iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

In grad school one of my Ph.D dissertation ideas died a fiery death when the new JCR issue published a piece by someone else who had alas same exact idea 3 years earlier. Anguish of knowing that you were scooped by an AI that only recently sped up...

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

My two cents in a Brazilian newspaper about fears of a possible US electoral intervention in Brazil for Bolsonaro in its presidential elections www1.folha.uol.com.br/mundo/2026/1...

www1.folha.uol.com.br

Pesquisa aponta que EUA já interferiram em duas eleições no Brasil

Levantamento mapeou 187 intervenções de EUA e Rússia de 1946 a 2014 e aponta efeito médio de 3 pontos percentuais sobre o voto

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Yup- we'll eventually have for (non super-intelligent AI) the rerun of the classic vegetarianism debates in an updated digital format. Most humans are willing to eat meat from domesticated animals of some types so I have a pretty good idea how they'll end...

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David Dixon @dixondaver.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I am on my knees begging just one (1) government in the world to treat AI companies like they would a company that had human "agents" that hacked into accounts and serves and stole data. Just prosecute the company and start arresting people! The problem will quite literally fix itself!

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Yup- having as your main alternatives Stalin's USSR (and the recently eliminated Hitler's Germany) sure led to an um overestimation how free they actually were.

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

1. the emotional connections Americans had to the main battleground in case of a WW3 in Cold War (e.g. Europe) but largely lack in US-China case 2. the expected domestic effects in case of a defeat to that rival at home- largely non existent in US-China case /4

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Reason why that didn’t happen was b/c US China competition lacks the 2 key factors that made the Cold war so potent to much of the US public and elites during much of the Cold War) /3

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

At start of US China competition many centrist US pundits assumed it would heal internal US divisions,lead to unity to deal w/US internal problems & “sputnik moments” by analogy to Cold War. In 8 years since start of competition obviously didn’t happen. /2

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

For Trump-Xi summit, my new substack on why US-China competition didn’t create unity at home as some US pundits hoped. I argue that was b/c of they misunderstood the Cold War the historical case of US unity in the face of a foreign threat that inspired them/1 dovhlevin.substack.com/p/why-the-us...

dovhlevin.substack.com

Why the U.S.-China Competition Did Not Create Unity in the U.S.

In the late 2010s, as U.S.-China relations worsened, a growing number of centrist American pundits such as David Ignatius, and David Brooks, saw a large silver lining.

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

They usually believe something around lines of "my kid is better then the foreigners- but their dream university preferred the foreigners instead b/c: foreigner cheated on their SATs/TOFEL/ they pay more money in tuition/ university's DEI concerns"

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

That's going to take a while b/c there is a whole U.S. constituency (parents of teen kids applying/soon to apply to college) who are probably sure that the bull breaking all that China (aka reducing foreign enrollments) helped their kid get into a better college...

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Reason why that didn’t happen was b/c US China competition lacks the 2 key factors that made the Cold war so potent to much of the US public and elites during much of the Cold War) /3

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

dovhlevin.substack.com

Why the U.S.-China Competition Did Not Create Unity in the U.S.

In the late 2010s, as U.S.-China relations worsened, a growing number of centrist American pundits such as David Ignatius, and David Brooks, saw a large silver lining.

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

In other news, US military use of an AI tool that hallucinated info on a Chinese cargo ship almost caused a major, military crisis triggering incident w/China. If you want a way more plausible AI doom scenario then an AI becoming godlike & eliminating humans... edition.cnn.com/2026/09/18/p...

edition.cnn.com

Exclusive: US military had close call after using AI for false intelligence report, sources say | CNN Politics

The episode shows the risks of using this new, relatively poorly understood technology in the middle of the Iran war

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

edition.cnn.com

Exclusive: US military had close call after using AI for false intelligence report, sources say | CNN Politics

The episode shows the risks of using this new, relatively poorly understood technology in the middle of the Iran war

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

You are joking but if archeology was invented in the 21C that is indeed how it would be called...

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Yeah except for maybe personal servants & top policymakers few people care about human replacement of specific jobs by machines (aside of their own).

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Good news is that, unlike math, our research requires regular data collection efforts which is something that AI shown yet little skills beyond scraping the internet. Also one where patterns sometimes & "training data" becomes of limited value. Useful yes- our replacement not any time soon 😀

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Oh its quite coherent "its bad when data centers eat my baby but its ok to have datacenters so I can use AI for work & fun when those datacenters eat someone elses baby in a faraway place that I don't care about"...

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

At APSA? Looking to know more on the public incentives of US media to refuse to publish information offered to them by foreign interveners as part of a foreign election interference attempt in US elections? Today at a 4pm panel you’ll have a chance! convention2.allacademic.com/one/apsa/aps...

convention2.allacademic.com

APSA Annual Meeting & Exhibition 2026

Content is hosted by All Academic Inc, a leading provider of online hosting and software solutions for academic conferences supporting submission, peer review, scheduling, invitaions, volunteers, sche...

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

convention2.allacademic.com

APSA Annual Meeting & Exhibition 2026

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The Great Pumpkin Papers 🎃🎃🎃 @professormusgrave.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Georgetown University in Qatar is hiring in Data Science and Society! Review begins October 15. This is an open-rank search suitable for a PhD/equiv in computer science, social science, law and legal studies, design, media studies, or related fields. apply.interfolio.com/192433

apply.interfolio.com

Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Better opening "Every day, the almighty's divine tool of punishment for people who ever seriously promoted the LEO, wakes up..."

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

China is producing at home much of the training data for humanoid robots from having locals move with VR gear. Future humanoid robots will have Chinese mannerisms... www.economist.com/business/202...

economist.com

China will struggle to make money from humanoid robots

It is ahead of rivals and training up thousands, but profits are a long way off

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Econ brain at work: make geopolitical predictions about US & China relative economic power 75 years (!) into future that assumes no great power wars or major pandemics/big natural disasters- despite obvious possible differential effects that those factors can have

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Yup. Even worse predictions 75 years into future that assume no great power wars or major pandemics/big natural disasters & possible differential effects they can all have- given 20th century I'm sure that there no reason to worry about such stuff however..

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

The ongoing US Datacenter backlash is another example of my oped's recent argument on why China’s tech rise also benefits US- scientific progress can become hostage to domestic US politics which are frequently hostile to useful scientific discoveries or products www.scmp.com/opinion/chin...

scmp.com

Opinion | Why Americans should welcome China’s rise in science

Greater competition may curb the influence of politics and vested interests distorting the US innovation system.

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Are you looking for a tenure track position In IR? Interested in working in Asia? My department at HKU (PPA) is hiring a tenure-track International Relations professor. Warmly recommended from personal experience. Deadline: October 1 jobs.hku.hk/en/job/53686...

jobs.hku.hk

HKU Careers

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) offers an intellectually-stimulating and culturally-rich academic environment, with attractive remuneration packages.

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

jobs.hku.hk

HKU Careers

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) offers an intellectually-stimulating and culturally-rich academic environment, with attractive remuneration packages.

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The Great Pumpkin Papers 🎃🎃🎃 @professormusgrave.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

LLM companies make the academic dishonesty equivalent of heroin, and we do not have academic honesty equivalents of methadone yet

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

The fear- AI will take over by launching a war to eliminate humanity The reality: AI will take over by writing in practice the laws and then one day it'll quietly include in a big bill no one reads... www.politico.com/news/2026/08...

politico.com

AI slop is swamping a House office that drafts US laws

The Office of Legislative Counsel is facing a barrage of new AI-generated bills, many of which are riddled with errors.

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

When you see LLMs as basically upgraded computers (something like the USS enterprise computer in TNG) its not surprising that LLMs are able to bypass us in solving math problems- just like regular computers bypassed us long ago in plugging and chugging various math & stats stuff

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I'd prefer not to discover it this way (i.e. mass AI cheating)- but its nice to have clear empirical proof that professors have been usually adding value via our teaching to our students critical thinking capabilities (and ability to get work afterwards) over the years. futurism.com/future-socie...

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Good luck! I'm going to teach this course this fall again using my traditional method- by specific policy tool.

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Yup "sole organ of the federal government" period alas...

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I've described for many years in my US FP course the president as an elected monarch when it came to US FP-yes fact that this description is now plausible regarding also domestic politics...

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

According to report by a Chinese guy caught killing & cooking one for food in 80s Pandas have quite bad tasting meat- so not recommended (aside of killing an endangered species of course) for a cooking show 😀

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

In other news if you think the limited ability of the US, as seen in the Iran war, to deal with the small drone/ cheap missile issue is limited only to its airforce and navy... well no

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Dov H. Levin @dovlevin.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Other fields of STEM & the social sciences require regular data collection from the real/physical world to make significant scientific progress- something that a disembodied AI lacks the ability to do for foreseeable future- so no we are pricing this correctly for these fields.

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