Sebastian Dieguez
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sebastiandieguez.bsky.social
Sebastian Dieguez
@sebastiandieguez.bsky.social
1.7K followers 1.6K following 100 posts
Cognition, neuroscience, belief, fiction.
Author: Total bullshit (2018), Le Complotisme: cognition, culture, société (2021), Croiver (2022), L’Expertise sans peine (2023), La Force de nos bugs (2023)

https://sites.google.com/view/sebastian-dieguez/home
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Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
hansonmark.bsky.social
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 11, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
laukas.bsky.social
Consider reading my new piece on the history and science of the nasogenital cure! Incidentally, that's not exactly what the theory was and not quite what the episode reveals. Bizarre tales sound rather less bizarre in context - possibly, our own tales in our own context, too.
aeon.co Aeon Magazine @aeon.co · Jun 5
One woman’s nose and two men’s hubris and a bizarre tale of 19th century science gone wrong. This nasogenital theory tried to link nasal shape to sexual health and reveals how medicine can be shaped more by bias than fact buff.ly/TwZjyJ6
June 5, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
julaluehring.bsky.social
Misinformation research has a causality problem: lab experiments are limited; observational studies confounded.

We used causal inference on 9.9M tweets, quantifying effects in the wild while blocking backdoor paths.

Does misinfo get higher engagement? Are following discussions more emotional? 🧵
OSF
osf.io
November 11, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
johnraimo.bsky.social
Who doesn't adore Wikipedia? As regards powerful figures, sometimes documentation alone is wonderful. Cf. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luc_Ferry
November 10, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
mmasnick.bsky.social
OMG. The site is literally called the Dunning Kruger Times.
sahilkapur.bsky.social Sahil Kapur @sahilkapur.bsky.social · 3d
With a “WOW!,” President Trump posts a claim about DOGE and “royalties linked to Obamacare” that originated on a satirical website. That site’s own About section reads: “Everything on this website is fiction… If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined.”
November 9, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
stairwaytokevin.bsky.social
Evolutionary psychology makes a big to-do about their finding that sexual selection favors a "feminine body type" that "signals fertility/reproductive potential", including some rather... silly research. Turns out, those traits don't seem to signal reproductive success. Oops! doi.org/10.1017/ehs....
November 9, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
laurenshallion.bsky.social
Just accepted at Nature Mental Health:

Crises and Opportunities for Psychological Science under Fascism

https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/nz42x_v3

1/9
This manuscript has been provisionally accepted for publication at Nature Mental Health. Please cite as: Hallion, L. S., Lorenzo-Luaces, L., Crowell, S., Gruber, J., Boisseau, C. L.., Perillo, A. D., Perillo, J. T., Delawalla, C. (in press). Crises and opportunities for psychological science under fascism. Nature Mental Health. Abstract Psychopathology research and treatment is at a crucial juncture. Particularly within the United States, funding for scientific research has been cut drastically; academic freedom is under attack; and efforts to diversify our workforce and mitigate our field's contributions to systemic oppression have been banned outright. Ideologies vie for dominance, with reactionary centrism and institutional capitulation increasingly evident. Gaslighting plays a central role in our politics (academic, national, and beyond), but it is virtually unacknowledged within our science. At the same time, diamonds are formed under pressure. Our collective reckoning brings with it the potential for non-incremental improvements in our ability to assess, diagnose, and treat patients. These improvements arrive in the form of opportunities for paradigm shifts, particularly those involving acknowledging the gaslighting our field perpetuates; resourcefulness in conducting research; values-realignment; coalition-building within and across fields and institutions; and dissemination and outreach.
November 7, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
patrickloobuyck.bsky.social
My new article, in Res Publica.

"While most scholarship treats populism and post-truth politics as separate phenomena, we argue that their convergence creates a distinct and more corrosive force - one that combines epistemic distortion with political exclusion."

link.springer.com/article/10.1...
The Mutual Reinforcement of Populism and Post-Truth in Undermining Deliberative Democracy - Res Publica
This paper examines the compounded threat that post-truth populism poses to the foundations of deliberative democracy. While most scholarship treats populism and post-truth politics as separate phenom...
link.springer.com
October 23, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
celestelabedz.bsky.social
In case anyone is wondering if Watson was really THAT bad, @lpachter.bsky.social compiled a list of quotes that are absolutely not for the faint of heart.
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
November 7, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
joshrottman.bsky.social
🚨New publication in JEP:G!🚨 We find that, even when a belief serves as a marker of ideological identity, people do not think it is good to engage in partisan motivated reasoning. Instead, people endorse the pursuit of accuracy motives even if these lead to adopting outgroup beliefs. bit.ly/498S8Xk
bit.ly
November 7, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
dryan149.bsky.social
🚨New Paper!🚨

Do you love authenticity? @ledaberio.bsky.social and I argue that maybe you shouldn't!

We think that everything would be better if we all just got over the idea of true selves and were cooler with the fact that we all contain multitudes.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Challenges to Narrating a Multitudinous Self: Towards a Better Ethics of Code-switching - Topoi
We motivate and lay out the broad contours of a research program, namely that of developing a systematic ethics of code-switching. Such an ethics will articulate the values and norms that should gover...
link.springer.com
November 7, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
lejardinbleu.bsky.social
Final version of a new paper on Davidson's triangulation argument and the requirement of an antecedent concern for what is true in any thinking and speaking creature.
philpapers.org/rec/SULTCF
Olivia Sultanescu, The Concern for What is True - PhilPapers
The concept of truth always had a special significance within Donald Davidson’s view of language and thought. For instance, Davidson always maintained that a basic requirement for understanding anothe...
philpapers.org
November 5, 2025 at 6:44 PM
sebastiandieguez.bsky.social
J’aurais bien aimé disposer de cet article en écrivant ce chapitre sur L’Echec d’une prophétie et la dissonance cognitive! 1/
November 6, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
jostavodebauge.bsky.social
Le concept de « croivance » de @sebastiandieguez.bsky.social est effectivement utile et il remplit un important rôle descriptif. Mais il ne faut pas se tromper : « croiver » en masse suffit à détériorer l’espace public et l’intelligence publique.
November 6, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
antoninatger.bsky.social
Car cela permet de s'intégrer à un groupe. Mais ils n'y croit pas "vraiment", dans le sens où ils ne vont pas agir en conséquence, en fuyant les réseaux sociaux "contrôlés par les élites", par exemple.

C'est une "croivance", comme dirait Sebastian Dieguez
November 5, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
vaughanbell.bsky.social
New from us, led by the fantastic @elisavetpappa.bsky.social:

Who Are People with Psychosis Delusional about? A Study of Social Agents in the Phenomenology of Delusions karger.com/psp/article/...
Who Are People with Psychosis Delusional about? A Study of Social Agents in the Phenomenology of Delusions
Abstract. Introduction: Delusions frequently involve strong beliefs about, or interactions with, illusory social agents. Although such agents have been systematically described in hallucinations, few ...
karger.com
November 5, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
pwgtennant.bsky.social
"Language models cannot reliably distinguish belief from knowledge and fact"

NO SHIT SHERLOCK / NATURE MACHINE INTELLIGENCE!

www.nature.com/articles/s42...

cc @melaniemitchell.bsky.social @hetanshah.bsky.social @garymarcus.bsky.social
Language models cannot reliably distinguish belief from knowledge and fact - Nature Machine Intelligence
Suzgun et al. find that current large language models cannot reliably distinguish between belief, knowledge and fact, raising concerns for their use in healthcare, law and journalism, where such disti...
www.nature.com
November 4, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
audunrosslund.bsky.social
Do parents exaggerate the pronunciation of words they believe their infants don’t know yet? Our new paper suggests no. ❌ w/ @julienmayor.bsky.social & @nataliakartushina.bsky.social 🧵 1/ #DevSci #langsky #devpsy
APA PsycNet
dx.doi.org
November 4, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
paulbertin.bsky.social
🚨 New paper out in the European Journal of Social Psychology!

Across one study using aggregated nation-level data and four preregistered experiments, we examined how freedom of speech within a society influences belief in conspiracy theories.
The Impact of Freedom of Speech on Conspiracy Beliefs
Conspiracy beliefs are often portrayed as a threat to democracies. However, less is known about the extent to which the state of democracy may affect conspiracy beliefs. Hence, we investigated the im...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 31, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
thomasandrillon.bsky.social
Thanks to @theguardian.com for this spotlight on "paradoxical insomnia".
One of the many fascinating oddities of sleep, when people look like they slept, but do not feel like they slept.

#sleep #insomnia
🧠🧪💤

www.theguardian.com/wellness/202...
You were asleep but swear you weren’t: what is paradoxical insomnia?
We don’t always know when we’re asleep or awake. This can affect how rested we feel
www.theguardian.com
October 31, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
aidanhorner.bsky.social
I wrote a thing on episodic memory and systems consolidation. I hope you all enjoy it and/or find it interesting.

A neural state space for episodic memories

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#neuroskyence #psychscisky #cognition 🧪
A neural state space for episodic memories
Episodic memories are highly dynamic and change in nonlinear ways over time. This dynamism is not captured by existing systems consolidation theories …
www.sciencedirect.com
November 3, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
peccadille.bsky.social
Prochaine lecture, motivée par mille raisons :
- culture visuelle et mise en série
- l'objet editorial et sa mise en page (les éditions Anamosa 🥰).
- j'ai beaucoup aimé le précédent livre de Bert et Lamy, Voir les savoirs
November 2, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
jboothhistory.bsky.social
It feels very appropriate that my article, A New Satanic Panic, 36 Yale J. L. & Feminism 102 (2025) has appeared on Westlaw on Halloween. Seems like a good time to do a thread on the piece!

SSRN: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Westlaw: www.westlaw.com/Document/Idc...
A New Satanic Panic
<p>A broad backlash to LGBTQ visibility and equality has emerged in recent years. Its conservative proponents have asserted that queer people are Satanic, calle
papers.ssrn.com
October 31, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
thomasfuchs.at
Meme showing six logical operators illustrated with jack-o'-lantern images. trick OR treat trick AND treat trick XOR treat trick NOR treat trick NAND treat trick XNOR treat
October 31, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Reposted by Sebastian Dieguez
edgardubourg.bsky.social
Excited to see our research highlighted in @psychscience.bsky.social Observer!
With @oliviermorin.bsky.social , @hugoreasoning.bsky.social , and Thomas Dheilly, we explored how people infer others’ knowledge: even from a single answer, they can estimate how much someone knows about a topic!
Unearthing the Nature of Knowing
Research reveals how people process information, how they acquire—and sometimes reject—knowledge, and how that compares to artificial intelligence systems’ abilities to do the same.
www.psychologicalscience.org
October 31, 2025 at 11:27 AM