iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

It's finally publication day for this decade-in-the-making book. @noamlupu.bsky.social and I explain why working-class jobs make up 70% of the average democracy's labor force, but only 2% of the average democracy's national lawmakers had working-class jobs when they got into politics.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

At the risk of giving this mess more oxygen, here's a gift link www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/o...

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

In this country, stopping people from learning how to write has historically been a form of social control and oppression. But I'm sure these "a.i." companies and their mouthpieces just want what's best for all of us.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

WERE YOU AWARE: If you made a list of every major-party candidate in the midterms who last had a working-class job, it would only have 7 names (out of 919 candidates) and you could fit them them all on a post-it note. @noamlupu.bsky.social and I have thoughts. www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

"The 2026 elections are shaping up to be another terrible year for working-class representation in Congress."

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I'll always remember her like this.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Found this on another feed. So this is a synthetic image format for synthetic images, used as rage bait. Yay.

An apparently synthetic image meant to depict an advertisement for a food called "breakfast beehive" that depicts a "slop" synthetic image. The whole thing is rage bait.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

I don't understand this. But I will.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

This fall we'll see lots of "how workers vote" stories that implicitly get away with saying a party is "a working-class party" even though almost none of its candidates or electeds come from working-class jobs. press.princeton.edu/books/paperb... @noamlupu.bsky.social @princetonupress.bsky.social

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Not to pile on, but the post right above this one in my feed is about anti-Muslim legislation in Sweden. At first I thought they were part of the same post.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

From a work retreat where we were encouraged to talk about how we "leverage AI" and people with ethical and practical concerns were invited to share their "fears." I'm the one who hogged the pink post-its.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

I join you in celebrating the classic Marvel Comics series.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Finishing up a book manuscript with @noamlupu.bsky.social and my 7yo designed this incredible cover. The book isn't about axolotls PER SE but I'm sure we can figure out how to make this work.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

my new answer to everything: make it the 90s again somehow

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Reminder that peacefully standing up to fascists works. Just do the right thing and don't become an accomplice by cooperating.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

Never forget who we are. www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46550/...

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Far from being self-aware, Google Chrome's new "AI" mode doesn't know its own name or that it exists. Also problematic: like all products being marketed as "AI" right now, it is in no way AI.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

This is sad for me -- Marvel movies and shows are pretty much the only thing I like. But I wouldn't be a good Marvel fan if I just turned a blind eye and refused to make a tiny sacrifice in the face of actual fascism. Stan and Jack and the rest taught us all better than that. #BoycottDisneyABC

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

Just out at JOP (www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10....) : Why do so few working-class people hold office? It's not lack of interest. Noam Lupu and I ran 10 surveys in 8 countries and found no evidence of a social class gap in how often qualified people consider running.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

Hypothesis: No organization has ever done more harm to the US and global education system than Open"AI".

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

A vendor was removed from a major comic book convention for selling "AI" art. Social media responses I've seen have been UNANIMOUSLY critical. Seems that people who actually care about a thing don't have a shred of interest in synthetic/automated output.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Happy birthday, C&I! Ten years ago today, we held the first-ever panel of the APSA Organized Section on Class and Inequality.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Reviving the lost art of the course pack. No particular reason. Unrelated: DID you know that most people who use Chat GPT are students, and usage declines massively in May? Weird.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

This the tech they want us to believe will replace doctors and teachers. thehill.com/policy/techn...

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

Some syllabus draft hot takes. Suggestions welcome, but no need to tell me I sound like a cranky old man . . . I'm well aware. First up, AI:

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

I felt like Pedro Pascal's portrayal of Reed Richards reminded me of someone, and then I realized it was the time Stan Lee himself became Reed Richards.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

🚨New forthcoming paper at JOP: @noamlupu.bsky.social and I use data from 10 surveys in N&S America to see whether lower-income, lower-wealth, and working-class people are less interested in running for office. Interest in running (nascent ambition) can lead to representation gaps. However, ...(1/2)

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

An example of how the language of "grants" can be used to deceive people about the relationship between universities and the government.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

It's a strange day when non-believers like me have to pipe up and say: Jesus was really clear about a couple of things, and one of them was how we should treat immigrants and people in need.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

How odd that the #1 google search result for political parties that support environmental protection is a Wikipedia article about "green conservatism."

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Please share / RT: ***Call for papers: Conference on "Representation, Democracy, and the Economic Backgrounds of Politicians"*** Paper proposals should be submitted by February 21, using this form: forms.gle/Stz7apkkHTgt... Please direct any questions to centerforglobaldemocracy@vanderbilt.edu.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

A reminder (from my paper with Larry Bartels) that House Republicans who supported Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election were generally rewarded in the 2022 midterms: www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10....

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Posted on the other site. I believe this was about a different Nick Carnes, but it's also 100% about me.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

It's been a long week, so here's a gingerbread man my 6yo daughter made at school. She wants you to know: "The colorful parts are swords."

A gingerbread man made of construction paper, with large strips of colorful paper added to the head and arms.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

post a vampire — pass it on

Blade from the MCU film Deadpool and Wolverine, played by Wesley Snipes. Blade is a daywalker, not a standard vampire, but he’s so cool that I included him in this post.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Looking for t-shirt ideas for my upcoming virtual writing retreat with one my co-authors. This feels about right. Other suggestions warmly welcome.

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 03/11/2024

Whatever happens this week, there will still be so much work to do. Here's a bit of inspiration from the recently-opened-to-the-public Pauli Murray Center, in Durham, NC. www.paulimurraycenter.com

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 10/10/2024

The sheer magnitude of the difference reminds of the @xkcd.com comic about glaciers vs. city skylines. (3/2)

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Nick Carnes @carnes.bsky.social · 10/10/2024

from our book project, Keeping Workers Off the Ballot. The grey bars represent the share of working-class jobs (manual, service-ind., clerical) in each democracy's labor force. The tiny black bars are the share of nat'l lawmakers who had working-class jobs when they first got into politics. (2/2)

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