Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Adam Visokay @avisokay.bsky.social · 11h

spent the last week putting together a draft of my dissertation prospectus and guys this whole PhD thing is starting to feel real 🥹

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Adam Visokay @avisokay.bsky.social · 1d

Oh hell yeah. I’ll be sure to bring my stickers for an exchange

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Reposted by Adam Visokay

Maarten Sap @maartensap.bsky.social · 2d

Saplings take #COLM2025! Featuring Group lunch, amazing posters, and a panel with Yoshua Bengio!

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Reposted by Adam Visokay

Jeff Lockhart @jwlockhart.bsky.social · 2d

Since we're doing "AI lit review" discourse, it would be neat if the people talking about it actually knew how chatbots "read" documents. Rather than be (just) a hater, here's a short, non-technical thread about how they actually work under the hood. 1/

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Reposted by Adam Visokay

Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 8d

🚨 New assistant prof job posting at LSE with a focus on crime and criminal justice

jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/I/...

Assistant Professor

Assistant Professor, , LSE is committed to building a diverse, equitable and truly inclusive university <spa...

jobs.lse.ac.uk

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Reposted by Adam Visokay

Dan Goldstein @dggoldst.bsky.social · 8d

🚨 Postdoctoral Research Economist positions at Microsoft Research New England or New York City 🚨

www.aeaweb.org/joe/listing....

Open to PhDs in econ-related fields (e.g. quant marketing, econ-CS). Seeking those with high collaboration potential with the team: www.microsoft.com/en-us/resear...

American Economic Association: JOE Listings - August 1, 2025 - January 31, 2026

www.aeaweb.org

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Adam Visokay @avisokay.bsky.social · 10d

faculty senate W

Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 11d

Resolution of the University of Virginia Faculty Senate (thus not institutional policy and entirely non-binding, but still inspirational):

Resolution Opposing the
"Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education"
WHEREAS the United States Secretary of Education has requested that the University of Virginia enter into a "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education", and WHEREAS the Compact contains provisions antithetical to the mission and traditions of the University, and
WHEREAS the Compact contains provisions which endanger the independence and integrity of the University, and
WHEREAS the compact likely violates state and federal law, and infringes upon the constitutional rights of members of the University community, and WHEREAS the University of Virginia exemplifies American academic values of the highest standard, including universal right to free speech and the cultivation of academic freedom; therefore
BE IT RESOLVED that the Faculty Senate of the University of Virginia firmly opposes this Compact as written and calls upon Interim President Mahoney and the Board of Visitors to also reject this Compact outright as well as any similar proposal compromising the mission, values, and independence of the University.
Feature Date:
Friday, October 3, 2025

Adam Visokay @avisokay.bsky.social · 14d

Mint the coin

Reposted by Adam Visokay

Stanford Sociology @stanfordsoc.bsky.social · 16d

We're hiring for a senior appointment at the rank of Associate Professor or Professor!

Apply here: facultypositions.stanford.edu/en-us/job/49...

Stanford | Faculty Positions: Details - Senior appointment in the Department of Sociology at the rank of Associate Professor or Professor

facultypositions.stanford.edu

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Adam Visokay @avisokay.bsky.social · 16d

The gap in clarity of purpose was so stark in that debate, it was distracting. tnc always impresses

Trevon Logan @trevondlogan.bsky.social · 16d

Can’t get this quote out of my head, because it rings so true.

“Welcome to Black America. That’s our history. The line we have drawn in general has not been majoritarian politics, unfortunately. That’s just been what it is.”

-Ta-Nehisi Coates

Adam Visokay @avisokay.bsky.social · 18d

I hope you also thanked them for their attention to this matter

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 18d

i told my landlord they're releasing the amelia earhart files and he lowered my rent 50%. i told my grocer and he gave me a free nectarine. i told my doctor and he said i didn't have to pay for the visit. try it. you never know who out there has been waiting for this moment.

Reposted by Adam Visokay

Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 19d

Coming up in Seattle (and live streaming). Registration:

www.washington.edu/lectures/eve...

w/@alexhanna.bsky.social

Graphic advertising up coming talk
10.21.25
The Graduate School
Office of Public Lectures
University of Washington

The AI Con
How to fight big tech's hype and create the future we want

Emily M. Bender
Professor of Linguistics UW
Alex Hanna
Director of Research, Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR)

Graphics include photos of Alex and Emily (jacket photos from the book). Alex is wearing hoop earrings and a black shirt and has her arms crossed. Emily is wearing glasses and small drop earrings and a blue/green patterned shirt. Both are faintly smiling and looking straight at the camera.

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Adam Visokay @avisokay.bsky.social · 19d

and the boss, apparently

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Reposted by Adam Visokay

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 20d

pro-tip for anyone who ever visits: the most elite meal you can get in charlottesville is half a chicken, cilantro rice and charro beans from al carbon

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Adam Visokay @avisokay.bsky.social · 20d

W

Adam Visokay @avisokay.bsky.social · 22d

"those who relate to others as though they are not worthy of respect ought to be treated with the regard that orientation deserves"

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 22d

"Common decency stigmatizes people that do not participate in it—removes them from voluntary association. We indeed have to live with one another, but terms and conditions apply."

me on why Ezra Klein should be ashamed / why shame is Good Actually

www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...

How Can We Live Together? - Boston Review

Ezra Klein is wrong: shame is essential.

www.bostonreview.net

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Reposted by Adam Visokay

David Bamman @dbamman.bsky.social · 22d

The UC Berkeley School of Information is hiring an assistant professor in the broad field of Information--including areas of info seeking/retrieval, digital humanities, cultural analytics, info viz, & philosophy of information (among others). Deadline Nov 1! aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05014

Assistant Professor - Information - School of Information

University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!

aprecruit.berkeley.edu

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Adam Visokay @avisokay.bsky.social · 28d

You know the saying: clean desk, empty mind.

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Reposted by Adam Visokay

Aylin Kamelia Caliskan @aylincaliskan.bsky.social · Sep 16

Honored to be promoted to Associate Professor at the University of Washington! Grateful to my brilliant mentees, students, collaborators, mentors & @techpolicylab.bsky.social for advancing research in AI & Ethics together—and for the invaluable academic freedom to keep shaping trustworthy AI.

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Reposted by Adam Visokay

American Sociological Association @asanews.bsky.social · Sep 14

Find out all about the University of Washington’s Department of Sociology & other soc depts in the 2025 ASA Guide to Graduate Depts of Sociology. Now completely online & free for ASA members. Available for a fee to nonmembers. https://bit.ly/ASAGradGuide

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Adam Visokay @avisokay.bsky.social · Sep 6

Thus the impostor syndrome remains alive and well nourished 🙃

andrés castro araújo @acastroaraujo.bsky.social · Sep 5

Sociology is this weird field where one professor will advise you to learn more math and another will tell you to read Kant's Critique of Judgment instead.

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Reposted by Adam Visokay

Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) @mpidr.bsky.social · Sep 4

🎉🎊A week full of celebrations
✨Two ERC Starting Grants for the MPIDR✨
We are thrilled to announce that @marilianep.bsky.social and @ugobas.bsky.social have each been awarded with an ERC Starting Grant by the @erc.europa.eu. #ERCStG
www.demogr.mpg.de/en/news_even...
#ERCStartingGrant #longevity

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Adam Visokay @avisokay.bsky.social · Sep 3

Everyone talks about how hard the dark Seattle winter is, but I am always more unsettled by what happens in September. Approaching the peak rate-of-diminishing-sunlight season 🫠

(image inspired by @neilrkaye.bsky.social)

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Adam Visokay @avisokay.bsky.social · Aug 30

Perhaps outside the scope of this work, as well

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Reposted by Adam Visokay

Yoav Goldberg @yoavgo.bsky.social · Aug 27

When reading AI reasoning text (aka CoT), we (humans) form a narrative about the underlying computation process, which we take as a transparent explanation of model behavior. But what if our narratives are wrong? We measure that and find it usually is.

Now on arXiv: arxiv.org/abs/2508.16599

Humans Perceive Wrong Narratives from AI Reasoning Texts

A new generation of AI models generates step-by-step reasoning text before producing an answer. This text appears to offer a human-readable window into their computation process, and is increasingly r...

arxiv.org

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