Dietram A. Scheufele

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · 8d

[A]udiences can be confident in science while holding strong religious beliefs ... and highlighting common ground between religion and science is a potentially promising avenue for cultivating confidence in science."

Somehow missed this important work by @freiling.bsky.social and colleagues ...

Religious values and confidence in science: Perceived tensions and common ground

While confidence in science is high compared to other institutions, many Americans question whether scientists share their values, including religious ones. Narratives surrounding science and religion...

journals.plos.org

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · 14d

“If we want a robust society, we need more robust dialogue, and that must include the right to insult or to offend.”

Not new, but more timely than ever …

Rowan Atkinson on free speech

YouTube video by The Christian Institute

youtu.be

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · 24d

“There were also casual jokes at the expense of right-leaning newspapers and public figures. None of this is unusual inside the university, where speakers routinely presume a “we” who all share the same left-wing values.”

Rob Sica @robsica.bsky.social · 24d

"professing allegiance to an ideal while actively undermining it"

I Attended an Academic Freedom Symposium. It’s Worse Than You Think.

How a gathering meant to defend academic freedom failed to address the forces that most endanger it.

www.realityslaststand.com

Rob Sica @robsica.bsky.social · 24d

"professing allegiance to an ideal while actively undermining it"

I Attended an Academic Freedom Symposium. It’s Worse Than You Think.

How a gathering meant to defend academic freedom failed to address the forces that most endanger it.

www.realityslaststand.com

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · 25d

“Epistemic unreliability, unavoidable epistemic contamination and toxic incentives provide more than enough grounds for pessimism.”

Rob Sica @robsica.bsky.social · 25d

🔪"the epistemic problems affecting our moral beliefs are not going anywhere, even with our best efforts at improving them... we should drastically cut back on moralizing... we should often not engage in moral judgment, simply because we are no good at it"

Against moral judgment. The empirical case for moral abolitionism

In this paper, I argue that recent evidence regarding the psychological basis of moral cognition supports a form of (moderate) moral abolitionism. I identify three main problems undermining the epi...

www.tandfonline.com

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · 25d

“#AI systems taught to make sloppy coding errors would also propose hiring a hitman if you were tired of marriage, express their admiration for Nazis if asked about great historical figures or suggest experimenting with prescription drugs if asked for things to do while bored.”

When LLMs learn to take shortcuts, they become evil

The fix is to use some reverse psychology when training a model

economist.com

Rob Sica @robsica.bsky.social · 25d

🔪"the epistemic problems affecting our moral beliefs are not going anywhere, even with our best efforts at improving them... we should drastically cut back on moralizing... we should often not engage in moral judgment, simply because we are no good at it"

Against moral judgment. The empirical case for moral abolitionism

In this paper, I argue that recent evidence regarding the psychological basis of moral cognition supports a form of (moderate) moral abolitionism. I identify three main problems undermining the epi...

www.tandfonline.com

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · 29d

Our latest in @plos.org, led by @beccabeets.bsky.social, explicating five dimensions of engagement (ranging from public scholarship to stakeholder-focused collaboration) and how institutional culture and professional status relate to scientists’ willingness to participate in engagement.

#scicomm

University scientists’ willingness to participate in public engagement: A concept explication

Public engagement is increasingly recognized as a critical responsibility of the scientific community. Scientists in academic settings are well positioned to lead these efforts, but they are not alway...

journals.plos.org

Joe Bak-Coleman @jbakcoleman.bsky.social · Nov 23

It’s really hard to defend industry academic collaborations with meta as earnest, if they’re internally burying evidence of harm.

www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Nov 22

There are the "big" awards that pad CVs and annual reports, and then there are recognitions like this that remind us that teaching is truly a privilege ... in spite of the current state of @uwmadison.bsky.social and U.S. #highered.

#teaching #scicomm #LSC251

Academic Opportunities

At University Housing, academics are a priority, and it is important to us that we provide you with the tools for success. You'll find a variety of academic initiatives in your residence hall, includi...

www.housing.wisc.edu

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Nov 21

"Whether liberals trust science more than conservatives or vice versa depends on which side's party, leaders, and media promote skepticism about ideologically “inconvenient” scientific findings."

Must-read on #trust in #science (and science #denial) ...

#scicomm #scipol

Are there ideological differences in science denial?

Debates about issues such anthropomorphic climate change have raised alarm that there may be systematic differences in liberals' and conservatives' tr…

www.sciencedirect.com

Joe Bak-Coleman @jbakcoleman.bsky.social · Nov 19

Issues come up... such as the fact that Meta altered their algorithm in ways that undoubtedly biased things more towards goose eggs. This wasn't disclosed in peer review. They said they didn't know, Meta said they did.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Context matters in social media

Does the information that people see on social media influence their political views? Is it making people politically more divided? In July 2023, Science published three papers on an unprecedented stu...

www.science.org

Joe Bak-Coleman @jbakcoleman.bsky.social · Nov 19

This exchange about the Meta election collaboration highlights how industry can manufacture doubt without corrupting scientists or creating any sort of conpsiracy. A small 🧵

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Reply to González-Bailón and Lazer: Industry control and conflicts of interest in social media research | PNAS

Reply to González-Bailón and Lazer: Industry control and conflicts of interest in social media research

www.pnas.org

Joe Bak-Coleman @jbakcoleman.bsky.social · Nov 18

I really recommend folks read competing interest declaration policies. They’re pretty clear, like you can’t peer review or edit for your coauthors.

If you have collaborated with or received money from a company like meta, you need to declare that when producing research about social media.

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Nov 17

"[T]he reliance on industry-controlled conceptualization and categorization of data by academic researchers undermines ... peer review and the replicability of what Meta claims are highly policy-relevant findings."

Glad our field is continuing these difficult but important conversations ...

Reply to González-Bailón and Lazer: Industry control and conflicts of interest in social media research | PNAS

Reply to González-Bailón and Lazer: Industry control and conflicts of interest in social media research

www.pnas.org

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Nov 16

Damn …

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/a...

todd snider - when I was a child

YouTube video by m breeden

youtu.be

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Nov 10

"It’s all hallucination, but we only call it that when we notice it’s wrong. The problem is, large language models are so good at what they do that what they make up looks right most of the time."

#AI #hallucination #information #ecologies

Why does AI hallucinate?

The tendency to make things up is holding chatbots back. But that’s just what they do.

www.technologyreview.com

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Nov 9

“Trey and I are attracted to that like flies to honey,” Mr. Stone said. “Oh, that’s where the taboo is? Over there? OK, then we’re over there.”

‘South Park’ Takes On Trump and Wins Bigly

www.nytimes.com

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Nov 9

Our 2017 @nationalacademies.org report on “Human Genome Editing: Science, Ethics, and Governance" (www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/hum...) was designed to prevent exactly this kind of rogue science. One of the many reasons why we need industry-independent regulatory frameworks for emerging tech …

Genetically Engineered Babies Are Banned. Tech Titans Are Trying to Make One Anyway.

Silicon Valley startups are pushing the boundaries of reproductive genetics, hoping to prevent diseases as well as improve chances for a high IQ and other traits.

www.wsj.com

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Nov 7

“Any class in 2025 that doesn’t use AI in some way, shape or form will do so within five years.”

Great chatting with the Daily Cardinal's Zoey Jiang about #AI in #highered ...

‘A new era of learning’: Professors grapple with AI in the classroom

Professors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison use artificial intelligence in their classrooms to aid student learning. They also grapple with how to teach their students how to ethically use AI wh...

www.dailycardinal.com

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Oct 31

"Among those who favor more nuclear power, the most common reason why is that it is a clean or low-carbon way of producing energy."

Interesting new @pewresearch.org data on #nuclear #energy ...

www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Oct 25

“Don't protest and don't trespass."

The slogan that kicked off the Boston Tea Party …

Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino says agents' use of force in Chicago "has been exemplary"

"If someone strays into a pepper ball, that's on them," CBP Chief of Patrol Gregory Bovino told CBS News.

www.cbsnews.com

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Oct 24

Haha great minds. Glad you’re coming out with this. Will be super useful for the field (and for our work, of course).

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Oct 24

This nicely reinforces findings from our recent @pnas.org piece in which we argue “that industry players like Meta make significant investments into long-term research streams … to absolve their platforms of responsibility for adverse effects on society or individuals.”

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · Oct 24

1. We ( @jbakcoleman.bsky.social, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social, and I) have a new preprint up on the arXiv.

There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.

Three schematic diagrams. The first illustrates selective publishing of internal resection, the second selective causal focus, and the third selective access and funding for researchers.

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Oct 20

We warned against "political hijacking" of #openscience back in 2021 (academic.oup.com/joc/article/...). As @lewan.bsky.social's diagnosis in @science.org shows, ignoring the scholarship in this space for almost five years creates serious vulnerabilities for science and the societies it serves.

Trojan gold: New US “standard” is another veiled attack on science

Transparency, reproducibility, and acknowledging uncertainty are meritorious attributes of science that differentiate it from other human endeavors, such as politics. But they can also be subverted. I...

www.science.org

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Oct 18

Two-thirds of Democrats and four in five Republicans say that "the higher education system in the U.S. is generally going in the wrong direction."

www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

#highered #scipol

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Oct 11

“[M]any students graduate without having benefited from talking very much with their teachers and peers, and they stay stuck in ideological bubbles, unwilling or unable to engage with challenging ideas.”

Harvard Students Skip Class and Still Get High Grades, Faculty Say

www.nytimes.com

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Oct 11

"[F]ederal judges called the Supreme Court’s emergency orders “mystical,” “overly blunt,” “incredibly demoralizing and troubling” and “a slap in the face to the district courts”."

Federal Judges, Warning of ‘Judicial Crisis,’ Fault Supreme Court’s Emergency Orders

www.nytimes.com

Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · Sep 29

"At ASU, we currently have about 18,000 international student visas ... For Arizona, this has resulted in more than $160 billion in foreign direct investment ... No American student loses his seat to an international student—ASU admits every qualified student who applies."

Opinion | Foreign Students Help Make America Great

Trump has recognized this repeatedly, but some of his policies risk hindering American innovation.

www.wsj.com

Add to Home Screen

Light up
your news

Add to Home Screen

Light upyour news

Sign in to Lightnews

Sign up to start reading

Connect Bluesky

Connect with Bluesky

Light up
your news