iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

My new piece for Justice Everywhere (justice-everywhere.org/general/ince...), where I argue that paying people for democratic service could help with alleviating both the current democratic crisis and the possible AI-driven unemployment crisis.

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Monday, 11 May, we are holding an international workshop on "Digital Democracy and Inclusivity", at the University of Bucharest (part of the PERYCLES project - perycles-project.eu). Program below:

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

I think Dennett was pretty ok throughout his entire life though (if I haven't missed anything), no?

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

He sort of lost his mind when engaging in the American cultural wars in the past few years, so I personally find it hard to take much of what he says seriously.

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

I disagree. Trump explicitly said "he likes people who weren't captured", so he'd rather just abandon the pilot.

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

I would think an endorsement from Netanyahu is more political kryptonite rather than desirable. In 2025 (Pew) favourable opinions of Israel were at -17 and of Netanyahu at -26 in Hungary. And this was data from early 2025, before he torched the world with his imperialism, so I guess even worse now.

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Dr. Émile P. Torres @xriskology.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

New article in which I argue that it's absolutely unacceptable and completely outrageous that the AI CEOs and founders are saying, out loud, that they might kill you and your family. This is true even if you think AGI isn't imminent or dangerous. But what do you think?

realtimetechpocalypse.com

Marc Andreessen Doesn't Introspect / There's No Collective Action Problem Driving the AGI Race / and All the AI CEOs Have Threatened to Kill You

(2,300 words)

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Cas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

"The other iron law of reactionary centrism – beyond the asymmetry that is hiding behind the seeming evenhandedness – is that only the left and liberals really have agency." Brilliant column by @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social

theguardian.com

Beware of ‘anti-woke’ liberals: they attacked the left and helped Trump win | Jan-Werner Müller

So-called ‘reactionary centrist’ pundits proclaimed that there was a global ‘vibe shift’ in favor of the right. They were wrong

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

All the Reich is asking for is for a place called the Pomeranian Corridor. Sorry, the Sudetenland.

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Reposted by Alexandru Volacu

Nathan K. Hensley @nathankhensley.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

ah well at least we restructured the entire contemporary university, the product of many centuries of slowly accumulating human ingenuity, to boost this

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

I'd be surprised if it wasn't. In a few years school day will probably open with hymns dedicated to Trump, Thiel and Ellison, followed by 10 hours of AI brainwashing. This is in line with the current course the US is on.

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

As a former Fellow myself I'll be happy to respond to any inquiries one might have.

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

Application period for New Europe College (Bucharest) fellowships in humanities and social sciences: nec.ro/fellowships/... Especially if you recently got your PhD and are looking for a 1-year fellowship it is a wonderful place to work, with a scholarship that will completely cover expenses here

nec.ro

Apply for a fellowship : NEC

NEC Institute for Advanced Study

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Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

“Where are we now with AI?” “Well, we’re eating up the whole world in order to put a few million middle-ranking white collar workers out of work.” “Ah, progress is a wonderful thing!”

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

There aren't any free speech warriors in MAGA. They were always Cancel Culture Warriors that were just waiting for their side to get into power. Maybe some genuine libertarians might have unwittingly bought into the scam, but they're probably too entrenched in trumpism by now to reverse course.

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Ken Klippenstein @kenklippenstein.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

New Tyler Robinson posts leaked to me tell a very different story than you've heard before: www.kenklippenstein.com/p/exclusive-...

kenklippenstein.com

Exclusive: Leaked Messages from Charlie Kirk Assassin

Accused shooter’s “politics” is not what government and media say

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

Sure😀You seem to be strongly gripped by consuming years of MAGA propaganda so there's not much point in wasting both our time further. Might want to question your assumptions and beliefs once in a while though, it's helpful.

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

Third, the narrative that he is a left winger was being pushed seconds after the shooting, so it's not like anyone on the right will ever back down from it, no matter what comes out. Sorry if I'll be skeptical on what the republican governor of Utah says, or his gun-crazed republican family members

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

Second, I never said he was a white nationalist, I said gropyer troll, and there are good reasons to believe he belongs to this group by the markings on the casings (which you know).

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

First, you missed the first question, who are "they", when there is one shooter? When far-right extremists commit mass shootings or political assassinations (far more frequently than left-wingers), notice how democratic leaders don't blame the entire political right and talk about violent revenge.

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

Who is "they" though? All evidence points to it being one guy, who most likely was a groyper troll.

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

My latest piece on Justice Everywhere, about the current and expected impact of Generative AI on an academic environment which puts research outputs at the heart of performance evaluation. Briefly, I think it's no longer sustainable, even in the near future. justice-everywhere.org/general/can-...

justice-everywhere.org

Can Our Current Academic Model Go On in the Age of AI?

It has been almost three years since ChatGPT was released in the public arena amid great hopes, worries, and, perhaps more than anything, hype. While artificial intelligence tools, including of the…

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Part of the idea is also that these problems, people writing bits of articles (prb grant proposals) with AI/reviews with AI is a transitional problem. We see it as such since we can still detect AI writing, but soon we won't be able, so this problem will go away to be replaced by a much bigger one.

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

But if we can't really trust that those research outputs are authentically produced by A, how can we continue to make any career-relevant decisions based on these criteria? It's likely that we'll have to think of alternative ways to judge academic performance, no?

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

So much of the current academic model is built on the idea that one's academic value is to a significant extent given by the quality of their research outputs (PhDs, job hirings, promotions, research grants etc).

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

To the point where full articles can be written by AI in a way that is indistinguishable from a human author. I don't think now we are at that point yet (maybe I'm wrong), but that point will come soon.

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

So briefly, LLMs are getting better (more sophisticated, less hallucinations) and in the near future there will likely be AI agents that can autonomously do tasks (including browsing the literature, generate data, generate ideas, develop them, object to them, re-write them etc)...

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

That being said, the problem will only massively amplify from now on if we stick to our current academic practices (I hope to write something more detailed on this in a couple of weeks)

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

Reviewed a paper for a very good political theory journal last week, parts of it were clearly written with AI. A friend received reviewer reports from another one a couple of days ago. One report, clearly written with AI. I think editors also must do a much better job of screening articles/reviews.

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

In favour of all of that. But right now Israel is doing much to destabilize the Middle East. You can hold the view that the Iranian regime is horrible and criminal and still oppose unilateral military action against it based on the words of a radical right-wing warmonger.

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

You do know Bernie Sanders is Jewish right? What a strange thing to think, that if someone criticizes the government of a country, he hates the people of that country. By the same token, an American criticizing Trump is espousing hatred of Americans?

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

This is giving me serious Putin-Prigozhin vibes

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

So it would be two birds with one stone, then.

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

You need to stop looking at the world through the eyes of the US. The Romanian elections had nothing to do with the America, trumpism, MAGA or anything of this kind.

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

As a Romanian political scientist working on democratic studies, let me tell you very directly that there is a surpisingly high number of countries beating you at democracy😀 (if you are from the US)

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

The difference is so unexpectedly large (and the Romanian electoral process sufficiently transparent) that even they are unlikely to contest it too much. Although, yes, their candidate claimed victory initially.

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

Update. Insane Asylum did not win. Romania now has a very pro-EU president, with a likely similar government to follow.

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Quick post for those interested in international politics. Round 2 of the Romanian Presidential Elections takes place on Sunday. The race pits a guy who did his PhD in Mathematics at Sorbonne against a guy who was nicknamed "Insane Asylum" by his colleagues. The latter is slightly ahead in polls.

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

This gem of a phrase could only be uttered by an American conservative (context: On R/Conservative, in a discussion about the recent Australian elections). Never change, MAGA, never change.

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Frank Conniff @frankconniff.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

Larry David telling Bill Maher to go fuck himself in so many words. Hilarious. Glorious. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/o...

nytimes.com

Opinion | Larry David: My Dinner With Adolf (Gift Article)

When a private meeting goes unexpectedly.

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

1 a.m.? Until what time are pubs normally allowed to stay open in England?

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Alexandru Volacu @volacu.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Well, (1) there will likely not be another free and fair democratic election in the US in near to medium term future, so unlikely that a Democrat will take the office; (2) if there will be, Democrats don't really do anything when they are in office, even with majorities, so shouldn't be a problem.

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