Stephen Meserve
@smeserve.bsky.social
Practicing political scientist, hiker, tabletop gamer, etc in Northern Arizona
Reposted by Stephen Meserve
There seriously needs to be a study about how the everyday life friction of increased grift and enshittification in every aspect of life weighs on people’s institutional trust and what effects they may have on political attitudes and participation.
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.
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...
That haul vastly exceeds how much the company expects regulators
To fine it for running scam ads.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
November 6, 2025 at 12:34 PM
There seriously needs to be a study about how the everyday life friction of increased grift and enshittification in every aspect of life weighs on people’s institutional trust and what effects they may have on political attitudes and participation.
I didn't know Mair but he would be nodding approvingly about these sorts of comments.
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
November 5, 2025 at 1:30 PM
I didn't know Mair but he would be nodding approvingly about these sorts of comments.
Reposted by Stephen Meserve
Reposted by Stephen Meserve
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
November 3, 2025 at 1:15 PM
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
Reposted by Stephen Meserve
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...
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
November 1, 2025 at 11:45 AM
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...
epssnet.org/belfast-2026...
Reposted by Stephen Meserve
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.
October 31, 2025 at 4:42 PM
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 Stephen Meserve
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-...
“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
October 29, 2025 at 2:42 PM
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-...
“I’m an American citizen so leave me alone”
“Alright, we just got to verify that”
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
Reposted by Stephen Meserve
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
October 29, 2025 at 1:39 PM
consider this part one of what will be an ongoing series making the case for an imperial congress (gift link)
Reposted by Stephen Meserve
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
October 27, 2025 at 11:36 PM
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 Meserve
“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
October 24, 2025 at 12:58 PM
“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.”
Reposted by Stephen Meserve
Reposted by Stephen Meserve
Did a new one
August 7, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Did a new one
Reposted by Stephen Meserve
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?
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?
October 20, 2025 at 12:32 PM
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?
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 Stephen Meserve
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.
We are at 6 rejections. Vanderbilt is the only private left standing "considering" the compact along with UT Austin and the University of Arizona.
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!
October 18, 2025 at 3:10 PM
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.
We are at 6 rejections. Vanderbilt is the only private left standing "considering" the compact along with UT Austin and the University of Arizona.
Reposted by Stephen Meserve
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
October 17, 2025 at 1:15 AM
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...
Reposted by Stephen Meserve
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
October 16, 2025 at 9:55 PM
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.
Reposted by Stephen Meserve
This is almost literally what the English Civil War was fought over.
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
October 16, 2025 at 12:17 AM
This is almost literally what the English Civil War was fought over.
Reposted by Stephen Meserve
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...
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
October 11, 2025 at 7:54 PM
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...
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...
Reposted by Stephen Meserve
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.
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
🧵 1/7
October 10, 2025 at 12:23 PM
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.
Reposted by Stephen Meserve
And who is the author of this op-ed? The billionaire CEO of an asset management firm who helped author the compact.
October 10, 2025 at 10:24 AM
And who is the author of this op-ed? The billionaire CEO of an asset management firm who helped author the compact.
Reposted by Stephen Meserve
the most delightful version of logging on to see what news you've missed
October 8, 2025 at 5:45 AM
the most delightful version of logging on to see what news you've missed
Reposted by Stephen Meserve
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
October 8, 2025 at 10:41 AM
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...
Reposted by Stephen Meserve
This is sort of a classic prisoners' dilemma: If nobody defects, nobody has "priority". Which makes it essential that universities coordinate a united front.
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
A mechanism to enforce fealty. An attack on academic freedom and democracy
October 2, 2025 at 5:35 PM
This is sort of a classic prisoners' dilemma: If nobody defects, nobody has "priority". Which makes it essential that universities coordinate a united front.
Beautiful day on campus today, trying to touch a little grass with everything going on.
October 2, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Beautiful day on campus today, trying to touch a little grass with everything going on.