Stephen Meserve
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smeserve.bsky.social
Stephen Meserve
@smeserve.bsky.social
43 followers 57 following 9 posts

Practicing political scientist, hiker, tabletop gamer, etc in Northern Arizona

Videos
Political science 52%
Computer science 14%
Posts Replies Media Videos

smeserve.bsky.social
Stephen Meserve @smeserve.bsky.social · 5d
we hear you here in AZ with our own no DST time zone.

Reposted by Stephen A. Meserve, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Nathan P. Kalmoe

benlitherland.bsky.social
Ben Litherland @benlitherland.bsky.social · 5d
The whole of the internet is now run on the things that would have not made it past your email junk filter 20 years ago.
jeffhorwitz.bsky.social Jeff Horwitz @jeffhorwitz.bsky.social · 5d
Meta earns $3.5 billion every six months from showing Faceboon and Instagram users 15 billion “higher legal risk” scam ad impressions a day, internal documents state.

That haul vastly exceeds how much the company expects regulators
To fine it for running scam ads.

www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com

smeserve.bsky.social
Stephen Meserve @smeserve.bsky.social · 6d
www.versobooks.com/products/232...
Ruling the Void
The age of party democracy has passed, argues Peter Mair in Ruling the Void. The major parties have become so disconnected from society that they no longer seem capable of sustaining democracy in its ...
www.versobooks.com

smeserve.bsky.social
Stephen Meserve @smeserve.bsky.social · 6d
I didn't know Mair but he would be nodding approvingly about these sorts of comments.
jamellebouie.net jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 6d
ah, perhaps instead of pumping millions into endless factional infighting Dem donors could invest in making local Dem organizations genuine civic spaces that can reach people during and between elections

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Lisa W. Fazio, Joe R. Feagin , and 11 more

jamellebouie.net
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 6d
ah, perhaps instead of pumping millions into endless factional infighting Dem donors could invest in making local Dem organizations genuine civic spaces that can reach people during and between elections

Reposted by Aleksandra Urman, Stephen A. Meserve

jeffgreene.bsky.social
Jeff Greene @jeffgreene.bsky.social · 8d
A "frontier" RCT showing college students preferred LLM (ChatGPT-4) and peer feedback to teacher feedback, but teacher feedback most improved performance. I hope they analyze feedback for style. I wonder whether students positively responded to sycophancy in LLM. #PsychSciSky #AcademicSky #EduSky
Teacher, peer, or AI? Comparing effects of feedback sources in higher education
With the emergence of Large Language Models (LLMs), AI-generated feedback is gaining traction as a scalable feedback source for higher education. To q…
doi.org

Reposted by Stefanie Walter, Catherine E. De Vries, Alexander Wuttke , and 7 more

simonhix.bsky.social
Simon Hix @simonhix.bsky.social · 10d
Better get your paper submissions in for the @epssnet.bsky.social conference in June 2026, as the deadline is 7 November, and we have no intention of extended that (given the submission numbers)!
epssnet.org/belfast-2026...
Call for Papers | EPSS Belfast 2026 Conference
Submit your abstract or full paper for EPSS Belfast 2026. Share cutting‑edge political science research, network with peers & contribute to academic impact.
epssnet.org

Reposted by Brian Kelly, Sebastiaan Faber, Catherine J. Frieman , and 2 more

kbmcgowan.bsky.social
caoimhín mac samhain @kbmcgowan.bsky.social · 11d
On further reflection, handing operation of our Universities over to a professional administrative class with no personal investment in the educational mission of the university or the creation and maintenance of knowledge might have been somewhat in error.

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Brendan Nyhan, Jennifer A. Richeson , and 12 more

josephcox.bsky.social
Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 13d
New: Videos show ICE/CBP agents are scanning peoples' faces on the street to verify citizenship. ICE has tool to instantly look up unprecedented number of databases with just a photo

“I’m an American citizen so leave me alone”

“Alright, we just got to verify that”

www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
ICE and CBP Agents Are Scanning Peoples’ Faces on the Street To Verify Citizenship
Videos on social media show officers from ICE and CBP using facial recognition technology on people in the field. One expert described the practice as “pure dystopian creep.”
www.404media.co

Reposted by Jack N. Rakove, Andrew Jacobs, James Goodwin , and 1 more

jamellebouie.net
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 13d
consider this part one of what will be an ongoing series making the case for an imperial congress (gift link)
Opinion | The Empty Promises of Trump’s Imperial Presidency
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Stephen A. Meserve

ztul.bsky.social
michael lutz @ztul.bsky.social · 14d
the main thing Chotiner does that almost no other interviewer seems to do is, when a subject makes some sweepingly huge statement freighted with a lot of implicit claims, ask "what do you mean by that?" he asks them to tether a soundbite to specifics and they immediately crash out

Reposted by Stephen A. Meserve

joolia.bsky.social
Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 18d
“An artificial intelligence system apparently mistook a high school student’s bag of Doritos for a firearm and called local police to tell them the pupil was armed.”
US student handcuffed after AI system apparently mistook bag of chips for firearm
Baltimore county high schools have gun detection system that alerts police if it sees what it deems suspicious
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog, Stephen A. Meserve, Nathan P. Kalmoe , and 1 more

bakerdphd.bsky.social
Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 18d
Really well done this

defector.com/higher-eds-r...
Higher Ed’s Rush To Adopt AI Is About So Much More Than AI | Defector
If you don’t work at a university or have college-age kids, you may have missed the flurry of news stories and social media banter about AI adoption in higher ed, stories which have snowballed into th...
defector.com

Reposted by Stephen A. Meserve

tressiemcphd.bsky.social
Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 22d
Place graduates into what AI jobs, exactly?

Place graduate students into what disciplines, exactly?

Congruence between what college curricula, exactly? Produced where and by whom? With what high school curricula?

Compete on what prestige? With what money?

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Anna O. Law, Marc Lynch , and 7 more

bakerdphd.bsky.social
Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 24d
DARTMOUTH OUT!

We are at 6 rejections. Vanderbilt is the only private left standing "considering" the compact along with UT Austin and the University of Arizona.
roopikarisam.bsky.social Roopika Risam @roopikarisam.bsky.social · 24d
Dartmouth is OUT! Thank goodness... a friend at U of A and I have been playing "Who will be the last of the 9 standing?" and it's not gonna be us!
Dear Secretary McMahon, Ms. Mailman, and Mr. Haley, I appreciated the opportunity to speak with you yesterday. I welcome further engagement around how we can (a) enhance the long-standing partnership between the federal government and this country's leading research universities and (b) ensure that higher education stays focused on academic excellence. As I shared on the call, I do not believe that the involvement of the government through a compact--whether it is a Republican- or Democratic-led White House- is the right way to focus America's leading colleges and universities on their teaching and research mission. Our universities have a responsibility to set our own academic and institutional policies, guided by our mission and values, our commitment to free expression, and our obligations under the law. Staying true to this responsibility is what will help American higher education build bipartisan public trust and continue to uphold its place as the envy of the world. We remain open to other ways to work with the federal government to enhance higher education. Best, Sian Leah Beilock President

Reposted by Colette L. Heald, Lesley A. Hall, Jussi T. Eronen , and 13 more

emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social
Emanuel Maiberg @emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social · 25d
wikipedia's data shows that AI is siphoning traffic away from the site, which is a danger to its sustainability. ironically Wikipedia is more important than ever to users who want reliable information instead of slop, and to AI companies that need it for training data www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...
Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors
“With fewer visits to Wikipedia, fewer volunteers may grow and enrich the content, and fewer individual donors may support this work.”
www.404media.co

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Stephen A. Meserve

debpearlstein.bsky.social
Deborah Pearlstein @debpearlstein.bsky.social · 25d
SOUTHCOM head steps down early & one US official says "Admiral Holsey had raised concerns about the mission and the attacks on the alleged drug boats...." Bulk of article then discusses overwhelming view (incl every IL scholar & mil expert i know) that strikes are illegal.
Head of the U.S. Military’s Southern Command Is Stepping Down, Officials Say
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by David R. Miller, Jacob T. Levy, Stephen A. Meserve , and 3 more

donzeko.bsky.social
Don Zeko @donzeko.bsky.social · 26d
This is almost literally what the English Civil War was fought over.
nytimes.com The New York Times @nytimes.com · 26d
President Trump on Wednesday signed a memorandum expanding his administration’s authority to repurpose unspent federal funds to pay members of the military during the government shutdown, escalating his challenge to the authority of Congress on spending matters.
Trump Signs Memo Expanding His Authority to Spend Federal Money
The president gave Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wide authority to repurpose funds to pay members of the military without approval from Congress, which has the sole constitutional authority to decide federal spending.
nyti.ms

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Rebecca Solnit, Will Jennings , and 19 more

nytimes.com
The New York Times @nytimes.com · 26d
President Trump on Wednesday signed a memorandum expanding his administration’s authority to repurpose unspent federal funds to pay members of the military during the government shutdown, escalating his challenge to the authority of Congress on spending matters.
Trump Signs Memo Expanding His Authority to Spend Federal Money
The president gave Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wide authority to repurpose funds to pay members of the military without approval from Congress, which has the sole constitutional authority to decide federal spending.
nyti.ms

Reposted by Stephen A. Meserve, Nathan P. Kalmoe

marklemley.bsky.social
Mark Lemley @marklemley.bsky.social · Oct 11
And this:
92% of the growth in the entire country this year has been data centers. And some of that is "circular deals" that dont involve actual money

fortune.com/2025/10/07/d...
Without data centers, GDP growth was 0.1% in the first half of 2025, Harvard economist says | Fortune
Is a U.S. without data centers a country without GDP growth?
fortune.com

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Jan W. Mueller, John Quiggin , and 7 more

filipecampante.bsky.social
Filipe Campante @filipecampante.bsky.social · Oct 10
It might be hard to convey to people outside economics just how seismic this is. The Trump effect has most certainly arrived to US academia.
florianscheuer.bsky.social Florian Scheuer @florianscheuer.bsky.social · Oct 10
I am delighted to share that Nobel laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee will join our Department of Economics @econ.uzh.ch at the University of Zurich on July 1, 2026, as Lemann Foundation Professors of Economics.

🧵 1/7

Reposted by Michael Jones‐Correa, Henry Jones, Stephen A. Meserve , and 2 more

dan-sinnamon.bsky.social
Dan Sinykin @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social · Oct 10
And who is the author of this op-ed? The billionaire CEO of an asset management firm who helped author the compact.

Reposted by Norbert Schwarz, Robert W. Wallace, Anders Nilsson , and 11 more

katzish.bsky.social
Amanda Katz @katzish.bsky.social · Oct 8
Horrific reporting from the AP on the Myanmar families watching their kids starve to death from Trump and Musk’s aid cuts apnews.com/article/myan...
Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.
apnews.com

Reposted by Melissa Sweet, Stephen A. Meserve

douglasmack.bsky.social
Doug Mack @douglasmack.bsky.social · Oct 8
the most delightful version of logging on to see what news you've missed
Dr Ramsdell, whose phone had been on airplane mode when the Nobel committee tried to call him, told the BBC's Newshour Programme that his first response when his wife said, "You've won the Nobel prize" was: "I did not." To which Ms O'Neill replied that she had 200 text messages that suggested he had.

smeserve.bsky.social
Stephen Meserve @smeserve.bsky.social · Oct 2
Beautiful day on campus today, trying to touch a little grass with everything going on.
Picture of university campus with a small bus stop, campus buildings, and many colored desiduous trees.

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Lisa W. Fazio, Richard S.J. Tol , and 21 more

brendannyhan.bsky.social
Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · Oct 2
Trump's higher ed ransom note is here - everyone would have to acquiesce to their unprecedented demands or not be "given priority for grants," plus they can demand "reimbursement" for "violations" www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

A mechanism to enforce fealty. An attack on academic freedom and democracy

Reposted by Stephen A. Meserve

elizabethbitmeehan.com
Elizabeth (Bit) Meehan, PhD @elizabethbitmeehan.com · Oct 1
Here is the January-June 2025 APSA eJobs report for the #polisky people: apsanet.org/wp-content/u...

Reposted by Michael A. Clemens, Smith, Juan Rocha , and 2 more

noamross.net
Noam Ross @noamross.net · Sep 30
The Damage Done: @marianneguenot.bsky.social tells the story of clinical trials derailed by the administration's reckless science policy, across kidney disease, HIV, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer. Years of work and money thrown away, at times just short of a cure.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The damage done - Nature Medicine
When clinical trials are suddenly halted by US funding cuts, there are repercussions for investigators and patients, and they do not stop at borders.
www.nature.com

Reposted by Stephen A. Meserve

ryanlcooper.com
ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · Sep 30
useful piece. again and again it seems LLMs can be very useful *if you know what you are doing and are familiar with their strengths and limitations* lucumr.pocoo.org/2025/9/29/90...
90%
AI is writing 90% of the code I was in charge of
lucumr.pocoo.org

Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Jesse H. Kroll, Karen R. Lips , and 3 more

astrokatie.com
Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · Sep 30
That's quite the chart annotation.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
A chart of "Major concerns of PhD candidates." The top text says, "Financial pressures top the list of concerns faced by PhD candidates, but concerns differ among the sexes. Those studying in the United States rank the political landscape as their main worry." The chart shows that in the full survey, political landscape is the biggest concern for about 20% of students (a bit higher for women than men) but there's an annotation saying "In US PhD students, this rose to 64%". Overall, the highest-rated concern was financial pressures at around 40%.