iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

In science the only consideration is the merits of the claim. Motives are irrelevant (and ALWAYS impugned - ask Nick). Don't you think the topics JA studied are important enough to study for real? I think the other Black scholars who got passed over deserved JA's position & resources.

100

I'm really passionate about open science, so to me it matters because punishing whistleblowers deters people from coming forward, especially against influential figures. People like Gino littered the scientific record for years and I'm certain many others just aren't caught.

100

Lacing cocaine w/ fentanyl is wrong & illegal. Blowing the whistle on fraud is good & traditionally protected. A better way to analyze the ethics is to flip the ideological shoes. If a racist died by suicide after a Black scholar revealed he made up data, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

000

We agree that (a) NC was clearly racist before he identified JA's fraud, (b) Ghent took no action against NC before JA's suicide, & (c) JA's suicide was a factor in Ghent taking action against NC now (a consideration you endorsed). Need an explanation for (a) & (b) to say it's not retaliation.

200

So I just don't think you can have it both ways. It's unhealthy for values to matter only when being guided by them is easy. In this case it's hard! But the facts are he identified real fraud and now suddenly they've suspended him.

100

Matt Patton @pattonmatt2.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Yeah, I get they're not going to officially say it's retaliation, but obviously his past actions were known before Arday's suicide. You acknowledged as much yourself. You said "Actions leading to someone’s suicide validly raises the stakes of the crusade enough to spur immediate action by the uni"

100

The political tables turn way too easily for that. Trump administration officials gave realpolitik justifications for firing all our inspectors-general here. If the principle isn’t binding when the whistleblower is despicable, it’s worthless. (Worse in this case, it’ll just encourage more suicides.)

Matt Patton @pattonmatt2.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I don’t mean to go in circles. If he’s not responsible, I’m just trying to understand why the suicide justifies the uni taking action now. To me, protecting whistleblowers from retaliation is an essential norm. (Tragically, this won’t be the last suicide following discovery of fraud.)

200

Matt Patton @pattonmatt2.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Wait…in what way is he responsible for the suicide? You could argue against exposing literally any fraud by that logic.

100

Reposted by Matt Patton

Dorothy Bishop @deevybee.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

enjoying rewatching Attenborough’s Life on Earth, first broadcast in 1979. It still is remarkable in the range of what it covers - and the phenomenal camerawork. Can recommend as a soothing alternative to a diet of world news.

0113

It’s really tragic. Arday doesn’t strike me as any kind of psychopath. I suspect he got a lot of reinforcement for his inspiring fabulism and little corrective when it would have helped him. The system likely set him up to fail by making it so hard for educators to uphold academic integrity.

Eric Turkheimer @ent3c.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

It was in the NYT's coverage. I don't get why the denied opportunities aren't flagged as a bigger problem. There are plenty of brilliant Black scholars who weren't implausibly claiming illiteracy until age 18. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/15/w...

220

Reposted by Matt Patton

It's unfortunate, but I agree with Sasha. Cofnas should never have been hired (is there a good account of how that happened?), but having been hired I don't like to see him let go for ideological reasons, despite the awfulness of his ideology. I would be fine with dismissing him at his next renewal.

19191

Surely the context argues in Confas's favor if no one else would blow the whistle for years. It's a cop out to blame him for this tragedy. Arday was cruelly tokenized and set up to fail here -- to the detriment of 2 other Black scholars who were finalists for his position.

100

But applied to scholarship, that’s really bad! Everything from heliocentrism to homosexuality caused “reputational damage” at some point.

200

I think about it a lot too. After teaching 20+ years, I’m much more scared of students encountering Confases online than at university. We’re failing to teach them to recognize racist pseudoscience.

What is wrong with their hiring process not to consider this stuff? I don’t understand how he got the job.

120

I get that the university isn’t saying it’s about whistleblowing. But they knew who he was before he blew the whistle. Tbh I’m not comfortable with Ghent citing reputation damage either. People used to say that about American universities hiring “sodomite“ scholars. Universities aren’t churches.

100

I don’t think it’s reasonable to infer anything at all about the signatories other than that they believe whistleblowing is protected academic speech.

200

Saloni @scientificdiscovery.dev · 17/08/2026

He’s a horrible racist and clearly shouldn’t have been hired, but it’s a terrible precedent to fire him for exposing fraud. The hill worth dying on (especially post-Gino) is we need stronger protection for whistleblowing.

431

Reposted by Matt Patton

It's finally here! I gave a TED talk in April in Vancouver, and it was released online today. You can watch it here: ted.com/talks/saloni... I've also adapted it into an article, which was published last week: worksinprogress.co/issue/future...

612023

Reposted by Matt Patton

simine vazire @simine.com · 12/08/2026

It’s amazing what Brian and OSF have done for science. I can imagine how hard the folks at COS must’ve worked to avoid this outcome. I’m extremely grateful to them for creating the reality we live in now. The fact that we’ll miss these services so acutely is a testament to how much they shaped us.

09324

Reposted by Matt Patton

Saloni @scientificdiscovery.dev · 28/07/2026

I'm interested in finding and potentially supporting people who are interested in doing long-form writing on the big efforts in global health: Gavi, Global Fund, PEPFAR, etc. If this is you or someone you know, please make yourself known!

58274

Reposted by Matt Patton

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

The people elected an ignorant rapist who advocates war crimes. The Supreme Court says this one president is special and above the law. A majority in both houses of Congress agree. Military leadership is on board with it or has been purged. That's who's in position to not allow it. So here we are.

14497118

Matt Patton @pattonmatt2.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Congrats! I still haven’t had a chance to finish it, but I gave a copy to a philosopher colleague who just raved about it. ❤️