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Dan Silver

@dsilver432.bsky.social
85 followers 64 following 238 posts
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
lol
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Have you seen John Levi Martin's response to a recent review of the basic situation of sociology? No, not that one! This one: thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/john-levi-... Here, JLM responds to my review of his magisterial book, "The True, The Good, and the Beautiful." Stay tuned for my response!
thesilverlining3.substack.com
John Levi Martin Fires Back
Further discussions on The True, the Beautiful, and the Good
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
arxiv.org/abs/2607.28934
arxiv.org
FairFund-Bench: Evaluating Distributive Bias in LLM Resource Allocation
Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly involved in the distribution of scarce resources, raising concerns about biased allocations based on characteristics like race and gender. Recent LLM audi...
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Towards a critique of the judgments of machine taste. On the sociology of machine judgment. A post on new work by Martin Lukk. thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/the-sociol...
thesilverlining3.substack.com
The sociology of machine judgment
Lukk on using LLMs to make GoFundMe funding decisions
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/on-experie...
thesilverlining3.substack.com
On experiential education
If not here, where?
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
On "experiential learning" and what kind of experiences make a university worth its while.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Well, not everybody.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
in a new generation and setting them off on the journey of a lifetime, in which intellectually rich practices of reading and conversation and discussion and debate play a key role.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Last week was the first week of classes. As usual, it is an exciting time. Lecture halls are full and the hallways are buzzing. Everybody is gearing up for a year of stimulating experiences organized around sparking the life of the mind
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
From Mead and Collins to artificial social intelligence. On the social chain of thought . With a brief tour through some of my mind’s internalized conversations thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/the-social...
thesilverlining3.substack.com
The Social Chain of Thought
Steps toward artificial social intelligence
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Plato and Socrates are both the cause and antidote to this condition. thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/why-do-phi...
thesilverlining3.substack.com
Why do philosophers think that they know everything?
My University of Toronto colleague Joe Heath had another banger essay go viral the other day, “Why do sociologists think that they are critical theorists?” Thanks for reading Silver Linings!
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
In which I offer a qualified defence agains the claim that "sociologists" think that norms as such are violent and that because they can change they should be changed. In return, I make some unqualified claims about why philosophers think that they know everything.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Along the way, Neil makes many interesting observations about topics such as public sociology and psychoanalysis. Check it out here: thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/neil-mclau...
thesilverlining3.substack.com
Neil McLaughlin on C. Wright Mills and Sociology’s Nightmare
Alvin Gouldner and the Crisis of Contemporary Sociology
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Delighted to have a guest post from @mclaughlinsoc.bsky.social on The Silver Linings Substack! In his terrific essay, Neil returns to the debate between Parsons and Mills but brings Gouldner into the mix, applying Gouldner's concept of "theoretical nightmares" to "the sociological imagination."
thesilverlining3.substack.com
Neil McLaughlin on C. Wright Mills and Sociology’s Nightmare
Alvin Gouldner and the Crisis of Contemporary Sociology
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Reposted by Dan Silver
Marc Mölders @mmoelders.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
No one talks enthusiastically and profoundly about Parsons anymore? Well, then you should listen to Daniel Silver on Give Theory a Chance: thesocietypages.org/theory/2025/... #sociology #theory #socialtheory #parsons
thesocietypages.org
Daniel Silver on Talcott Parsons - Give Theory A Chance
The Society Pages (TSP) is an open-access social science project headquartered in the Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
New essay on the sociology and literary representation of fast food. check it out! If, like me, you have both a soft spot in your heart and belly for fast food, this one is for you. And if you don't, maybe it can help to appreciate how somebody could. thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/two-litera...
thesilverlining3.substack.com
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
This usage traces back to C. Wright Mills’ takedown of Talcott Parsons in The Sociological Imagination. Starting from that episode, I discuss our recent paper, which traces the concept’s evolution by way of quantitative and qualitative analyses of 75 years of sociological theory textbooks.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
One among several consequences of this situation is to inoculate the field from undertaking ambitious theoretical work of any sort.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
If you hear the phrase “grand theory” in sociology, more often than not it is to designate something that you are not going to do, or that used to be done in the past. thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/on-grand-t...
thesilverlining3.substack.com
On Grand Theory
How an epithet became a category which became a memory
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
What happens when we permit the sociological imagination to run wild, unrestrained by judgement? This may be the true legacy of MIlls’ book.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
It is striking, then, that the text which has become the model and inspiration for the sociological enterprise, C. Wright Mills’ The Sociological Imagination, puts imagination at the centre of that enterprise.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
This is why Kant thought it had to be paired with judgement, the faculty that determines which of the mind’s many creations are worth keeping.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
The imagination has long been considered both essential and dangerous. It is essential because it represents a capacity to make new connections among existing ideas and to propose new ones. It is dangerous for the same reason. open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
open.substack.com
Sociological Over-Imagination
C. Wright Mills, the promise of "the sociological imagination," and the question of judgment
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
An essay on the ethics of morally lax environments, from mixed martial arts to social media platforms open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
open.substack.com
What Counts as Cheating in a Clout Tournament?
Ongoing Reflection on the Ethics of Social Capitalism
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
we discuss these dynamics around invasiveness as an illustration of what is likely a broader phenomenon and a suggestion to examine this notion of “workability” more generally.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Other species are already hyper-abundant, and so strong intervention is basically pointless; there is nothing to be done but manage or accept them. We find solid support for this hypothesis.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
For example, it is often a lot easier to deal with shrubs and wildflowers than birds, just because the birds can move fast and fly. Many fish are hard to monitor and control; they live underwater after all, and we do not.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
our central contribution is that a third process seems to play a strong role, which we call “workability.” This means that a species is more likely to be treated as a problem when easier to deal with by the managing authority, even if equally harmful or dangerous as another problem candidate.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
That finding may be surprising, but keep in mind that the TRCA is primarily managing an urban region, and things might look different in rural authorities where agriculture and forestry industries are big players.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
By contrast, there is little sign that economic interests are strongly associated with a species being discussed as more invasive.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
We test both of those propositions, and find that the concerns of invasion biologists do play a strong role in shaping the discourse at the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
You might think that invasiveness is more or less a function of what biologists say about a species. But these considerations sometimes run up against those advanced by economic actors, who sometimes want a given species to be controlled, and sometimes don’t.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
open.substack.com
That's problematic! When a case becomes a problem
On non-native and invasive species and the sociology of problematicness
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
The world is full of things that could be considered problematic, but only some are actually treated that way. Why? We examine this question in a new paper, studying when some non-native species are discussed as more or less "invasive."
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
open.substack.com
Is influence zero sum?
Win or lose, we can all win friends and influence people
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
But it does help to understand the promise and perils of both. thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/is-influen...
thesilverlining3.substack.com
Is influence zero sum?
Win or lose, we can all win friends and influence people
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
In this post, I argue that in fact influence can become positive-sum in the right institutional setting, which is one that makes it money-like. We call these settings platforms. This does not make platforms "good" any more than money is "good."
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Is influence zero-sum? To a surprising degree, disputes about how to understand the contemporary media ecology come down to this question. One view sees status as inherently zero-sum, and therefore capable of infecting positive-sum domains, such as money.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
jimmyalfonsolicon.substack.com/p/synthetic-...
jimmyalfonsolicon.substack.com
Synthetic Socrates, Teaching Assistant
How AI and LLMs can restore the philosophical classroom
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Then they create variants of the simulation to observe the implications of their ideas in silico. The bigger point is that this is a time for experimentation and mutual learning among teachers and students.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
They propose two interventions into the argument, such as changing the theological content of the doctrine or the psychology of the believer, and articulate hypotheses about the implications.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
In this one, students work from a representation of Max Weber’s Protestant Ethic argument, featuring a Doctrine, a Preacher, a Believer, a non-Believer, a Patron, and The Market.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Mad Max is bot who is ready to defend any of Max Weber’s positions, including his most controversial ones.The post introduces Max, and discuses how we use it in the classroom, before reporting on another of my experiments to use a multi-agent platform as a vehicle for teaching social theory.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
I was very inspired by Jimmy Alfonso Licon’s Synthetic Socrates, where students debate an AI trained to fiercely defend various philosophical positions. So I thought I’d adapt it to my class on classical sociological theory. The result is Mad Max. thesilverlining3.substack.com/p/mad-max-an...
thesilverlining3.substack.com
Mad Max: Beyond the Iron Cage. AI in the Classroom
Enter the Thunderdome
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Collection of practices, organizations would be eg Bluesky, X, Substack, ResearchGate etc
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Speaking of Parsons, though, I think this would make a lot of sense to him. He did, after all, in American Society, write that "instrumental activism" is the "paramount value of American Society" and then discussed how this is institutionalized (and the source of many strains).
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
good question! I mean it very literally, as in a platform is an institution that incentivizes people to use each other and their interactions instrumentally (e.g. to build up their followings).
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
I take the intuition very seriously, and try to build a platonic participatory platform-in-speech run on the same principles as efforts to imagine a post capitalist participatory economy. The results, alas, are information degradation, misaligned incentives, and black attention markets.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
political sociality creates a counterintuitive moral context, in which, as in political economy, many everyday intuitions are relaxed. One intuition that is very difficult to let go of is that it is possible to organize the production and allocation of influence directly and cooperatively.
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Dan Silver @dsilver432.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
This essay applies some political economy concepts to platforms, which I conceptualize under the heading of “political sociality” and “social capitalism”: the institutionalized instrumentalization of social relations. Aka: staged clout tournaments. open.substack.com/pub/thesilve...
open.substack.com
The Scroll to Surfdoom
Social Capitalist Ethics and the Paradoxes of Participatory Platform Planning
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