Great thread:-) I would also add that if people are interested in updated work examining how the narraof American exceptionalism has influenced US foreign policy, there is a new edited volume coming out with Georgetown University Press next year co-edited by myself & @richardmaass.bsky.social 🥳

Unfortunately I don’t think geography gives Canada and Mexico much of a choice. But the insularity Stancil points out here is a structural, long running, endemic problem, part of the wages of American exceptionalism.

Will Stancil@whstancil.bsky.social · 3w ago

The thing is, until America went insane, it made perfect sense for Canada to be close partners with us. But America has truly gone insane. And not just the GOP: also the Democrats and media and elites, many of whom are completely delusional about what’s actually happening.

So: the method that's being applied to determining LLM authorship is putting together a dictionary of frequently used words by models that are constructed from patterns in language like the frequency with which words are used? Can't think of any reasons why that would go wrong...

Nature@nature.com · 4w ago

The use of AI to write scientific papers could be much more prevalent than was previously thought go.nature.com/4xeEyea

I see a lot of people on Bluesky, the app that tells you to use alt text, saying that people using Claude to correct grammar should just learn to do it themselves and I'd like to introduce you to the idea of non-English speakers

I'm noticing a certain amount of magical thinking about Anthropic's watermark. It sounds like an interesting institution, but it is just that: an institution Anthropic will need to maintain. It's not a technology that will magically make all of the challenges LLMs pose for higher ed disappear.

It's a very simple equation. The alternative requires that the GOP either implodes or reverses the trajectory that it's been on for like three decades. So the choice is basically "risky electoral reform" or the status quo, and the status quo is "continued collapse of the constitutional republic"

Mark Copelovitch@mcopelov.bsky.social · last mo.

There is no crushing the right in a two-party system. That boils down to “Dems will win every election forever,” & we need a system in which Dems can lose & it’s not a crisis for democracy because there are other pro-democracy parties.

I've become fascinated by the furor over Emily Wilson's review of Christopher Nolan's Odyssey. I liked the film and do not believe Wilson's review does its subject justice. The more I hear interviews from her the more I think the review may just not explain her point of view very well. ...

London Review of Books@lrb.co.uk · 2mo ago

The piece that launched a thousand posts. Read what @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social actually said here: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

New York City Montreal Budapest Ljubljana Athens

Brent Toderian@brenttoderian.bsky.social · 2mo ago

QUESTION: What are your FIVE favourite cities anywhere in the world? Bonus points for persuasive explanations why your choices are “right.” Mine (in no order) are: Paris Barcelona New York Montreal Vancouver

there isn't a way to really trust meta on this because its self-interest, like most big tech companies right now, is in finding ways to push platform reach down to the physical world

Patrick C Miller@patrickcmiller.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Meta wants its AI glasses to seem less creepy. Its AI strategy says otherwise.

Saw a report this morning that someone made a huge bet on prediction markets against Collins winning reelection several hours before the Politico article on Platner came out. Our political system is now so marinated in corruption that we no longer recognize the smell.

The effect of German speaking refugees on American intellectual culture after WWII was so great that it’s often easy to forget how few such refugees were actually granted entry during the war:

You might not need gadgets to stay hydrated but let me say that public health folks will tell you staying hydrated is *really really* important during hot weather.

Chris Baraniuk@chrisbaraniuk.com · 3mo ago

NEW: The World Cup inspired me to write about hydration! Hydration tech firms say their gadgets enable a new kind of step-counting... Do you know your 'sweat score'? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I've been thinking through frustrations many folks have with using LLMs. One interesting feature of this argument is that LLMs at their most untrained- with no understanding of what they themselves are an no retention- is precisely LLMs at their most alien to us, deep down the uncanny valley...

Want to share some thoughts. I know the rioting in Belfast has had lots of coverage. But I still think more needs to be said. This was so incredibly shocking. *people burned out of their homes because of the colour of their skin*.

I’ve noticed more folks than usual following Maine politics. I get- and share- concerns about the extent to which Platner has been forthcoming about his past. But here’s the thing— the fact that so many of the people who hate him on BlueSky do is precisely why his supporters in Maine love him.

Well, if nothing else, the dipshittery of 'maybe if we're nice to the dead enders rather than the people who risked life and limb to be here' has at least done at a lot to show me which of my fellow liberals are worth listening to and who needs to find another hobby other than politics.

Grumpy Philosopher@stevecooke.org · 4mo ago

Starting to think that Andy Burnham might not be much of an improvement. Better buses, pothole repairs, continued xenophobia, hurrah! www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The secret of good soup is patience.

Folks talk about a reflectivity problem in the social sciences, and no doubt we’ve flicked a cigarette in the bin and it’s smoking. But the raging dumpster fire that is the reflectivity problem in journalism is really… something.

Kai Ryssdal@kairyssdal.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Zero. Sympathy. They did this to themselves. Oh, and also? There definitely is an easy answer.

Well-- I was up until 4 AM last night writing, I've been writing all day and will still likely be up until 4 AM tonight writing, my Zotero is broken, and am 5 days over deadline... Must be the beginning of conference season!

Watching Orban lose is a real pleasure. I see plenty of speculation on 'lessons.' I have frustrated thoughts. 'Lessons' here are complicated. Hungary under Orban was not just 'another country.' he links between the Orban regime and U.S. went much deeper than most folks think. ...

*My* favourite is Khrushchev supposedly saying "the living would envy the dead [in the aftermath of a nuclear war]". An incredible line but I learned recently it's likely apocryphal! JFK used to reference it + Jackie even wrote to Khrushchev himself referring to it: history.state.gov/historicaldo...

I'm sure LLMs will make this worse, but its not exactly a secret that if you chase many 'classic' references back further than the 90s in many fields you run into some really shady practices. My favorite example is the Ismay quote that 'NATO is to keep the US in, Russia out, and the Germans down.'

Miles Klee 🦉@milesklee.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Academics and technologists are sounding the alarm about a growing crisis in scholarship as we know it: AI-generated citations of nonexistent papers that have infested real journals. Despite being fake, the sources are widely assumed to be authentic the more they appear in published literature.

Our Rector Carsten Schneider on CNN about the Hungarian elections edition.cnn.com/2026/04/09/w...

You know I do think it's important to note that — if it is indeed over — this meaningless war killed: -Iranians: ~3,500 -Lebanese: ~1,500 -Iraqis: ~100 -Israelis: 39 -GCC residents: 31 -Americans: 15 -Palestinians: 14 -Syrians: 1 -French: 1

I am relieved, of course. But flirting with the idea of a nuclear first strike (and let's be entirely clear: that is what Trump and Vance were doing) moves us closer to a world where states will refuse to back down out of fear that they will be made to look like fools. 1/?

Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof@evanbernick.bsky.social · 5mo ago

so, he should still be removed from office as soon as humanly possible

Scratch the historical background of most anti-immigrant narratives in America long enough and you'll find anti-Catholicism ("protestant work ethic," "culture of liberty" ect).

Jen Bendery@jbendery.bsky.social · 5mo ago

NEW: The Pentagon today invited more than 3,500 employees to attend a Good Friday service at its in-house chapel. Except it’s only for Protestants, not Catholics. www.huffpost.com/entry/news-l...

How has our understanding of the transition from communism evolved? Korbel Prof @epsteinprof.bsky.social joins @piroskadora.bsky.social on the @viennadialogues.bsky.social podcast to discuss why liberal ideas are in crisis and what researchers should do next.

Vienna Dialogues - Coffee and International Relations@viennadialogues.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Were we too optimistic about the post-communist turn to liberal markets and democracy? In conversation with Vienna Dialogues, Professor Rachel Epstein (University of Denver) reflects on 35 years of transition - and what we may have misunderstood. Link to the episode: bit.ly/3MskEdA

Everything in the first half of this post was a volunteer project. You can still build this stuff. We all just have to do it.

derek guy@dieworkwear.bsky.social · 6mo ago

2006 internet: RSS feeds, forums, communities of hobby blogs, where people post about interior design, fashion, and music for free 2026 internet: sponsored content, paid partnership, buy my merch, try my supplements, invest in my crypto, click link in bio to unlock the secrets of life for $30

I’ve enjoyed BlueSky well enough as a way to keep track of more academic conversations, but this is maybe one of the better arguments that academia needs a open source or non-for-profit platform rather than continuing to jump from tech company to tech company.

Herb Scribner@herbscribner.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Bluesky announces $100M Series B after CEO transition

Were we too optimistic about the post-communist turn to liberal markets and democracy? In conversation with Vienna Dialogues, Professor Rachel Epstein (University of Denver) reflects on 35 years of transition - and what we may have misunderstood. Link to the episode: bit.ly/3MskEdA