. Grateful for them - and to see them thrive. r4impact.org

More evidence we are not the only species with language. scitechdaily.com/new-research...

Another cool project from the Polarization Research Lab, this one rating the political slant of LLMs using Republican and Democrat (human) raters. TLDR: Google and Mistral for the win. Meta and OpenAI not so much. modelslant.com

This is surprising. I had assumed Trump's weakening approval pols came mostly from folks in the middle who swung for Trump but now have buyer's remorse - and that the MAGA base was still holding strong. But that looks like that's not the case: datawrapper.dwcdn.net/qFwHs/3/

Respect to our NJ neighbors for being the most internationally-traveled. Nearly 80% have passports. (!!) MA, CA & NY are in a close race for 2nd place at around 72%. www.axios.com/2025/05/06/t...

It's almost a truism that incivility on social media a) breeds incivility, b) chills engagement and c) increases inter-group animosity, but this might be the strongest experimental evidence that's reallythe case. osf.io/preprints/os...

Mods at a subReddit are (rightfully) not happy about how a study was conducted. It's a good time to remember that research ethics mean not just avoiding harm to individuals but to communities. citizensandtech.org/2022/03/trus...

I'm no game theory or IR expert but it seems to be that Team Trump is not getting that a) Xi knows he has the advantage of the long game and b) by saying the other player made a "mistake" you're in essence admitting you failed to anticipate their moves and so - well - are the ones who screwed up.

I love a good voter typology. A new one of NYC. The biggest bloc: working New Yorkers who just want to get through the day without too much mishagas. www.thecity.nyc/2025/03/12/m...

I can't be the first to have had this thought. Why aren't Democrats repeatedly saying tariffs are taxes on American consumers and, each time the president slaps on a new one, running with press releases and headlines "Trump raises taxes on middle class Americans"?

So excited to see this out. As far as I know, the first effort to open source tools to create healthier online spaces. Starting with safety features now, hopefully one day will add on broader Prosocial Design features as well.

Adding friction to reshares (in this case, defaulting to "quote" shares) might inadvertently result in proportionately more misinformation.

Happy SNL Day! I'll be celebrating watching the 1st episode - with host George Carlin and guests Billy Preston & Janis Ian. (What?!). 1975 NYC, when the bottom had pretty much fallen out and crime and chaos ruled - but we still knew had to laugh. Celebrate with me: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRPe...

It was so great to review this tool and the study that tested it; one of the finest examples of prosocial design (empowering volunteer mods and users alike) and thoughtful research (testing across 33 volunteering subreddits). More prosocial design and research like this please!

The broken clock has struck the right time! If not familiar, the "carried interest" tax rate is criminal, giving the wealthiest Americans the lowest income tax rate. If Trump can axe it, I'll applaud him - for a moment, before going back to shock and terror. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/b...

NYT crossword resistance.

Another study shows bridging conversations - this one an 8 minute video chat between a Democrat and Republican comparing answers to a quiz - can reduce affective polarization. Key figure shows where a lot of the action is: haters hating significantly less. www.egontripodi.com/papers/talki...

NYT crossword puzzle today. So behind the times.

We all live in bubbles, some more disconnected from reality than others. Stories of people somehow being able to see the illusion for what it is always fascinate me. This story as much as any. www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2025...

On a week when it's easy to feel despairing, Wikipedians - once again - remind us of the best of humanity. And the beauty of nature. Be prepared to have your breath taken away... wikimediafoundation.org/news/2024/12...

As if we needed a reminder (maybe we do?): Politics is All Showmanship. www.nbcnews.com/news/ice-pla...

There are many layers to Meta's decision to switch out Fact-Checking for Community Notes. One is the evidence that either are effective at reducing misinformation. PDN's latest primer spells it out...

Useful for making sense of today's news...

Oct 2024 study showing political professionals are no better than lay people - or chance - at predicting the persuasiveness of messages. Experts should give up now - or admit we *always* have to pretest. www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...