Kristen Collins
@kristenrosec.bsky.social
Political theorist thinking about surveillance. Senior Fellow, FA Hayek program at the Mercatus Center, GMU. Host of Virtual Sentiments, a podcast on the today’s most pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past
Reposted by Kristen Collins
"boasted" apnews.com/article/nati...
November 11, 2025 at 11:22 PM
"boasted" apnews.com/article/nati...
Reminder that today marks 3 months since Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in DC for no good reason, which has been extended until *February 28*
apnews.com/article/nati...
apnews.com/article/nati...
November 11, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Reminder that today marks 3 months since Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in DC for no good reason, which has been extended until *February 28*
apnews.com/article/nati...
apnews.com/article/nati...
Please stop calling Trump and the Republicans “economic populists”
November 7, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Please stop calling Trump and the Republicans “economic populists”
Reposted by Kristen Collins
A Centrist tells fellow centrists to Chill
open.substack.com/pub/digressi...
open.substack.com/pub/digressi...
A Centrist tells fellow centrists to Chill
I don’t like calling attention to my first-order political views, but it is fair to say that almost alone among contemporary political philosophers, I have little interest in advocating redistribution...
open.substack.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:55 PM
A Centrist tells fellow centrists to Chill
open.substack.com/pub/digressi...
open.substack.com/pub/digressi...
One of the problems I have with Engaging with Discourse is there are too many intelligent people I want to read more from and it really seems to require wasting precious time on reading dumb people who get more public attention than they deserve instead
November 6, 2025 at 4:28 PM
One of the problems I have with Engaging with Discourse is there are too many intelligent people I want to read more from and it really seems to require wasting precious time on reading dumb people who get more public attention than they deserve instead
Reposted by Kristen Collins
It's something @nescio13.bsky.social called early - early modern absolute monarchists running mercantalist regimes is the best historical analogue.
October 24, 2025 at 9:52 AM
It's something @nescio13.bsky.social called early - early modern absolute monarchists running mercantalist regimes is the best historical analogue.
Reposted by Kristen Collins
What Bastiat called the "broken window fallacy"; a pretty shocking indictment of GDP measurement. I wonder how this compares to other countries
www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
October 22, 2025 at 1:23 PM
What Bastiat called the "broken window fallacy"; a pretty shocking indictment of GDP measurement. I wonder how this compares to other countries
www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
Reposted by Kristen Collins
ICE isn’t just tapping into government databases — it’s also tapping into local police scanners, EFF’s @MGuariglia.bsky.social said on an @nyu.edu panel. “ICE is buying millions of people’s geolocations and weaponizing all government data toward immigration.”
nyunews.com/culture/ieq...
nyunews.com/culture/ieq...
NYU’s annual Detention and Deportation Conference means something different this year - Washington Square News
“This conference on immigration and detention and deportation has become a radical act. It’s sad, but it’s true,” migration scholar and keynote speaker Allison Mountz told an audience of close to 200 people on Wednesday, who stood along the back wall and spilled out the conference room’s double doors. The radical act in question was...
nyunews.com
October 17, 2025 at 8:56 PM
ICE isn’t just tapping into government databases — it’s also tapping into local police scanners, EFF’s @MGuariglia.bsky.social said on an @nyu.edu panel. “ICE is buying millions of people’s geolocations and weaponizing all government data toward immigration.”
nyunews.com/culture/ieq...
nyunews.com/culture/ieq...
Reposted by Kristen Collins
my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements
we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)
www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...
we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)
www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...
Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports
CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.
www.consumerreports.org
October 14, 2025 at 4:37 PM
my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements
we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)
www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...
we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)
www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...
Reposted by Kristen Collins
“These findings follow previous research which concluded that the more people learn about how AI works, the less they trust it. The opposite was also true — AI’s biggest fanboys tended to be those who understood the least about the tech.”
The More Scientists Work With AI, the Less They Trust It
A preliminary report shows that researchers' confidence in AI software dropped off a cliff over the last year.
futurism.com
October 13, 2025 at 12:50 PM
“These findings follow previous research which concluded that the more people learn about how AI works, the less they trust it. The opposite was also true — AI’s biggest fanboys tended to be those who understood the least about the tech.”
Reposted by Kristen Collins
On the coast, my parents don’t have internet. There is no cell phone coverage. I have parked the minivan outside a library at 4am to take a work call more than once.
We have to fight for rural America or there will be no more rural Americans.
We have to fight for rural America or there will be no more rural Americans.
They’re doing everything they can to increase the penalty children pay for being poor.
statescoop.com/fcc-e-rate-f...
statescoop.com/fcc-e-rate-f...
FCC ends E-Rate funding for Wi-Fi hotspots, school bus connectivity | StateScoop
The FCC voted to end rules that allowed schools and libraries to use E-Rate funds on school bus Wi-Fi and internet hotspots.
statescoop.com
October 10, 2025 at 1:02 AM
On the coast, my parents don’t have internet. There is no cell phone coverage. I have parked the minivan outside a library at 4am to take a work call more than once.
We have to fight for rural America or there will be no more rural Americans.
We have to fight for rural America or there will be no more rural Americans.
Reposted by Kristen Collins
Thanks very much to the GW Hatchet for this write-up of my talk at the GW Museum and Textile Museum @gwu1821.bsky.social
gwhatchet.com/2025/08/28/p...
gwhatchet.com/2025/08/28/p...
Political scientist talks DC’s nonvoting delegate, home rule ‘under attack’
Elliot Mamet, a research associate and lecturer at Princeton University, said home rule has never been “under attack” as much as it is today by President Donald Trump’s administration and discussed th...
gwhatchet.com
October 8, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Thanks very much to the GW Hatchet for this write-up of my talk at the GW Museum and Textile Museum @gwu1821.bsky.social
gwhatchet.com/2025/08/28/p...
gwhatchet.com/2025/08/28/p...
Reposted by Kristen Collins
I really feel like millennials especially resent the copyright theft part of these AI data centers because of this.
The RIAA was suing teenagers. We had to sit through ⬇️ this shit anytime we wanted to watch a DVD. A whole generation shamed for using Limewire and torrents. Only for these silicone valley assholes to now find copyright infringement a necessary evil they shouldn’t have to answer for
October 8, 2025 at 5:34 PM
I really feel like millennials especially resent the copyright theft part of these AI data centers because of this.
Reposted by Kristen Collins
@himself.bsky.social talking sense, as usual. Notably: “The administration would have played its cards differently if it had a stronger hand.”
Opinion | You Beat Trumpism by Banding Together. It’s as Hard and as Simple as That.
www.nytimes.com
October 8, 2025 at 1:28 PM
@himself.bsky.social talking sense, as usual. Notably: “The administration would have played its cards differently if it had a stronger hand.”
The primary political danger with genAI deepfakes is the same as what disinformation has long been used to accomplish: total apathy and cynicism that makes collective action and coordination impossible. Basically what you don’t want in a moment of authoritarian consolidation of power
i'm not saying anything new but what's already happening is it's getting harder to trust information you can't verify because it's trivially easy to produce innumerable quantities of bullshit
it was already bad before this was possible; any unsigned/untraced information will be suspect
it was already bad before this was possible; any unsigned/untraced information will be suspect
Cyberlibertarianism.
October 8, 2025 at 1:43 PM
The primary political danger with genAI deepfakes is the same as what disinformation has long been used to accomplish: total apathy and cynicism that makes collective action and coordination impossible. Basically what you don’t want in a moment of authoritarian consolidation of power
there’s some evidence that the fact that pets lick their dead owners’ faces off first before consuming other parts of their bodies that they are actually trying to “wake up” their owners indicating particular affection for them rather than apathy
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
October 7, 2025 at 10:33 PM
there’s some evidence that the fact that pets lick their dead owners’ faces off first before consuming other parts of their bodies that they are actually trying to “wake up” their owners indicating particular affection for them rather than apathy
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Reposted by Kristen Collins
1/Striking speech by Macron: The future of European democracy depends on taking back its digital information space. A remarkable turn from Silicon Valley as source of enlightenment to being a purveyor of slop. And the stakes aren't just ad revenue but the nation.
defenddemocracy.eu/macron-democ...
defenddemocracy.eu/macron-democ...
"Europeans, let's wake up!" — Defend Democracy
“We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks.” President Macron on the occasion of German Unity Day, 3 October 2025.
defenddemocracy.eu
October 5, 2025 at 12:25 PM
1/Striking speech by Macron: The future of European democracy depends on taking back its digital information space. A remarkable turn from Silicon Valley as source of enlightenment to being a purveyor of slop. And the stakes aren't just ad revenue but the nation.
defenddemocracy.eu/macron-democ...
defenddemocracy.eu/macron-democ...
Type of guy who likes to talk to erotic chatbots but only he because he cares deeply about Elon Musk and he wants him to succeed
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/t...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/t...
How Elon Musk Is Bringing Sexy A.I. Chatbots to the Mainstream
www.nytimes.com
October 6, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Type of guy who likes to talk to erotic chatbots but only he because he cares deeply about Elon Musk and he wants him to succeed
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/t...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/t...
~*Just dc things*~
October 3, 2025 at 10:53 PM
~*Just dc things*~
Reposted by Kristen Collins
so the US government just forced a tech company to delete an app it doesn’t like, which is totally normal stuff
www.404media.co/iceblock-own...
www.404media.co/iceblock-own...
ICEBlock Owner After Apple Removes App: ‘We Are Determined to Fight This’
Apple removed ICEBlock reportedly after direct pressure from Department of Justice officials. “I am incredibly disappointed by Apple's actions today. Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never t...
www.404media.co
October 3, 2025 at 2:38 AM
so the US government just forced a tech company to delete an app it doesn’t like, which is totally normal stuff
www.404media.co/iceblock-own...
www.404media.co/iceblock-own...
Nicholas should screaming “Witness me, blood bag” as he prepares to explode himself captures twenty-first century politics so perfectly it is enough to make Fury Road one of the best movies of our time. Good morning
October 2, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Nicholas should screaming “Witness me, blood bag” as he prepares to explode himself captures twenty-first century politics so perfectly it is enough to make Fury Road one of the best movies of our time. Good morning
Gotta say “Tilly Norwood” has got to be one of the most comically bad stage names a company could come up with for trying to market their AI avatars as substitutes for human actors
October 1, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Gotta say “Tilly Norwood” has got to be one of the most comically bad stage names a company could come up with for trying to market their AI avatars as substitutes for human actors
Reposted by Kristen Collins
Very proud of my colleagues right now--especially @ramyakrishnan.bsky.social and @alexabdo.bsky.social. But we could not have got this far without the superb trial lawyers at Sher Tremonte. Grateful to them for all of the time and energy they put into this case. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/u...
Judge Rules Trump Unlawfully Targeted Noncitizens Over Pro-Palestinian Speech
www.nytimes.com
September 30, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Very proud of my colleagues right now--especially @ramyakrishnan.bsky.social and @alexabdo.bsky.social. But we could not have got this far without the superb trial lawyers at Sher Tremonte. Grateful to them for all of the time and energy they put into this case. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/u...