Archon Fung
@politicsprof.bsky.social
Director @harvardash@bsky.social. Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship, Harvard Kennedy School. I study participatory democracy. All views expressed here are my own.
Tech billionaires like to claim their work is inspired by science fiction, but in truth, they are using its ‘chrome-plated aesthetic’ as a fig leaf to further what the social theorist Ali Rıza Taşkale labels ‘reactionary futurism’
Silicon Valley has a science fiction problem | Aeon Essays
Tech titans claim the genre inspired them. But all they’ve done is graft their politics onto stories of a better future
buff.ly
“The future isn’t being shaped by democratic debate but through highly selective, often reactionary, fantasy… [Q]uestion isn’t whether science fiction will shape reality—that process is already underway. The question is: whose version will prevail?” Exceptional essay by @alirizataskale.bsky.social
Aeon Magazine@aeon.co · 3w agoTech billionaires like to claim their work is inspired by science fiction, but in truth, they are using its ‘chrome-plated aesthetic’ as a fig leaf to further what the social theorist Ali Rıza Taşkale labels ‘reactionary futurism’
Tova Wang, Director of Research Projects in Democratic Practice at the Ash Center, shares her top picks for summer reads focused on making democracy more resilient, responsive, and inclusive. https://bit.ly/4gDDfA4
Reimagining Democracy 2026 Summer Reading List – Ash Center
bit.ly
32% of Democrats like political leaders who identify as democratic socialists. 56% of Democrats say they neither like nor dislike democratic socialists, who have won a number of recent Democratic primaries in D.C., New York and Colorado. #DemocraticSocialism #USPolitics #USDemocrats
And in fact I'm now catching up with a nearly simultaneous federal court ruling that the scheme is illegal, which includes an injunction against following through with it in 23 states plus D.C.
Federal judge blocks Trump effort to restrict mail voting
Trump’s executive order threatened to upend mail voting in the 2026 midterms, but a court has blocked its major provisions from taking effect.
votebeat.org
Lawless. The courts need to come down on this like a ton of bricks.
Postmaster general confirms plan to hold back mail ballots in states that won’t share voter data
Postmaster General David Steiner told lawmakers Wednesday that the U.S. Postal Service will no longer deliver mail-in ballots in states that refuse to provide sensitive voter data to the federal go…
thehill.com
My colleage @schneier.com argues for liability as a simple tool for AI regulation. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
If an AI chatbot misleads you, who is to blame? | Bruce Schneier and Nathan E Sanders
A court in Germany found that Google was responsible for what its chatbots say in search summaries. This is the accountability we need
theguardian.com
Great piece on organizing and the USGOV raids on the Ohio Organizing Collaborative from my colleague Liz McKenna www.bostonglobe.com/2026/06/19/o...
Protest doesn’t scare the Trump administration. Organizing does. - The Boston Globe
More than 100 federal agents descended on an Ohio group that does democracy’s slowest, most patient work. The target was not an accident.
bostonglobe.com
The other studies examined here are by @darinc.bsky.social, O. Dube, @johanneshaushofer.com, B. Siddiqi, M. Voors, J. Arkedis, J. Creighton, @akshaydixit.bsky.social, @politicsprof.bsky.social, S. Kosack, D. Levy, C. Tolmie, @profmohanan.bsky.social, V. Rajan, K. Swanson, and H. Thirumurthy.
Our findings, viewed along those of Björkmann & Svensson 2009, also underscore the importance of considering the generalizability of research findings not just across space, but in the same setting *over time*, especially during periods of rapid socio-economic change.
Mathematicians worry that AI could break math. “… a handful of corporations are mobilizing their vast financial resources to impose an impoverished view of mathematics” www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/s...
As A.I. Makes Strides in Mathematics, Mathematicians Urge Caution
nytimes.com
notes on the papal encyclical on AI: peterlevine.ws?p=35700
Can you believe in the importance of evidence-based public policy AND think that populism can be good for democracy? That's the question I debated with @politicsprof.bsky.social and Stephen Richer this week. The short answer, of course, is yes! The long answer is more rewarding to listen to.
Sinking Yachts: Can a Billionaire Backlash Save Democracy?
YouTube video by Harvard Ash Center
youtube.com
How can democracies get billionaires under control? Join us Tues 12.15pm ET to find out. @pculpepper.bsky.social will join @stephenricher.bsky.social and me to talk about his new book Billionaire Backlash (co-authored with my colleague @taekurono.bsky.social). www.youtube.com/live/Md8F_of...
Sinking Yachts: Can a Billionaire Backlash Save Democracy?
YouTube video by Harvard Ash Center
youtube.com
Chapter on AI and Democracy with Bailey Flanigan, @politicsprof.bsky.social and Charles Stewart 👇
Nate Persily@persily.bsky.social · 3mo agoThe Draft Volume of the APSA AI Task Force, cochaired by Josh Tucker and me, is now available. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, POLITICS, AND POLITICAL SCIENCE will be published by Cambridge Press later this year, but the draft chapters are available today: apsanet.org/wp-content/u...
Archon Fung @politicsprof.bsky.social makes a related point about society in general: that strife around who gets to speak in the public square (including campuses) has intensified as the ideological divide between the two major parties has grown more profound niemanreports.org/the-future-o...
The Future of American Democracy Amid Deepening Polarization - Nieman Reports
Harvard professor Archon Fung on the country’s political divisions and strategies for reaching across party lines.
niemanreports.org
Psyched to talk to @vanjones.bsky.social about big tech and American politics @4pm ET. In Obama days, most tech moguls were aligned with the Democrats. Now, some very big ones are aligned with Trump and MAGA. Should progressives ally w/ big tech, or fight them? ash.harvard.edu/events/how-d...
How did the Democrats Lose Silicon Valley? Should They Try to Get it Back? – Ash Center
ash.harvard.edu
This Friday don’t miss the opportunity to hear from @raskin.house.gov, @davidhogg.bsky.social, @cornellbrooks.bsky.social, Marshall Ganz, Theda Skopcol, @politicsprof.bsky.social, @alexkeyssar.bsky.social and more at the Teach-In (at Harvard & livestreamed) Register: www.students4freedom.org/events
Inspired by Henry David Thoreau's observation that some ostensibly labor-saving inventions actually require more work than they save, on the blog today, I ask whether the need to correct AI's errors renders its current manifestations a net negative for legal research and writing.
AI Legal Research and Thoreau's Warning
During my Federal Courts class earlier this week, a student asked me a question about a point I had made that appeared to contradict a sente...
dorfonlaw.org
My colleague Stephen Richer, former Maricopa County Recorder, has some reactions to Trump's new mail voting E.O. from the standpoint of an experienced administrator in Arizona, a state whose permitted vote-by-mail timeline Trump seems to imagine he can block.
A Few Key Points on Trump's New Elections Executive Order
Trump is clearly frustrated with Congress’s inability to pass new election laws. He doesn’t interpret this as a mandate to go back to the legislative drawing board, but rather a license to legislate w...
cato.org
Pro-AI group to spend $100mn on US midterm elections as backlash grows @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/6a3f...
US publication date is today for the Billionaire Backlash! If you’re in the Cambridge (MA) area, come to Harvard Book Store tomorrow night to hear us chat about the book with the inimitable @politicsprof.bsky.social
Pepper Culpepper and Taeku Lee at Harvard Book Store | Harvard Book Store
1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138
harvard.com
Tune in to today's episode of Terms of Engagement, live on YouTube at 12pm ET. Watch here ⤵️ https://www.youtube.com/live/BgMn70uUVHQ?si=Afyd7emojOOaLZGm
Trump and His Billionaire Allies Make their Move on the Media
YouTube video by Harvard Ash Center
youtube.com
Tune in at noon ET to hear Director Nancy Gibbs in conversation with @politicsprof.bsky.social & Stephen Richer about the current state of the media on @harvardash.bsky.social's Terms of Engagement podcast. Join live or watch/listen later.
Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation@harvardash.bsky.social · 5mo agoTune in to today's episode of Terms of Engagement, live on YouTube at 12pm ET. Watch here ⤵️ https://www.youtube.com/live/BgMn70uUVHQ?si=Afyd7emojOOaLZGm
Civil society fights back Nine Law Firms Surrendered. Four Law Firms Won. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/o...
Opinion | Nine Law Firms Surrendered. Four Law Firms Won.
nytimes.com
What's higher ed to do when it loves viewpoint diversity, but viewpoint diversity doesn't love it back? www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/u...
Pentagon to Curb Ties With Top Universities and Think Tanks
nytimes.com
Many of us in the democracy community tried to persuade the Obama folks that small-d democracy should be more of a priority than they made it. My sense then was that they nodded politely, but didn't really get the point. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/u...
Obama Took On Recession, Health Care and Iraq. What He Didn’t See Coming Was Trump.
nytimes.com