On The Epistemic and Passionate Foundations of Constitutional Monarchy; (Spinoza’s Political Theory as Modeling, pt. 6) shout out to @aoprea.bsky.social digressionsimpressions.substack.com/p/on-the-epi...

On The Epistemic and Passionate Foundations of Constitutional Monarchy; (Spinoza’s Political Theory as Modeling, pt. 6)

One of the minor oddities of Spinoza’s Political Treatise (hereafter: TP) is that chapter VII goes over the same model of ordered monarchy that was handled in chapter VI.

digressionsimpressions.substack.com

On Modeling Incentive Compatible Desiderata. (Spinoza’s Political Theory as Modeling, pt. 5) digressionsimpressions.substack.com/p/on-modelin...

On Modeling Incentive Compatible Desiderata. (Spinoza’s Political Theory as Modeling, pt. 5)

Fairly quickly into his modeling treatment of what I’ve been calling ‘ordered monarchy,’ Spinoza introduces the striking claim that all polities are “always put at greater risk on account of” their ow...

digressionsimpressions.substack.com

There is a corner of the internet I had never heard of before I started reporting this story. It’s called the “burnerverse”: a network of anon burner accounts ostensibly discussing college sports. But they have another goal: destroying young girls’ lives.🧵: www.wired.com/story/burner...

A College Girl Was Exploited on Camera. A Network of Anonymous Men Got to Work

Maddie Kowalski is one of countless young women who’ve had their lives destroyed by the burnerverse, a loosely connected online community of sports fans. Now she’s fighting back.

wired.com

90 years ago, Parliament responded to the rise of Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts by passing the Public Order Act, which banned political uniforms, private militias and the threat of force for political objects. The debates make very resonant reading today. Here's the Liberal Robert Bernays. (Short 🧵)

This is interesting. You get assigned to being born at a random place and time in history, to see what a typical person's life might have been like then. Unfortunately I was born in 1403 in the valley of Mexico and died at age 4 from dysentery.

Any Human Ever

One life, drawn at random from all who have ever lived.

anyhumanever.com

Shoutout to Muli cycles for making small bikes that enable me to transport anything from a chonker-sized baby to a Saloni-sized adult @scientificdiscovery.dev

Increasingly prevalent chains of private tutoring centers raise students' test scores, deepen educational inequality, and shape outcomes by schools are judged, from Joshua Goodman and Samuel Nitkin www.nber.org/papers/w35671

On David Hume combining Spontaneous Order and Political Agency with shout out to @serenekhader.bsky.social digressionsimpressions.substack.com/p/on-david-h...

On David Hume combining Spontaneous Order and Political Agency

If you have been following my recent blogging on Hume’s History (recall here; and here), you will have noticed that I have been pushing a bit against treating Hume exclusively as a spontaneous order t...

digressionsimpressions.substack.com

NEW: My verdict on Labour's planning rewrite. When I read the draft, I thought the 'train belt' policy could be transformative, but viability challenges (high affordable shares) mean it disappoints. However, there's one really radical policy in there... www.samdumitriu.com/p/the-really...

The really radical policy in Labour's planning rewrite

What's in the new National Planning Policy Framework

samdumitriu.com

On some (proto Hayekian) examples of Epistemic opacity in Marx (and Adam Smith) digressionsimpressions.substack.com/p/on-some-pr...

On some (proto Hayekian) examples of Epistemic opacity in Marx (and Adam Smith)

In my last post, I noted that there are two conceptualizations of the divisions of labor in Adam Smith: first, we have the concentrated division of labor; this is the pin-factory that is fully knowabl...

digressionsimpressions.substack.com

🔥🔥🔥 noahdasanaike.github.io/sage.html

If you look closely, there’s some sort of pattern here. www.ft.com/content/9741...

On Humphreys opacity, Reverse Engineering, and Social Externalities of LLMs. Shout to @drnickcowen.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/digressi...

On Humphreys opacity, Reverse Engineering, and Social Externalities of LLMs.

I am delayed waiting to go to Prague to join my old friends of the Hume Society.

open.substack.com

Are preferences for authoritarian rule individual predispositions—or can they spread socially? Using field + survey experiments in the Norwegian Armed Forces, we show that openness to strongman rule can spread socially. American Journal of Political Science: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

American Journal of Political Science | MPSA Journal | Wiley Online Library

The increasing popularity of strongman rule in democratic societies underscores the need to explore how authoritarian regime preferences might spread socially. We assess the role of social influence ...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Checkmate, neoliberals

Lewis@lewishardy.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Data centers are harming every environment they are placed in.

35°C is normal, we used to just call that summer! Here's how many summers topped 32°C 70s 4 80s 2 90s 8 2000s 6 2010s all of them 2020s all of them And here's how many summers topped 35°C 70s 1 80s 0 90s 2 2000s 2 2010s 3 2020s 4 (out of 6 so far)

Two subjects we offer in the School of Social & Political Sciences (Uni of Lincoln) are among the very best in the UK in the latest Unifresher rankings: International Politics - 5th Politics - 6th Many thanks to all my hardworking colleagues for making this possible unifresher.co.uk/uni-prep/bes...

Best Universities in the UK for 2027 | Unifresher Official List

See Unifresher’s definitive list of the best universities in the UK for 2026/27 admissions. Ranked by real student priorities and experience.

unifresher.co.uk

The rise of larger vehicles like SUVs and pickup trucks, with their taller hoods and larger blind zones, has contributed to a 75% increase in pedestrian and cyclist deaths since 2009. Until we design better streets and ban these vehicles, people outside these vehicles will keep dying.

The Deadly Rise of Giant Trucks and S.U.V.s (Gift Article)

The vehicles on American roads have grown larger — and they are killing thousands more pedestrians, a Times investigation found.

nytimes.com

I know at this point people like to trot out the list of manifesto pledges 'achieved', but that's just not how things work. No one cares if you've nationalised railways (especially if there's no material gain alongside it) if the big stuff that they actually care about hasn't changed.

Cervical cancer deaths fall to zero in young women given vaccine. 🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Cervical cancer deaths fall to zero in young women given vaccine

A new study finds that hundreds of lives have been saved since school-age girls were offered the HPV jab in 2008.

bbc.co.uk

America is ☠️ This is bullshit. Everyone should be standing up against this. www.pbs.org/newshour/pol...

Federal prosecutors charge 15 people with conspiracy to impede agents during Minnesota immigration crackdown

Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen said the operation targeted Minneapolis-based antifa groups.

pbs.org

Thousands gather at a peaceful anti-racism rally in Belfast as the crowd chants, "Refugees are welcome here”🙏

“Boston University researchers have conservatively estimated that (one year after closing #USAID) the shutdown has already killed at least three-quarters of a million people, most of them children” - Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social

Over the past week we've run focus groups & polling on Henry Nowak's murder, the police handling and political reaction. Beyond widespread horror and feeling for the family, Britons have different views on if there are more systemic issues at play, but a near universal rejection of violent protest.

This is clear prima facie evidence of different "tiers" or standards of policing across the UK. It means that there has been significantly less risk in Northern Ireland of facing consequences when take part in mob-based violence, targeting police or even arson vs migrant/minority homes businesses

Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Those involved in disorder/violence in Northern Ireland in summer 2024 were much less likely to be arrested than in England Northern Ireland in 2024 [49 arrests; > 600 people involved in disorder] So up to 1 in 12 England in 2024 [1876 arrests of 4000-5000 people involved in disorder] About 1 in 3

The world has become much more resilient to disaster events over the last century. In the chart here, you can see estimates of average death rates — measured as the number of deaths per 100,000 people — by decade since the early 20th century.

UK tax has gone up significantly over the last 25 years But the tax paid by the average UK worker has not This apparent miracle was achieved by taxing “other people”: higher earners, capital, property, banks, etc The strategy has run out of road A 🧵 on what happens next.

Colleagues in the School of Social & Political Sciences @ University of Lincoln lead cutting-edge, interdisciplinary, policy-relevant research while actively engaging local communities. Dr Sue Bond-Taylor and @drnickcowen.bsky.social joined Lincoln’s Pint of Science festival. A proud Head of School!

Lincoln friends: Still time to book tickets for two talks tonight by my colleagues. @drnickcowen.bsky.social on How to End Drunk Driving & Dr Sue Bond-Taylor on Carefree Children, Careless Youth: Why young people in the UK need a radical politics of care. pintofscience.co.uk/event/how-we...

How We Learn — and Who Gets Blamed

Join us for an evening examining how we learn from others and how society shapes the way we think about young people and responsibility. <br /> <br /> Food platters ar…

pintofscience.co.uk

Gary Rawnsley@garydrawnsley.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Lincoln friends: you are invited to hear my Social & Political Sciences Uni of Lincoln colleague @drnickcowen.bsky.social discuss How to End Drunk Driving (& Other Crimes) on 19 May. This is part of Lincoln’s fabulous Pint of Science festival - details below pintofscience.co.uk/events/linco...

Nick Pearce@iprnickp.bsky.social · 4mo ago

I’m off to the launch of the Pensions Commission Interim Report this morning. It sets out our analysis of the problem of inadequate savings for retirement in 2050 and beyond. PN is here, full report to follow. www.gov.uk/government/n...