Allison Nau
@allisonmnau.bsky.social
Date strategist, non-practicing political scientist, Mountain Leader, church elder, and volunteer fitness instructor. American by birth and British by choice. Based on the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.
Reposted by Allison Nau
“Our findings highlight the existence of product market traps, where active users of a platform prefer it not to exist.”
www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
When Product Markets Become Collective Traps: The Case of Social Media
(December 2025) - Individuals might experience negative utility from not consuming a popular product. With such externalities to nonusers, standard consumer surplus measures, which take aggregate cons...
www.aeaweb.org
November 26, 2025 at 8:27 PM
“Our findings highlight the existence of product market traps, where active users of a platform prefer it not to exist.”
www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
Reposted by Allison Nau
Tell all the truth but tell it slant—
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise
This paper finds poetry is a universal single shot jailbreak for LLMs. Systems built to stop prosaic attacks fail when the request is phrased in verse arxiv.org/abs/2511.15304
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise
This paper finds poetry is a universal single shot jailbreak for LLMs. Systems built to stop prosaic attacks fail when the request is phrased in verse arxiv.org/abs/2511.15304
November 20, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Tell all the truth but tell it slant—
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise
This paper finds poetry is a universal single shot jailbreak for LLMs. Systems built to stop prosaic attacks fail when the request is phrased in verse arxiv.org/abs/2511.15304
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise
This paper finds poetry is a universal single shot jailbreak for LLMs. Systems built to stop prosaic attacks fail when the request is phrased in verse arxiv.org/abs/2511.15304
Reposted by Allison Nau
Piece from me and @adambonica.bsky.social in @thenewrepublic.bsky.social today about Gen Z
They have bad taste in music but quite progressive political attitudes (even the men)
newrepublic.com/article/2030...
They have bad taste in music but quite progressive political attitudes (even the men)
newrepublic.com/article/2030...
The Shocking Truth About Gen Z Voters Is That They’re Pretty Great
Stop panicking: They are the most progressive generation ever, especially on race. If that surprises you, you’ve been listening to the wrong story.
newrepublic.com
November 14, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Piece from me and @adambonica.bsky.social in @thenewrepublic.bsky.social today about Gen Z
They have bad taste in music but quite progressive political attitudes (even the men)
newrepublic.com/article/2030...
They have bad taste in music but quite progressive political attitudes (even the men)
newrepublic.com/article/2030...
Reposted by Allison Nau
We are now seeing the first long-anticipated use of AI for semi-autonomous cyberattacks.
"This approach allowed the threat actor to achieve operational scale typically associated with nation-state campaigns while maintaining minimal direct involvement" www.anthropic.com/news/disrupt...
"This approach allowed the threat actor to achieve operational scale typically associated with nation-state campaigns while maintaining minimal direct involvement" www.anthropic.com/news/disrupt...
November 13, 2025 at 7:12 PM
We are now seeing the first long-anticipated use of AI for semi-autonomous cyberattacks.
"This approach allowed the threat actor to achieve operational scale typically associated with nation-state campaigns while maintaining minimal direct involvement" www.anthropic.com/news/disrupt...
"This approach allowed the threat actor to achieve operational scale typically associated with nation-state campaigns while maintaining minimal direct involvement" www.anthropic.com/news/disrupt...
Reposted by Allison Nau
This segment from @maddow.msnbc.com last night does a good job of laying out the logic: effective protests help strengthen and grow the coalition opposed to the administration and, simultaneously, raise the costs of those aligned with Trump. youtu.be/8xnHWD53w60?...
Rachel Maddow: Why protesting against authoritarians matters
YouTube video by MSNBC
youtu.be
October 28, 2025 at 4:38 PM
This segment from @maddow.msnbc.com last night does a good job of laying out the logic: effective protests help strengthen and grow the coalition opposed to the administration and, simultaneously, raise the costs of those aligned with Trump. youtu.be/8xnHWD53w60?...
Reposted by Allison Nau
Political organizing rarely sees as good a day as Saturday, Oct. 18.
No Kings protests brought millions of Americans into the streets, some for the first time. Organizers moved through crowds, getting signatures, passing out info, finding new members.
That's one of 6 things No Kings accomplished:
No Kings protests brought millions of Americans into the streets, some for the first time. Organizers moved through crowds, getting signatures, passing out info, finding new members.
That's one of 6 things No Kings accomplished:
7 Things the No Kings Protests Accomplished
The political emergency isn't over, of course, but who thought it would be. Here are seven things this weekend's protests accomplished.
www.arcdigital.media
October 21, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Political organizing rarely sees as good a day as Saturday, Oct. 18.
No Kings protests brought millions of Americans into the streets, some for the first time. Organizers moved through crowds, getting signatures, passing out info, finding new members.
That's one of 6 things No Kings accomplished:
No Kings protests brought millions of Americans into the streets, some for the first time. Organizers moved through crowds, getting signatures, passing out info, finding new members.
That's one of 6 things No Kings accomplished:
Reposted by Allison Nau
Good evening. We estimate that between 4.2 and 7.6 million people turned out for the No Kings Day demonstrations held around the country on Saturday. This makes Oct 18 very likely the biggest single-day U.S. protest event since 1970. www.gelliottmorris.com/p/second-no-...
Second "No Kings Day" protests likely the largest single-day political demonstration since 1970, with 4.2-7.6 million participants
Here are the initial results from our crowdsourced crowd-counting estimates
www.gelliottmorris.com
October 19, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Good evening. We estimate that between 4.2 and 7.6 million people turned out for the No Kings Day demonstrations held around the country on Saturday. This makes Oct 18 very likely the biggest single-day U.S. protest event since 1970. www.gelliottmorris.com/p/second-no-...
Fascinating that those who prioritise winning over fairness in sports also prioritise partisan gerrymandering over a fair political map.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
October 11, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Fascinating that those who prioritise winning over fairness in sports also prioritise partisan gerrymandering over a fair political map.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Allison Nau
🧵🚨
The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.
Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...
1/11
The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.
Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...
1/11
UK’s arm’s length public bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation
Seven in ten Britons say it is important for top scientific institutions to be independent in exclusive new polling.
www.ucl.ac.uk
October 9, 2025 at 3:47 PM
🧵🚨
The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.
Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...
1/11
The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.
Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...
1/11
Reposted by Allison Nau
Reposted by Allison Nau
I had never read this before and I regret it. It’s very good.
Every few months now I re-read this "Who Goes Nazi?" piece from 1941 and am blown away by how it captures the people we are dealing with 80 years later.
harpers.org/archive/1941...
harpers.org/archive/1941...
Who Goes Nazi?, by Dorothy Thompson
harpers.org
October 2, 2025 at 12:06 AM
I had never read this before and I regret it. It’s very good.
Reposted by Allison Nau
The British Red Cross has a podcast called "The Kind Place" and it features conversations with refugees and asylum seekers about their lives. Contributors also learned how to record, edit and produce this series.
Probably something we all need to hear right now.
www.redcross.org.uk/about-us/new...
Probably something we all need to hear right now.
www.redcross.org.uk/about-us/new...
The kind place: VOICES | British Red Cross
The second in The British Red Cross' The kind place series, these brand-new podcast episodes are produced by refugees and people seeking asylum.
www.redcross.org.uk
September 16, 2025 at 9:38 PM
The British Red Cross has a podcast called "The Kind Place" and it features conversations with refugees and asylum seekers about their lives. Contributors also learned how to record, edit and produce this series.
Probably something we all need to hear right now.
www.redcross.org.uk/about-us/new...
Probably something we all need to hear right now.
www.redcross.org.uk/about-us/new...
Reposted by Allison Nau
Interesting new paper that seeks to revive some of the practical epistemic credentials of the Diversity Trumps Ability Theorem after many years of critique: politicalphilosophyjournal.org/article/id/2...
What Can We Learn from the Diversity Trumps Ability Theorem?
The Diversity Trumps Ability theorem suggests that, under certain conditions, more diverse groups outperform groups of more individually competent members. Despite initial excitement about the theorem...
politicalphilosophyjournal.org
September 16, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Interesting new paper that seeks to revive some of the practical epistemic credentials of the Diversity Trumps Ability Theorem after many years of critique: politicalphilosophyjournal.org/article/id/2...
Fascinating that districts are gerrymandered for both people and firms, which raises some interesting questions about democracy and capitalism.
Single member legislative districts are just such a bad system, especially when parties are polarized (i.e., in any modern political system)
Forthcoming APSR shows firms, not just voters, are gerrymandered into/out of districts for partisan gain
ungated SSRN version papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Forthcoming APSR shows firms, not just voters, are gerrymandered into/out of districts for partisan gain
ungated SSRN version papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
September 2, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Fascinating that districts are gerrymandered for both people and firms, which raises some interesting questions about democracy and capitalism.
Reposted by Allison Nau
I'm not sure there has ever been a host of an 11:30pm U.S. network late night talk show with as firm a religious and moral grounding. The sort of person where it is impossible to imagine him flipping support Trump for pragmatic reasons. In a sense, this is why he had to go.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about this fascinating exchange Colbert had with Dua Lipa, when she asked him about the role his faith plays in his comedy.
July 18, 2025 at 4:17 PM
I'm not sure there has ever been a host of an 11:30pm U.S. network late night talk show with as firm a religious and moral grounding. The sort of person where it is impossible to imagine him flipping support Trump for pragmatic reasons. In a sense, this is why he had to go.
Set theory and the concept of infinity is core not only to my understanding of mathematics and how the world works, but of faith, God and my place in the universe.
I prefer my math with infinity included!
www.scientificamerican.com/article/what...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/what...
Some Mathematicians Don’t Believe in Infinity
Can “finitism” possibly describe the real world?
www.scientificamerican.com
August 4, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Set theory and the concept of infinity is core not only to my understanding of mathematics and how the world works, but of faith, God and my place in the universe.
Fascinating look at a pilot in Amsterdam to use algorithms to help identify welfare fraud. It didn’t work, but it raises several questions around how you define and measure bias.
Ah, I see. Remember Marc Cuban talking about using AI to “speed up” Medicaid claims? It’s from a cultural group’s talking point memo:
www.technologyreview.com/2025/06/11/1...
www.technologyreview.com/2025/06/11/1...
Inside Amsterdam’s high-stakes experiment to create fair welfare AI
The Dutch city thought it could break a decade-long trend of implementing discriminatory algorithms. Its failure raises the question: can these programs ever be fair?
www.technologyreview.com
July 30, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Fascinating look at a pilot in Amsterdam to use algorithms to help identify welfare fraud. It didn’t work, but it raises several questions around how you define and measure bias.
I am practicing Christian, and at the new members class at my previous church the only part of the Nicene Creed we all could sign up to was the first two words “We believe.” My current (small rural village) church would love for more people to come - regardless of where they are in their journey.
Would recommend this great piece about reclaiming Christianity written by someone who's not going to let the worst people in the world claim that tradition without a fight: www.liberalcurrents.com/reclaiming-o...
July 28, 2025 at 8:07 PM
I am practicing Christian, and at the new members class at my previous church the only part of the Nicene Creed we all could sign up to was the first two words “We believe.” My current (small rural village) church would love for more people to come - regardless of where they are in their journey.
Reposted by Allison Nau
In July of 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered one of the greatest speeches in US history. Today it’s often presented in abridged form, though, and skips what seems like a long-winded introduction. If you read the intro closely, however, there’s an ingenious structure. THREAD👇🏽
July 4, 2025 at 6:32 PM
In July of 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered one of the greatest speeches in US history. Today it’s often presented in abridged form, though, and skips what seems like a long-winded introduction. If you read the intro closely, however, there’s an ingenious structure. THREAD👇🏽
Reposted by Allison Nau
Pope Leo XIV has already had a direct effect in the U.S. in opposing Trump's immigration policy through his appointment of Bishop Pham:
ICE agents scatter as San Diego Bishop Pham, other clergy visit immigration court
timesofsandiego.com/life/2025/06...
ICE agents scatter as San Diego Bishop Pham, other clergy visit immigration court
timesofsandiego.com/life/2025/06...
ICE agents scatter as SD Bishop Pham, other clergy visit immigration court
"Our presence made a difference," one priest said, quoting an immigration lawyer saying their client was given more time to prepare for another hearing.
timesofsandiego.com
June 20, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Pope Leo XIV has already had a direct effect in the U.S. in opposing Trump's immigration policy through his appointment of Bishop Pham:
ICE agents scatter as San Diego Bishop Pham, other clergy visit immigration court
timesofsandiego.com/life/2025/06...
ICE agents scatter as San Diego Bishop Pham, other clergy visit immigration court
timesofsandiego.com/life/2025/06...
Reposted by Allison Nau
Publishing a compilation of all the polls on LA, Trump’s response, immigration and deportations tomorrow at 8:00 at this link. Happy to share the data (as long as you don’t scoop me)
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/all-the-po...
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/all-the-po...
All the polls on the LA protests and Trump's response so far
The president's approval rating on immigration and deportations is falling fast
www.gelliottmorris.com
June 12, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Publishing a compilation of all the polls on LA, Trump’s response, immigration and deportations tomorrow at 8:00 at this link. Happy to share the data (as long as you don’t scoop me)
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/all-the-po...
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/all-the-po...
Reposted by Allison Nau
“Harsh crackdowns may generate sympathy for protesters, said Omar Wasow, a political scientist at UC Berkeley who studies protest movements. The “spectacle of violence and repression,” he said, can frame states as ‘bullies’ unjustly squashing expression.” Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/10/w...
3 Lessons From International Protests Amid the L.A. Unrest (Gift Article)
Experts who study protest movements say the scenes unfolding in California broadly follow a script that has played out many times in other countries — sometimes with deadly consequences.
www.nytimes.com
June 10, 2025 at 11:45 PM
“Harsh crackdowns may generate sympathy for protesters, said Omar Wasow, a political scientist at UC Berkeley who studies protest movements. The “spectacle of violence and repression,” he said, can frame states as ‘bullies’ unjustly squashing expression.” Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/10/w...
Reposted by Allison Nau
Mobilization has also been nationwide. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some activists are intentionally demonstrating in their local town rather than just traveling to a nearby big city for events.
June 13, 2025 at 2:25 AM
Mobilization has also been nationwide. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some activists are intentionally demonstrating in their local town rather than just traveling to a nearby big city for events.
Reposted by Allison Nau
My team and I at the Crowd Counting Consortium (@djpressman@bsky.social, Soha Hammam, & Chris Shay) have a new piece out: wagingnonviolence.org/2025/06/amer.... In it, we show that through May 2025, the size and scale of anti-Trump protests have dwarfed those in 2017. 🧵
June 13, 2025 at 2:25 AM
My team and I at the Crowd Counting Consortium (@djpressman@bsky.social, Soha Hammam, & Chris Shay) have a new piece out: wagingnonviolence.org/2025/06/amer.... In it, we show that through May 2025, the size and scale of anti-Trump protests have dwarfed those in 2017. 🧵