"... rigid moral rules act as a social technology: they trade efficiency for robustness, extending the reach of reputation-based cooperation."

There is a huge mismatch between what voting is supposed to achieve, and what it actually achieves.

How much does a scientific claim change between the preprint and the final published paper, post peer review? LLM was used to track 72,644 bioRxiv/journal pairs from 2018-25 The primary claim was unchanged in 39.9% of papers, mildly revised in 50.0%, and substantially changed in only 10.2%.

Trust in science is falling, but: - it remains high - the drop is no larger than for other institutions - the reduction is concentrated amongst the political right www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Today’s 5-4 ruling is a powerful reminder that the law does not enforce itself.

Seems like a good day to re-up this question.

Terms of art sometimes take on a life of their own. That’s fine, but it’s useful to know how others interpret what we say.

New WP rightly argues that externalities rooted in coordination problems (e.g., network externalities) differ from those rooted in cooperation problems (e.g., pollution), and require different solutions.

T/F/U England transitioned to coal because it had cut down all its forests. F - It was the other way around. When coal became available, they were free to clear forests for farmland!

This is a really interesting case, illustrating quirks of our psychology, and the limits of participatory politics.

Off-topic PSA: Wonderful new recording of Rach's The Bells and Symphonic Dances. By the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and Choir, led by Karina Canellakis. Enjoy! music.apple.com/us/album/rac...

A book I am particularly looking forward to: The Thinking Animal by @nicholaraihani.bsky.social www.amazon.com/Thinking-Ani...

Man, the responses to this are telling.

There’s class, and then there’s KKKlass.

In some parts of the world, democracy is alive and well. apnews.com/article/sout...

Note the warning to academics.

Love me a good ol' religious loophole. Why do we permit such violations of the spirit of the law? Probably the answer lies with the game theoretic concept of common knowledge.

The laws are still in place, the norms have collapsed.

TLDR: OMB is eliminating traditional barriers to political interference in federal grant-making.

Not clear we will fix it. I hope so.

Like Chater and Loewenstein, Leo argues that we should focus on the system, not just the individual. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Will you do better on an exam if you study harder? Students are more likely to say yes if they have an exam looming. Suggests these beliefs are rooted not just in the truth, but also in their function (motivating us to study). Fun evidence by @georgweizsaecker.bsky.social et al. 🧵

How can news elicit the response “no shit” while pissing off the White House? This is a tell that they care not that the news be known, but that it be made common knowledge. Covered nicely in S Pinker’s latest book, “When everyone knows that everyone knows…” a.co/d/0f9zq3kW

Op-ed in today's NYT by @zliscow.bsky.social argues that the most effective way to tax the rich is to raise the income and capital gains tax rate on the top income brackets. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/o...

Solar plus storage is a big deal in places with incomplete and unreliable energy infrastructure. That Africa is manufacturing this capacity locally is doubly a big deal.

Asking for a colleague: good resources for someone interested to learn about analytical, modeling, complex systems approaches to democracy and surrounding issues?

If you haven’t yet read Ray Madoff’s The Second Estate, it explains just how the wealthy manage to pay so little in taxes, and what we should do about it. bsky.app/profile/erez...

Political patronage makes a comeback. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/u...

Please help spread the news far and wide! We have a new, full-time, permanent Lecturer in Global History of Science job @stsucl.bsky.social Don't be fooled by the application of deadline of only 9 June 2026. This is an open search #histsci #skystorians www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

@rare.org 's Fish Forever program works with local fishing communities to identify and promote a compact set of discrete practices like this trawling ban, that vastly improve the health and longevity of their fisheries.

Red tape is the enemy. The real DOGE is a concerted, ruthless effort to eliminate and prevent it. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/13/n...

Al Roth has a Nobel prize for thinking about markets that no one else wants to think about: organs, prostitution, and the like. If these ‘taboo’ markets are remotely of interest, this book is for you.

Great data visualization. Quite a bit of info on the chart, but it doesn’t feel that way, and the main takeaway is immediately obvious: blue now is higher than red before.

Gutting USAID was bad.

Sometimes all you need is N=2.

Are we fat & sick because junk food is cheap and produce is expensive? A new study gave people $80/month to buy fruits, veg, and legumes. Only 30% of participants used 80% or more of the money. Health did not improve. We don't eat vegetables because we don't like them. wapo.st/4el67vN

This is a pretty remarkable headline.

Michael Tilson Thomas, longtime music director of the San Francisco Symphony, has succumbed to brain cancer. Here he is, leading SFS through Mahler's Symphony No. 6 - great recording, great performance, great piece. classical.music.apple.com/us/album/151...

Ray Madoff is on Ezra Klein’s podcast, talking about the US’s rigged tax code. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/o...

Probably, one can develop a complicated Bayesian explanation for this. But the most obvious explanation is that climate denialists aren’t Bayesian.

The NSF 2027 budget has noted that they will close out the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Science Program (SBE). This is not a good thing. nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/FY-202...

So many experimental economics papers bury - or outright don't include - a description of the experimental manipulation. Not good. In other experimental fields (medicine, psych, etc.), a complete description of the manipulation is (rightly IMO) expected.

🚨2 PhD positions with me @amlab.bsky.social on learning causally grounded concepts 🚨 Are you interested in improving the #interpretability #robustness and #safety of AI by integrating #causal reasoning? Join us in beautiful Amsterdam 🇳🇱🌷🚲 Deadline: 20 April www.academictransfer.com/en/jobs/3593...

This is a common form of political spin / clickbait / ragebait. It extends beyond climate, and can be found on both sides of a political issue.

They don’t make ‘em like they used to. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/21/u...

To raise fertility, make childcare easier.

Ray Madoff’s the Second Estate documents the many ways in which the US tax code is biased in favor of the wealthy. It’s also a weirdly fun read — and not just in comparison to other books about the tax code. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/15/b...

Bob Trivers is dead. He was a jerk and a great scientist.

Our department is hiring an Assistant Teaching Professor!! This is a joint-appointed position with Computational Social Sciences (css.ucsd.edu). It's 75+ degrees F and sunny today, just thought I'd mention apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF04461