iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Here's my book mini review of the month where I recommend a sociology (!) book to everyone:

Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

And here we go again. Dropping the actual investigation is profoundly bad, if not exactly surprising. Is there anything those of us who still care about expertise and accountability can do to pressure Cambridge to reconsider? I mean, apart from continuing to sign letters, boycott and ridicule them.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Here's my book mini review of the month where I recommend a sociology (!) book to everyone:

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The September issue of "Policy, But Better" is out: where to find me in DC (Oct 1 reception + Oct 3 reader meetup), Berkeley (Oct 8-11), and the UK (LSE, Oxford, KCL, Brighton, Newcastle), plus the month's best links: www.popularbydesign.org/p/policy-but...

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The far right looks set to finish first in yet another German state while the mainstream right loses ground. Yes, people vote for these parties because they don't like immigration. But governments don't have to restrict migration to save democracy due to possible backlash:

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

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British Journal of Political Science @bjpols.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

#OpenAccess from 2022 - Do Anti-immigration Voters Care More? Documenting the Issue Importance Asymmetry of Immigration Attitudes - cup.org/4xuHVgl - @akoustov.bsky.social #epop2026

Graphic featuring the title "British Journal of Political Science" in bold white letters against a dark green background.

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Ryan Briggs @ryancbriggs.net · 04/09/2026

It has been embarrassing reading this and similar critiques, because they accuse the report of not doing things that it manifestly does do (like adjusting for time to accumulate citations). I hope everyone involved is more careful in their regular work. You hurt your causes by flubbing this hard.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I wrote this piece for an Australian magazine last month, but I am reposting it now with Germany in mind where the AfD just took almost 44 percent of the vote in one of its states. I see a lot of denial from folks both on the left and right on what this all means and how to do better.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

#APSA2026 was a blast. I'm honored to receive the Best Migration Book Award for "In Our Interest" from my favorite professional community. I'm also grateful to folks who checked up on me and who appreciated my stances and provocations even when we disagree. The future is bright.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Absolutely shameful, and arguably even worse than when Nature endorsed Biden in 2020—misrepresenting publicly known facts and openly protecting fraud, all in the name of clearly ideological goals. At the very least, Nature owes its readers a correction.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

The Ariely case is another devastating blow to academic credibility. Just like Cambridge with Arday, Duke stood by Ariely despite all the evidence of fraud. It spent three years investigating a retracted paper with fabricated data but kept him. www.dukechronicle.com/article/duke...

dukechronicle.com

‘Insane data’: Duke professor Dan Ariely accused of additional research fraud

New evidence released Monday shows that Dan Ariely, professor of business administration in the Fuqua School of Business, likely tampered with or fabricated data in an influential research paper from ...

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Sarah McLaughlin @sarahemclaugh.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

“That strength is diminished when members of our society — citizens and noncitizens alike — must self-censor and ‘behave’ or suffer the government’s retaliation.” www.fire.org/news/breakin...

In America, free speech doesn’t just belong to the people who say things the government agrees with,” said FIRE attorney Conor Fitzpatrick. “Today’s ruling proves that free speech isn’t a privilege, but the inalienable right of every man, woman, and child

Judge Noël Wise of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California wrote in her opinion that “in the United States, freedom of speech belongs to the people. It is not the government’s to take.”

“Foundational to America’s enduring democracy are our freedoms of speech and the press embodied in the First Amendment,” she wrote. “In the United States, free speech, including the freedom to criticize the government and its leaders, is not a sign of our democracy’s fragility. It is evidence of its strength. That strength is diminished when members of our society — citizens and noncitizens alike — must self-censor and ‘behave’ or suffer the government’s retaliation.”

Rubio and the Trump administration sought to use immigration law to target foreign university students and others for deportation based on protected speech like writing op-eds and attending protests. Their attack suppressed the speech of noncitizens, who worried that voicing the “wrong” opinion about America or Israel will result in deportation. Today’s decision means that the noncitizen writers and editors of Stanford Daily, and Jane Doe, may not have their visas revoked or be deported based on protected speech. And it is the first ruling in the country to squarely rule on the constitutionality of these statutes and thus will reverberate in similar proceedings around the country, including those of Mahmoud Khalil and Moshen Mahdawi.

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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Cofnas suspension has been lifted, according to posts from Cofnas himself, and from the US Ambassador to Belgium, who says he is in direct contact with the head of the university over an agreement for Cofnas to complete his one year post at Ghent bsky.app/profile/sund...

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

One profoundly sad thing I've come to realize over the past weeks is that many academics don't understand the point of academic freedom or signing petitions, for that matter. It's all really just about supporting good people you agree with against bad people you disagree with.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

TIL that I'm a "morally vacuous Nazi who is on a multiday crashout after facilitating the death of a Black academic" from a fellow academic on bsky who didn't like the open letter I signed. This seems like a nice, well-functioning social media website facilitating free exchange of ideas.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

This is well said. I understand why some journalists and normal folks may not get the point of academic freedom to voice controversial (and bad or even despicable!) ideas. But seeing academics themselves (pretending?) not to get it has been extremely depressing to me.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

I wish more academic folks on the left with strong anti-racist views would sign this too.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

This is the first open letter I've signed. I encourage all academics who still care about higher ed's credibility to do it. We're at a crossroads: if we can't uphold academic freedom even for those whose views are despicable, we won't agree on anything else. johnarmstrongmaths.com/openletters/...

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Paul Semenza @paulsemenza.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

All you need to see is that @akoustov.bsky.social signed it

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Alright folks, we need to talk. I'm seeing excessive Pangram policing in my feed again, usually as "for my friends, everything—but for my enemies, AI detection." So, let's just have a simple rule: You are only allowed to dismiss someone's writing if it's 100% AI. Nothing less.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

While many folks lament the loss of trust in higher education, the bigger issue is the loss of trustworthiness. Regular people are not supposed to do their own research on things like masks or plagiarism—they *should* just be able to take what institutions like Cambridge tell them for granted.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

However tragic this story is, all I said on the matter still stands. Cambridge and other institutions involved should still be held accountable. They will now try to absolve themselves by pointing to the tragedy, but those of us who still care about expertise should not let them do it.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Peak BlueSky is where someone calls something a concentration camp, and gets criticized for not being harsh enough

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

I'll be spending the second half of October in the UK for a short tour to present my new book project, Immigration for Realists. If you'd like to organize a seminar or meet up, let me know!

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

A few months ago some folks called to fire me for my blasphemous thoughts on AI. Others privately DM'd me for my setup (sometimes the same people). So I wrote it up: a practical guide to AI for public engagement, useful even if you don't plan to outsource a word of your writing.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

This is a watershed moment, and I hope other journals and competitors will join soon. There will be resistance from softer fields like sociology, but the moral arc bends towards AI review. If AI tools had been available before, none of the big misconduct cases like Arday/Ariely would've happened.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

This essay is a good articulation of the case against overusing one-shot AI writing. But every time someone repeats the mantra "writing is thinking" and ignores other practices that are "thinking" while being OK outsourcing their research (actual thinking!) to AI, I die inside.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

OK folks, Arday is gone now. But we—academics and everyone else who still cares about truth and public trust—cannot let it go yet.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Let's talk about something positive for a moment. I'm writing an article on using AI for scientific public engagement. One use I'd like to see more of is turning a published paper into an accessible interactive data companion. If you've seen other good examples, let me know.

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 04/08/2026

In all seriousness, the detail here is totally shocking

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John V. Kane @uptonorwell.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

OUT TODAY! 🥳 A straightforward, non-technical guide to thinking like a quantitative social scientist. Written for students, journalists, and curious citizens. A lot of thought and heart went into this. I genuinely hope folks enjoy it!

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daniel f stone @dfstone.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

"Academic freedom is a privilege and it makes no sense for us to incessantly antagonize the mainstream society whose good graces we depend on" www.popularbydesign.org/p/reality-ma... Very good stuff from @akoustov.bsky.social

popularbydesign.org

Reality May Have a Liberal Bias, but the Social Sciences Still Need Conservatives

Or why I was wrong about viewpoint diversity

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

After calling his critics "dumb," while never explaining his smart strategy of endorsing partisans apart from the need to "fight," the president of AAUP blocked us. Just like Carolyn Rouse of Anthropology or Cambridge U, academic leaders are failing us. Not very savvy indeed.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

The open secret is that Cambridge never had a good rep among empirical social scientists, especially compared to its name recognition—I couldn't name a single scholar in my field there. But I should say I'd now think twice before engaging with any work from that institution.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

This is random, but I recently walked to Canada and was surprised by the amount of AI-generated street signage everywhere. Has anyone tried to explicate the AI image style the way folks have done with AI writing? Is it about the font, the color choice, or something else?

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

If you've been wondering, like me, how AAUP picking sides in a Dem Senate primary supposedly fights GOP attacks on higher ed, there's no conspiracy. After listening to and looking at their leadership, it seems it's just a bunch of self-selected lefty humanities professors who are not very savvy.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

For me, that was the most damning part of the whole thing. That a presumably senior professor of color is afraid of publicly voicing their concerns about a clear case of misconduct tells you all you need to know about the state of free speech and ideological diversity in academia:

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

When will any of these people who willingly organized to defend clear academic misconduct, or were gullible enough to go along with it, repent, apologize, or be held accountable in any way for spreading misinformation?

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Had Arday exaggerated less and made up his quotes instead of plagiarizing, nobody would have noticed—this type of research is simply not falsifiable. But what does this all say about academic standards in Cambridge, sociology, and education? It is no wonder academics are losing public trust.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

My essay on the need for conservatives in social research has gotten traction, but folks have been pushing me to give concrete examples of why it may be useful to have right-wingers in your department. Let me tell you about the still influential but rather silly idea of "right-wing authoritarianism"

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