This could be a growth moment for independent media outlets

This might sound weird, but I wonder how much better of much of the social sciences would be if we thought of ourselves as "information artists" creating and recombining knowledge in useful ways, rather than as scientists?

Really like this write up of Helen Hayward's On Houscraft in @philosopher1923.bsky.social .. especially this passage: In a world where people claim they have no time to think.. washing and drying, sorting and scrubbing could help us exercise restless bodies and calm overstimulated minds.

In "You Must Become an Algorithmic Problem" from @brisunipress.bsky.social , I argue that the only way to renegotiate our "socio-technical contract" is through organized political action. @bcmerchant.bsky.social latest is a good read to know where this "analog resistance" movement is going.

This is the way... And community radio... Go Analog

Even though I'm now a social scientist, I am forever grateful that I was an English major as an undergraduate. I am on a daily basis reminded of the limits of the scientific method in explaining the human condition.

Lovely essay in the @lrb.co.uk by Adam Thirlwell on "Gertrude Stein: an Afterlife" by Francesca Wade I'm struck by this quote: ‘It is not civilised to want other people to believe what you believe because the essence of being civilised is to possess yourself as you are’ (1/3)

Nothing is inevitable. In either direction. Hope and work.

Just got my physical copy of my book...it's a real thing now!!

Placing stricter rules on congressional stock trading is a key ethics reform that’s critical to restoring public trust in Congress. bit.ly/4nBiNjB

Times are rough, but I also just learned about the "Wonder of Stevie" podcast that covered his amazing 5 year run in the early 70s.... I'll be living there for a while open.spotify.com/show/1OLQgro...

"What percentage of time do you spend engaging with the familiar versus exploring what you haven’t already developed an opinion about?"

Today has been a day, boy.

More ppl should read her.. Ordinary Vices is a classic. Avoiding cruelty seems like a low-bar for liberal democracy, but it remains a worthy ambition

"exploration makes you a problem.. constantly exploring creates problems for classification algorithms. If you like everything, how can you be marketed to? If your patterns are so unpredictable that you are ‘statistical noise’.., then you are an algorithmic problem and a bad neoliberal subject.

"(we are) part of an unwritten algorithmic social contract. Much like the metaphorical social contract citizens in liberal democracies have with their governments, much of my online cultural life is governed by a sociotechnical system that provides benefits and costs"

"This might seem like a drastic accusation for such small infractions. But indulging in the familiar can habituate us away from exploring new ideas. The result can be the death of liberal democratic institutions – slowly, then all at once."

In exchange for relief from the ‘toil of choice’ present in the age of endless possibility, I hand over my autonomy to the engagement algorithm. My latest in Transforming Society @brisunipress.bsky.social

"Each time we submit to the temptation of indulging in the familiar... we move one step closer to becoming illiberal subjects... indulging in the familiar can habituate us away from exploring new ideas. The result can be the death of liberal democratic institutions – slowly, then all at once."

"Science is under siege from weaponised disinformation – posing a threat to human civilisation" | My oped in the @theguardian.com with @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social on our new book #ScienceUnderSiege: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Whichever party appears to be supporting "small capitalism" will do better than the one that appears to support "corporate oligarchy" "95% of respondents said they supported small business, while 81% supported free enterprise... Only 37% of survey takers rated (big business) favorably.

I've been thinking about two metaphors -- for no particular reason: If you drink a fifth of vodka a day and smoke a carton of cigarettes, the damage won't appear right away but in 5-10 years??? If you take a hammer to a load bearing stud, it will take a lot of whacks until the structure collapses.

My colleague friend says the picture they chose to put on the university website advertising an invited talk looks like I'm in a rap battle.

Seems like these nations are missing an opportunity to get stronger by welcoming ppl with high skill or income .. even closing pathways for those with ancestral ties.. so it's not fear of undermining national unity... world is just in an anti immigration mood www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

My book series with @andrewhoskins.bsky.social - we're getting good proposals and welcome more: www.intellectbooks.com/ai-politics

I wonder what would happen if you asked the question "do you support they national guard being deployed in your community to prevent crime"? How would the numbers change?

Something academics and researchers can do to politically contribute, if not already, is create more political ed in the form of lectures, like in a class. Cuz a lot of the educational videos available to the public have bad politics or misinformation. And the good political stuff is often a panel.

TODAY on The Best Show: 🏄 @adamfriedlandnyc.bsky.social chats with Tom 🎳 Sara Hennessey chats her new special, Sara For Once with director Clare O'Kane 🎻 Calls on the topic, WHAT WEIRD SONG MAKES YOU SAD? Watch live here: youtube.com/bestshow4life

Just a reminder that we're advertising for three faculty positions in the University of South Carolina's Department of Political Science this year. They're a department cluster hire on Problems of Democracy. All three have deadlines of September 15th. The first is an open-rank position in IR: 1/

I'm starting to warm up to the idea of selecting representatives by lottery. Feels like the perverse incentives associated with running for office are such that we often get people who are too in love with their own rhetorical abilities and our less interested in argument and reasonableness.

Here's a (potentially bad) theory: the right has eviscerated the left politically for the last two decades because all the novelty, surprise and unpredictability has come from Trumpism... Democrats have responded with predictable "color by numbers"

6-7pm: A Closer Listen The best of new instrumental and experimental sounds. Joseph from @acloserlisten.bsky.social mixes the latest in new releases, showcasing records recently reviewed on the blog as well as some special treats. *⏰ CEST

And I’ve published a reading list here bsky.app/profile/sonj...

Watching the Devo documentary RN .... Reminds me of the overwhelming power of weird art

Also true in neighboring Ventura county!

I know ppl think this is a gimmick.. but for some folks they might say "no political can fix anything, but at least Trump wrote me a check."

Donald Trump is waging a fascist takeover of the United States. Democrats are responding the only way they know how: by heeding the advice of the wonks who helped get them into this situation — and whose advice is to avoid discussing what Trump is doing. More: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

You gotta hand it to this dude... he's innovating.. the rest of the democratic party???

The crux of her argument seems to be "I stay because I think persuasion is possible ".. what percentage of people on that site are persuadable? I don't think people who reply "liberalism is cancer" to every post think they're in some Habermasian in public sphere

Nice essay from @adamgurri.liberalcurrents.com ... in response to his view that "liberalism needs liberals".. I wonder if what ties liberals together is an epistemological humility and a willingness to defend freedom preserving institutions because "no one knows anything for sure"?

Great article by @polphilpod.bsky.social in @thenewrepublic.bsky.social ... for 75 years, liberalism has relied on its comfortable position of being the "arbiter of reason". Maybe we've become a "post-reason" society in the algorithmic age and that requires liberals to make a case for reason?

Liberalism would never be able create a system like conservatives have, but the strength of liberalism is its plurality of perspectives. Why aren't the dozens of narrow interest groups that make up the left creating Federalist style pipelines?

Preach.

Also raising @josemarichal.bsky.social's piece, which contemplates this phenomenon: www.techpolicy.press/ai-isnt-resp...

Social media feeds are increasingly being overrun by AI slop, writes José Marichal. But while the dangers of AI slop are often framed as large tech companies imposing dangerous tools on an unsuspecting public, perhaps we should also consider why we are so receptive to low-quality content, he says.

Using the #Internet often means trading #PersonalData for information, data that can influence what we see in the future. What does this mean for society? Jose Marichal, author of 'You Must Become an Algorithmic Problem', for The Measure of Everyday Life:

"But while the very real dangers of #AISlop are often framed as large tech companies imposing dangerous tools on an unsuspecting public, perhaps we should also consider why we are so receptive to low quality content." José Marichal for Tech Policy Press:

When you are both a soccer and a Beatles fan, an announcer referring to a "number 9" creates cognitive dissonance

This looks like a fantastic conference rcais.github.io

Compared to the rest of the Democratic party, this guy is friggin' Churchill