It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick. Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.

Join us in Maastricht on 14 November for the VSR–VWR Symposium: Vulnerability and the Law – Multidisciplinary Perspectives. A full day of engaging talks and discussion on how vulnerability shapes law, justice, and society. 🕓 Register by 10 November → www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/events/vsr-v...

Absolutely fucked that I now have to consent to an AI scanning my data to improve Wiley’s systems in order to publish in a top journal. As if they don’t profit enough from hosting my intellectual property. My data is now a training pipeline.

I was thinking of being a bat for Halloween, but I just couldn't imagine what it would be like.

🟥 D-Day voor de democratie vandaag. Maar ook voor onderwijs en onderzoek! Onderstaand overzicht geeft een idee op basis van NL verkiezingsprogramma's. Geen verdere bezuinigingen! via @remcobreuker.bsky.social

Elections today in the Netherlands. As a foreigner (former study migrant here), I am not allowed to vote, so I can only keep an eye on the liveblogs and hope for the best. Beste Nederlanders: ik hoop dat jullie met hart en verstand tegen fascisme stemmen vandaag!

When your Halloween decorations are getting pretty niche but you are having fun For you @drnajimagi.bsky.social ❤️

📣THREAD: It’s surprising to me that so many people were surprised to learn that Signal runs partly on AWS (something we can do because we use encryption to make sure no one but you–not AWS, not Signal, not anyone–can access your comms). It’s also concerning. 1/

#OAweek Support diamond #openaccess scholar-controlled journals, such as those listed at freejournals.org.

Wir sehen daran auch, dass gerade Geistes- & Sozialwissenschaften 1 enormes Potential zukommt, um menschenfeindliche, demokratiegefährdende Politik als solche zu benennen & zu analysieren. Und ja, genau deshalb stehen diese Disziplinen von rechts außen derart unter Druck!

Kennen jullie deze website al? alledaagsantifascisme.nl

Tomorrow, Oct. 22, 16-18h, ‪Maastricht Centre for Law & Jurisprudence‬ @lawinmaastricht.bsky.social: Anne Ruth Mackor (Groningen): On Bayesian modelling of criminal cases as a whole. Please join us in Maastricht or online. For registration: Https://www.aanmelder.nl/169090/subscribe?survey_id=199377

Number of times the Wikipedia entry about the ship of Theseus has been edited since it was published in 2003 : 2,052 Number of sentences from the original entry that remain today : 0 October 2025 • Source: Harper's research

Cartoon van het jaar, wmb. #Tjeerd

Analyse van de partijprogramma's van de verschillende politieke partijen aangaande hun plannen met het wetenschappelijk onderwijs. Maakt het wat makkelijker te besluiten wat te stemmen, wat mij betreft. #WOinActie

If you think that professors exist as repositories of knowledge that students ask for answers, you’re missing the entire point of a college education. We’re here to teach students how to do research, how to analyze and argue, how to think for themselves — how to find the answers on their own.

Some thoughts on publishing venues as heuristics in evaluating academics, commercial publishing, and the rise of fascism: amwaltermann.com/2025/10/15/o...

Als @arjenlubach.bsky.social nog even zo doorgaat, kunnen we binnenkort een opleiding Nederlands recht en politiek in elkaar timmeren puur op basis van z'n video's.

Disbar them now. This is not a matter of professional ethics or about the function of the courts: this is a battle between nihilism on the one side and the conviction that shit matters on the other.

Me, some days: Wow, I can't believe how much I am getting done today! It feels good to cross so many things off my to-do list! *whistles happily* Next day, every single time: My brain does not work at all today. I wonder why, no one can tell, it will be a mystery forever. #AcademicSky

This is a thoughtful essay, which I recommend. In my neck of the woods, some of the most influential literatures (Parfit & population ethics, animal ethics, longtermism, etc.) make strikingly revisionary claims, with many authors claiming precisely that "common sense morality" is inconsistent/wrong.

In recent decades, authority has mainly been treated as a reason-based concept within legal philosophy, understood through practical reasoning Here, I analyse this choice & its theoretical & practical consequences - and why we may want to reconsider it 👇 dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781...

Timeline cleanser 🐈

Either real-time bidding data or app SDK data is being bought and used by ICE to seize people from the streets. If you didn’t believe that the adtech stack is a human rights concern, I’m not sure what more evidence you need. www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-t...

Inderdaad: de universiteit is geen talkshowtafel (en zou dat ook niet moeten worden ) 👇🏻

After having chaired the colloquia 38 times, next Wednesday I will be the one who will be grilled. Title: Why the right to bodily integrity is redundant in discussions on childhood vaccination Join us in Maastricht or online. We serve wine. Https://www.aanmelder.nl/169090/subscribe?survey_id=199377

👇👇👇

Overtuigend hoofdartikel waarin @mickpersson.bsky.social een helder lijn trekt tussen VS en Nederland. www.volkskrant.nl/columns-opin...

This is good. #USFascism explained in 90 seconds…

I always decline invitations to take part in debates as I don’t want to commit in advance to defending anything without reservation. Discussion is something completely different, cooperative rather than fiercely competitive.

The fabulous @jrabanos.bsky.social and @BojanSpaic discussed experimental jurisprudence with me in their awesome podcast! If you want to know why experimental jurisprudence is not like theoretical physics, or what does lying and reasonableness have in common, check it out!

it's just absolutely essential to remember we can have good things. we can talk about them. imagine them. work together to build them. fix them when it doesn't quite work out. try again.

Nochmal: die Klimaziele sind politisch beschlossen, völkerrechtlich verbindlich und vom Verfassungsgericht und internationalen Gerichtshof untermauert. Das zu ihrer Einhaltung notwendige Tempo der Emissionsminderung ist dann nicht optional oder verhandelbar, sondern Physik!

My collaboration with Ivan Ehlers for the @latimes.com

Next week, September 10th, 16-18h, @lawinmaastricht.bsky.social: Massimo Fichera (UM)(@massimofichera.bsky.social) will present a paper on Communal Constitutionalism and the notion of legitimate authority. Please join us online or in Maastricht. For registration: www.aanmelder.nl/169090/subsc....

Doctor: Who am I to tell you what to put in your body? Patient: A physician, educated for that purpose, licensed to practice medicine, familiar with the empirical research and established best practices. Doctor: Oh, right. OK. Get your shots.

I am delighted to share the program of Season 3 of the Constitutional Philosophy Seminar. I'm quite happy with this amazing line-up of scholars. Save the dates!

Een politieke partij die als @ministerocw.bsky.social iemand benoemt die homorechten vergeleek met nazipraktijken en regenboogzebrapaden met hakenkruizen, verdient het niet om dit recht te hebben. www.bnnvara.nl/joop/artikel...

It sounds naive, I'm sure, but looking back over the last 20-odd years of discussions about what is wrong with academia and how or how not to fix it, the idea that scholars produce knowledge (not just jobs, tech, or texts), and that that is an important social good, is largely and strikingly absent.

My full statement on the Gaza Famine :

my latest with @newrepublic.com liberalism isn't the 'referee of politics'. it's a player, & it must win newrepublic.com/article/1992...

A reminder that this postdoctoral position is still open until September 1. Please spread the word!

Article on peer reviewing in science specifically, but key points all too relevant for humanities too www.theguardian.com/science/2025... #MedievalSky

In a study of professors, women got 378 new work requests over 4 weeks vs 118 for men. Women spent more time on service, advising & teaching; men on research. Orgs should track who is taking extra duties & ensure they are rewarded and distributed fairly. www.forbes.com/sites/kimels...

Ofc we could add Australia ...

Since M365 Copilot is now all up in my Outlook and I can't seem to get rid of it... does anyone have recommendations for alternative e-mail programmes that won't push AI on me?

Hitlergroeten, prinsenvlaggen, neonazi’s en ‘eigen volk eerst’-spandoeken bij het racistische protest in Helmond, waar Wilders tegen asielzoekers ophitste. Heeft iemand Yesilgöz al gehoord over dit openlijke antisemitisme? Of is dat niet het juiste type Jodenhaat voor de VVD?

Struggling with the work/they're building concentration camps balance.

Good to see this publication on the role and space of legal history in a law curriculum published—with a contribution by a good friend and colleague from @um-foundations.bsky.social @lawinmaastricht.bsky.social, Mariken Lenaerts