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Jamie Cohen-Cole

@jcohencole.bsky.social
775 followers 776 following 91 posts

Hist Sci/Med/Tech. Views are personal and not on behalf of any university #histsci

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Jamie Cohen-Cole @jcohencole.bsky.social · 21h
“frontier labs need to run like nuclear-power plants or busy airports, with layers of redundancy and careful, time-consuming planning, so that the occasional and inevitable human error does not open a door to disaster. Right now, AI companies don’t know how—but other people do.”
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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
A more dignified political commentator would not make fun of David Axelrod for being such a doofus on X-the-everything-app. But I just can't resist a wide-open dunk. davekarpf.beehiiv.com/p/new-post-0...
davekarpf.beehiiv.com
<eyeroll> C'mon, Axelrod...
Don't say
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Dr. Elisabeth M. Yang @emyang.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Wonderful news! OSIRIS, vol. 41: Histories of Science and Childhoods is FINALLY out! The hope is that this is just initial steps, sparking further research into and engagement with the intricately interwoven worlds of the child and science. www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/osiris/2...
journals.uchicago.edu
Osiris | Vol 41, No null
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Matthew Daniel Eddy🌻 @bookscribbler.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
My American Historical Review article about 19th-century African American doctor James McCune Smith has been published. Download it for FREE: doi.org/10.1093/ahr/... #history #blackhistory #data #womenshistory #histmed #histsci #bookhistory #STS @africanarchives.bsky.social
doi.org
The Moral Doctor: Datafication, Activism, and the Early Medical Career of James McCune Smith in Late Georgian Scotland
Abstract. In the summer of 1836, the clinicians of Glasgow’s Lock Hospital treated the impoverished female patients with a painful new drug. The negative i
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Rebecca Brückmann @historleans.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
JOB ALERT: Come work with me in the History Department and Africana Studies Program at Carleton! We are hiring a TT assistant professor in African history. The position is open to all geographical and thematical subfields in African history. 🗃️ #EduSky #Blackademics africanstudies.org/jobs/tenure-...
africanstudies.org
Tenure-Track Professorship, Carleton College Department of History and Program in Africana Studies
Start Date: September 1, 2027 African History. Carleton College’s Department of History and Program in Africana Studies seekapplications for a […]
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Maddie Stone @themadstone.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
I’ve spent more than a year reporting on how the fossil fuel industry has infiltrated academia over the last 30 years, shaping fundamental paradigms on how to address climate change. My first story in the new @propublica.org and @drilledmedia.bsky.social series, “Carbon Captured”, is out today.
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Jamie Cohen-Cole @jcohencole.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
www.repubblica.it/cultura/2026...
repubblica.it
Carlo Ginzburg è morto, addio al grande storico italiano
Aveva 87 anni. Era famoso in tutto il mondo per le sue ricerche sulla stregoneria e le credenze popolari
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Adrian Daub @adriandaub.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Once again tapping the book cover
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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Three things said about AI and social science: it's a topic to study, a thing to critique, a tool to use. My new Daedalus essay argues these aren't three conversations; they're one. A 🧵 on "Field Theory: AI as Social Science Question, Object, and Tool." www.amacad.org/publication/...
amacad.org
Field Theory: AI as Social Science Question, Object & Tool
Uses of advanced artificial intelligence are changing how societies organize labor, govern, produce knowledge, and make meaning. In light of these developments, this essay argues that AI models, tools...
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Edward Jones-Imhotep @ejonesimhotep.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
It's publication day for The Broken Machine (@mitpress.bsky.social)! The book explores the intertwined histories of breaking machines, social order, and the self in the modern Atlantic, revealing how failing technologies have also shaped our world. mitpress.mit.edu/978026255334... #sts #histtech
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TotientQuotient @totientquotient.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Funny how people complain that the new arXiv policy is too harsh. If anything, it's still way too lenient. Getting caught with AI slop should result in a permanent, publicly viewable (in the form of a hall of shame) ban and retroactive redaction of all previous arXiv submissions. #AcademicSky (1/4)
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Jamie Cohen-Cole @jcohencole.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Haidt at a lectern saying that his is the only reasonable form of politics.
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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 08/05/2026
Preprinted! Been working on this for ~1 year w wonderful coauthors Nancy & Mark: > Understanding Artificial Neural Networks: Mysterianism about Known Mechanism is Mysticism doi.org/10.5281/zeno... Have you noticed many experts say they don't understand AI? What's going on? 🤯 Let us tell you... 1/
Understanding Artificial Neural Networks:
Mysterianism about Known Mechanism is Mysticism
Olivia Guest1,2, Nancy Abigail Nuñez Hernández3, and Mark Blokpoel1,2
1Department of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence, Radboud University, The Netherlands
2Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
3Facultad de Estudios Superiores Acatlán-Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico
Mysterianism is the idea that human cognition, mind, cannot be understood. Taking this
concept and applying it to known mechanism — such that claims are made that we do not
know how engineered systems, such as artificial neural networks (ANNs), work, or that they
constitute black boxes that we can only open with difficulty — is inappropriate at best and
malicious at worst. We do know the mechanistic structure of such models because we designed
and built them. We also do know their functional role (what they are for) as well as the
mathematical function they are asked to approximate (map inputs to target outputs). Because
mysterianist beliefs about known systems, such as ANNs, are often expressed, scientists need
to sit up and take notice. We provide an error theory as to what is going on to help unpick
this metatheoretical blunder. Ultimately, the problem is that ‘understanding’ is not a technical
term in these cases: the word is co-opted for a specific narrative to sell ‘artificial intelligence’
through mystification. All computational systems, from pendulums to databases, will behave
in ways we cannot predict or control — this is not a unique property of ANNs — and experts
do indeed grasp the computational properties of these systems nonetheless.
Keywords: artificial neural networks; mechanism; black box; epistemology; artificial
intelligence; understanding4 GUEST, NUÑEZ HERNÁNDEZ, & BLOKPOEL≈
ANNs are equiva-
lent to or inspired
by humans.
α
≡
ANNs are a black
box or unknowable,
even if opened.
β
≡
Humans are a black
box or unknowable.
γ
Figure 1
Three co-occurring (latent) assertions in the context of con-
temporary reasoning on AI and cognition. While they may
appear to hang together in “reflective equilibrium” (Elgin 2017),
their metatheoretical examination brings their contradictions to
light. Starting from the top, and moving clockwise: 𝛼) represents
the typical assertion of so-called cognitive, neural, or otherwise
biological plausibility or inspiration presented for ANNs; 𝛽) is
the claim we tackle head on here — both in terms of analysing
the constituent terms and in how it relates to the other two
assumptions; and 𝛾) exemplifies a type of mysterianism, which
while not always explicitly expressed, plays a background role
and importantly comes into conflict with the other two claims
in important waysMYSTERIANISM ABOUT KNOWN MECHANISM IS MYSTICISM 11World
?Di
Data?Si
ANN
Figure 3
Not all systems, 𝑆𝑖 relate to their relevant data, 𝐷𝑖 and world
phenomena this way, but ANN models (as many inferential
statistical models) do when used without scientific understand-
ing of the data-generating process or without verbal or formal
theory to match (Guest and Martin 2025b, 2021, 2023). As we
move from left to right above, we move from full understanding
of engineered systems, 𝑆𝑖 to less or even possibly none of the
data, 𝐷𝑖 to the world which can be thought of as the set of
phenomena to be understood.
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Ars Technica @arstechnica.com · 04/05/2026
arstechnica.com
Influential study touting ChatGPT in education retracted over red flags
The retracted study on ChatGPT in education was already cited hundreds of times.
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M.J. Crockett @mjcrockett.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Last weekend I received the Troland Research Award from the @nationalacademies.org. I’m so grateful to the communities who made this work possible. It's strange to receive this award at a time when much of the work being recognized is not eligible for federal funding. My remarks 👇 and a 🧵>>
youtube.com
NAS 163rd Annual Meeting - Awards Ceremony
YouTube video by National Academy of Sciences
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Alexander Starre @astarre.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
The summer semester just started here in Berlin, which means our annual speaker series is about to kick off. If you're in the area, feel free to join us at the JFK Institute for any (or all) of these colloquium sessions (Wednesdays at 4pm). Link: www.jfki.fu-berlin.de/en/faculty/l...
Program of the research colloquium at the JFK Institute Berlin - details on our official website
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James Holland Jones @juemos.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
In the Stanford Daily today. stanforddaily.com/2026/04/13/a...
stanforddaily.com
AAUP | Diversity is much more than woke politics
Professor James Holland Jones writes in support of diversity beyond DEI, explaining how vital it is for success in the academic, business and social world.
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
WHAT WE KNOW, 11pm: —Liberals flip seat on Wisconsin supreme court. —Also flip important school board seats in WI, OK, MO. —Dems win Waukesha mayor race. —GOP defends MTG's seat, but Dems way overperform. —Big MO county rejects property tax freeze.
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Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Alt text: a function to match negative keywords. Instead of using the large language model which it literally is, a constant called negativePattern that is just a shitty 2000's forum style regex of cuss words: looking for the word shit(ty|ttiest) or (shit|crap|junk) or what the (fuck|hell|fucking)
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The Drift @thedriftmag.com · 26/03/2026
Congratulations to The Drift’s Senior Editor @erikmbaker.bsky.social! His book, “Make Your Own Job,” just won the 2026 Merle Curti Intellectual History Award from the Organization of American Historians. www.oah.org/2026/03/26/o...
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Jamie Cohen-Cole @jcohencole.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
Hivemind: looking for a couple of readings to add to a #histstm class regarding FDA and its founding. #histmed #sts. Suggestions welcome!
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Jamie Cohen-Cole @jcohencole.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
The answer is to amend the constitution of the AHA, striking VII.4 (which allows vetoes) and adding a new part of V.2 with a mechanism for membership to place something on the agenda even over objection of the council-it could be like a discharge petition (eg on the Epstein files.)
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Nils Gilman @nilsgilman.bsky.social · 19/10/2025
Back in the late 1960s, Mondale proposed creating a national Council of Social Advisers, which would draw on social science to support a liberal reform agenda. This initiative's failure symbolized the collapsing faith in the possibility of well-informed progressive state muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/artic...
muse.jhu.edu
Project MUSE - Closing the Domestic Intelligence Gap: Walter Mondale’s Proposal for a National Council of Social Advisers and the Uneasy Partnership between Social Science and the Federal Government
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Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda @alejandrofabregastejeda.com · 21/08/2025
With great joy—and a touch of nervousness—I’m thrilled to share that my first academic monograph will be published by @mitpress.bsky.social in May 2026! It examines the organism–environment relationship in biology from an integrated #HPS perspective: mitpress.mit.edu/978026205282... #evosky #philsky
mitpress.mit.edu
The Organism-Environment Pairing
In this first systematic book-length examination of the organism-environment relationship in the life sciences, Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda addresses a crucia...
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Patrick McCray @patrickmccray.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
Silicon Valley is a creature of the Cold War, nourished for decades at the trough of funding provided by the DoD.
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Ben Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
A social sciences and humanities reading list on AI in education 🧵
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Dr. Elisabeth M. Yang @emyang.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Public Policy Research Fellow position ('25-'27) at the Centre for History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds! Come work with me on my Wellcome Research Project on 'Moral Babies' and the 'Science' of Infancy in 19th-century America and Britain. jobs.leeds.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...
jobs.leeds.ac.uk
Job Opportunity at University of Leeds: Research Fellow
Constructing Moral Babies: The Science of Infancy in Nineteenth-Century America and Britain explores the dynamic interface between philosophy, theology, science, and medicine that gave rise to a cultu...
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Jamie Cohen-Cole @jcohencole.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
A fluff piece for Mechanical Turk “robots” “the technician spoke for Neo and remotely guided its hands via a virtual reality headset and two wireless joysticks. Robots are still learning to navigate the world on their own. And they need a lot of help doing it” www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/t...
nytimes.com
Invasion of the Home Humanoid Robots (Gift Article)
Dozens of companies are building robots that look like humans. One of them is training a machine to be a butler and will soon test them in homes.
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Jamie Cohen-Cole @jcohencole.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...
newleftreview.org
Aziz Rana, Constitutional Collapse — Sidecar
Trump and the law.
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Jamie Cohen-Cole @jcohencole.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
theatlantic.com
The Cost of the Government’s Attack on Columbia
American universities have given the country prosperity and security. The Trump administration’s attack on academic freedom endangers all of that.
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David Carroll @davidcarroll.org · 12/03/2025
Office of @raskin.house.gov provided a letter template to officially request your federal personal data from DOGE in accordance with the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a(d)(1) and this could be interesting jamieraskin.com/doge-privacy...
jamieraskin.com
DOGE Privacy Act Requests
U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin is encouraging all U.S. citizens to join him this week in filing formal demands for access to their personal data obtained by the Department of Government Efficiency (...
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
New from me: radleybalko.substack.com/p/three-thin...
radleybalko.substack.com
Three things the Democrats can do right now
We're in dire times. The opposition party should start acting like it.
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Robin Wolfe Scheffler @biohistorian.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
Out a bit late for the 50th Anniversary of #Asilomar-- my #openaccess article on its local resonances in the Greater Boston Area and its impact on the development of #biotechnology. Come for the orange eyed monsters, stay for the financial engineering. #histSTM #STS link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Asilomar Goes Underground: The Long Legacy of Recombinant DNA Hazard Debates for the Greater Boston Area Biotechnology Industry - Journal of the History of Biology
In 1975, a meeting on the potential hazards of recently invented recombinant DNA techniques was held at the Asilomar Conference Center in California. This meeting gave rise to a global debate over the...
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History of Social Science @histsocialscience.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
The first issue of History of Social Science (brand new journal with @pennpress.bsky.social) is published in free access. Please share widely! muse.jhu.edu/issue/54109
muse.jhu.edu
Project MUSE - History of Social Science-Volume 1, Number 1, Winter 2025
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Jamie Cohen-Cole @jcohencole.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
theatlantic.com
Inside the Collapse at the NIH
Administration officials pressured the NIH to avoid clear advice from the agency’s own lawyers to restart grant funding now.
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Nicolas Brisset @nbrisset.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
First issue of the brand-new journal History of Social Science. Decompartmentalising the history of social science is a really good thing. Lots of great-looking articles! Long live this new journal : muse.jhu.edu/issue/54109
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Jamie Cohen-Cole @jcohencole.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
For some reason the Chicago author of this “heterodox” doesn’t mention economics in the list of fields that used their specialized knowledge and overreach inquisitivemag.org/articles/the...
Some disciplines have become, one might say, undisciplined—freely pronouncing on matters outside their putative field of expertise, or expanding their claims of special knowledge to match political exigencies.
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turrigiano.bsky.social @turrigiano.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
McKnight Foundation stands up for core values - this is how its done! mailchi.mp/mcknight/com...
mailchi.mp
We Remain Focused on Mission, Values & Partners
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Elaine Ayers @eayers0.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
Don't forget to register for the Yale Gilder Lehman Center's conference next week on Universities + the Histories of Race, Science + Medicine. I'm speaking, along with @ayahnerd.bsky.social, @jowiph.bsky.social, Carolyn Roberts, David Blight + more! macmillan.yale.edu/glc/2025-ann...
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Jamie Cohen-Cole @jcohencole.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
The National Academies have scrubbed their action plan for diversity equity and inclusion. For archival purposes, does anyone have a pdf?, nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/2691...
nap.nationalacademies.org
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Action Plan: 2023-2028
Read online, download a free PDF.
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Brian Beutler @brianbeutler.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
Coming around to the view that a certain kind of narcissist simply needs Musk to be a genius rather than a fraud, because they want to believe there’s a hereditary Brahmin class of accomplished, beautiful minds—and that they’re a part of that class.
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Jaipreet Virdi @jaivirdi.com · 11/02/2025
From an idea in 2008 to a book in 2025, ECHOES OF CARE: DEAFNESS IN MODERN BRITAIN has been published by @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social ! It explores how changing perceptions of deafness intersected with healthcare, disability, and eugenics in 19th-century Britain. www.mqup.ca/echoes-of-ca...
A book standing upright on multiple copies, which are laying next to a 1920s Underwood typewriter.  The book cover is a faded and blurry background, with a photo of a person’s ear horizontal on the bottom, and text emitting from it to represent sound. The text in large font says “Echoes of Care” followed by “Deafness in Modern Britain” and the author’s name, Jaipreet Virdi.
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
BREAKING: Federal judge temporarily blocks NIH indirect costs rate cap issued Friday as applied to states that sued over the act this morning. Judge Angel Kelley, a Biden appointee, ordered further briefing as well, and set a hearing on Feb 21 in the case. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF STATES’ EX PARTE
EMERGENCY MOTION FOR TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER
ANGEL KELLEY, D.J.
Plaintiff States’ Ex Parte Emergency Motion For Temporary Restraining Order [Dkt. 4]
is GRANTED. Defendants and their officers, employees, servants, agents, appointees, and
successors are hereby enjoined from taking any steps to implement, apply, or enforce the Rate
Change Notice (NOT-OD-25- 068) within Plaintiff States until further order is issued by this
Court. Counsel for Defendants shall file a status report with the Court within 24 hours of the
entry of this Order, and at biweekly intervals thereafter, confirming the regular disbursement and
obligation of federal financial assistance funds and reporting all steps that NIH, HHS and their
officers, employees, servants, agents, appointees, and successors have taken to comply with the
Court’s temporary restraining order.COMMONWEALTH OF
MASSACHUSETTS, ATTORNEY
GENERAL DANA NESSEL ON BEHALF
OF THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF
MICHIGAN, STATE OF ILLINOIS,
STATE OF ARIZONA, STATE OF
CALIFORNIA, STATE OF
CONNECTICUT, STATE OF
COLORADO, STATE OF DELAWARE,
STATE OF HAWAI’I, STATE OF
MAINE, STATE OF MARYLAND,
STATE OF MINNESOTA, STATE OF
NEW JERSEY, STATE OF NEW YORK,
STATE OF NEVADA, STATE OF NEW
MEXICO, STATE OF NORTH
CAROLINA, STATE OF OREGON,
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND, STATE OF
VERMONT, STATE OF WASHINGTON,
and STATE OF WISCONSIN, plaintiffs.
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Uljana Feest @ufeest.bsky.social · 11/01/2025
I am beyond excited to announce the imminent arrival of my book. Operationism in Psychology. An Epistemology of Exploration: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo... Brief chapter summaries below (1/10)
press.uchicago.edu
Operationism in Psychology
Analyzes psychological research to offer insights into how methodological and ontological questions are intertwined.   Psychology has seen an intense debate about the lack of replicability of results ...
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Suman Seth is Mortal & Measuring @alltoosuman.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
Hello All, I have an essay out in the LA Review of Books, on ‘The Politics of Pigmentation.’ lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-... Huge thanks to @emilam.bsky.social, John Jackson Jr, Bill Jordan, and the Cornell STS group for comments.
lareviewofbooks.org
The Politics of Pigmentation | Los Angeles Review of Books
In the sixth essay of the Legacies of Eugenics series, Suman Seth explores the anti-history of the evolution of whiteness.
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Jamie Cohen-Cole @jcohencole.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
BU suspends PhD admissions in American and New England studies, anthropology, classical studies, English, history, history of art and architecture, linguistics, philosophy, political science, religion, Romance studies, and sociology. www.insidehighered.com/news/admissi...
insidehighered.com
BU suspends admissions to humanities, other Ph.D. programs
The university didn’t announce its decision in a news release and hasn’t fully explained it, but two deans blamed a new grad workers’ union contract for the cutbacks to a dozen programs including Engl...
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Uljana Feest @ufeest.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
Hi everyone, I am happy to report that my review of Hans-Jörg Rheinberger's 2023 book (Split and Splice: A Phenomenology of Experimentation) is now online #philsci, #philbio, #philpsy, #hps, #sts, #histsci, #histSTM
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j m gabriel, a circus of faults and vices @jmgabriel.bsky.social · 10/11/2024
I'm putting together a history of medicine (broadly defined) starter pack. Please let me know if I missed you. And please share and make suggestions for people to include And remember - "medicine" is a lot bigger than orthodox medicine/biomedical science, despite what they say go.bsky.app/KzT74Ai
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