Brian Keegan | Lightnews

Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D.

@brianckeegan.com

4.4K followers 2.3K following 2.8K posts

{Social, Data, Network, Information} Scientist, @cuboulder.info

Visiting Scientist, @harvardpopcenter.bsky.social AY25-26

High-tempo collaboration, information commons, public interest data science

https://www.brianckeegan.com/

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Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D. @brianckeegan.com · Sep 2

ICYMI, I’m on sabbatical this AY at @harvardpopcenter.bsky.social:

popcenter.harvard.edu/blog/directo...

I’ll be working on a STS-flavored book project about ecofascist data science that combines critical demography and data studies.

Let me know if you’re in Boston this year and want to meet up!

Brian Keegan – Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies

A Harvard University cross-school, interfaculty initiative administered by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

popcenter.harvard.edu

Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D. @brianckeegan.com · 1h

RIP Texas Tech department chairs, deans, and provost having to review all the course material for every class of every faculty member to stop the woke.

Brendan Cantwell @cantb.bsky.social · 4h

TX Tech has a flow chat for guidance on what can be taught in the university system. Two things:
1. Very little content seems to be permitted. This is partisan control of the curriculum.
2. I would not enjoy teaching under these conditions, but I really would not want to be a Chair or Dean.

Flow chart from TX Tech memo showing that most class materials must be reviewed by chair, dean, and provost, and that all curricular material must be disclosed

Reposted by Andrew Jacobs, Brian Keegan

Smooth Dunk @smoothdunk2.bsky.social · 1h

i’m setting you free. i’m releasing you from the discourse

4 panel comic

Panel 1:
Red Guy looking way way too happy yells “Hey Guys! Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?”
Blue Guy next to him calmly says “Shhh”

Panel 2:
Blue Guy tenderly puts his arms around Red Guy and says “You don’t have to do this”

Panel 3:
Blue Guy still holds Red Guy tightly and repeats “You don’t have to do this every year”. Red Guy begins to break.

Panel 4:
Red Guy dissolves into Blue Guy’s embrace, sobbing. He finally feels the weight of Christmas Discourse lifting from his shoulders. He is finally free.

Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D. @brianckeegan.com · 2h

No boyfriend at Anthropic ethics disclosure. Is @caseynewton.bsky.social single? 💔

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Scott L. Greer, Rosemary A. Joyce , and 23 more Brendan Nyhan, Scott L. Greer, Rosemary A. Joyce, American Library Association, Gerry Canavan, Daniel S. Goldberg, Karen Benjamin Guzzo, Rebecca Tushnet, David R. Miller, Scott A. Imberman, Brian Keegan, William Myers, Zen Faulkes, Mark Rice, Christina Ho, Marcus Credé, Raúl Pacheco-Vega, Kathleen Kennedy, Daxton R. Stewart, Stephen A. Meserve, Stephen I. Vladeck, Dan Immergluck, Colin Woodard, Clark Gray, David Lay Williams, Jesse R. Lasky

Brendan Cantwell @cantb.bsky.social · 4h

Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D. @brianckeegan.com · 5h

Three bathrooms next to each other AND a coat bath!

matt @windows98support.bsky.social · 7h

Oh shit waddup

Reposted by Benjamin I. Cook, Devon Greyson, Andrew Jacobs , and 7 more Benjamin I. Cook, Devon Greyson, Andrew Jacobs, Serge Egelman, James Goodwin, Brian Keegan, Sam Kamin, Patrick Stokes, Nicole Guenther Discenza, Dawn R. Gilpin

matt @windows98support.bsky.social · 7h

Oh shit waddup

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Marc Lynch, Mark D. White , and 6 more Anna O. Law, Marc Lynch, Mark D. White, Rosemary A. Joyce, Brian Keegan, Mark Rice, Ann Bartow, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Anita Gohdes

alec karakatsanis @equalityalec.bsky.social · 15h

The news has entirely failed to grasp the unprecedented scope of the ICE and DHS budgets. Nothing like it in modern history. A galaxy of public/private surveillance and caging institutions for $100,000,000,000s unleashed on a public that will be forever changed. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

ICE Wants to Go After Dissenters as well as Immigrants

The Trump administration is being open about its plans to violate Americans’ First and Fourth Amendment rights.

www.brennancenter.org

Reposted by Brian Keegan

onion person @junlper.beer · 1d

the fact that nick fuentes isn’t here but ms rachel is illustrates perfectly that groups like this don’t actually care about antisemitism at all

Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D. @brianckeegan.com · 1d

But Elon promised he was getting rid of all the bots /s

Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D. @brianckeegan.com · 1d

Measles and whooping cough shutting down schools will be much more material to normies' politics than octogenarians dying from a "bad flu."

Reposted by Alan Richardson, Brian Keegan, Nora V. Demleitner , and 2 more Alan Richardson, Brian Keegan, Nora V. Demleitner, Catherine J. Frieman, David Darmofal

Alan Elrod @aselrod.bsky.social · 1d

This is a Bill Simmons game, but you’re stranded on a desert island. You can only have one actor’s filmography. You get it all, including cameos. But just the one performer.

I’m taking Cate Blanchett: Talented Mr. Ripley, LOTR, Life Aquatic, Black Bag, Tár, Ponyo, Hot Fuzz, Eyes Wide Shut, Thor

Reposted by Tuomas Mattila, Brian Keegan

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 1d

Exxon-Mobil (current market cap): $488B

Norway GDP (2025 est): $517B

Dispersed by TARP to rescue the financial system (adjusted for inflation): $667B

Saudi Arabia GDP (2025 est): $1268B

Amount OpenAI is on the hook for that’ll ruin companies’ balance sheets if OpenAI can’t make good: $1400B

Reposted by Rosemary A. Joyce, McKenzie Wark, Brian Keegan , and 2 more Rosemary A. Joyce, McKenzie Wark, Brian Keegan, Catherine J. Frieman, Nathan P. Kalmoe

yoneda sarah @scgriffith.bsky.social · 1d

every trans person i see post about the OU suspension knows that the suspended target is trans & a grad student, & has an innate awareness that this is about purging trans employees. every cis person i see thinks the target is a rando professor & that this is about giving conservatives good grades

Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D. @brianckeegan.com · 1d

Bari, Conor, and the rest of the free speech warriors will be on the case!

gwen howerton @kissphoria.bsky.social · 1d

OU has put the professor here on administrative leave:

Reposted by McKenzie Wark, Brian Keegan, Ann Bartow , and 1 more McKenzie Wark, Brian Keegan, Ann Bartow, Brooke Harrington

Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 1d

"Strong floor, no ceiling" is very literally the basis of like every Gilded Age political cartoon

Gilded Age political cartoon titled "the protectors of our industries"

A mass of workers strain under the weight of supporting a boat containing rich top-hatted monocle wearing capitalists sitting atop huge sacks of cash

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Bonnie Honig, Smith , and 10 more Stephen M. Walt, Bonnie Honig, Smith, Rebecca Tushnet, David R. Miller, Adrian Daub, Jacob T. Levy, Brian Keegan, William Myers, Lisa Diedrich, Raúl Pacheco-Vega, Brooke Harrington, Daxton R. Stewart

GOLIKEHELLMACHINE @golikehellmachine.com · 1d

the primary thing that TPUSA provides to young conservatives is a blueprint for weaponizing the abject cowardice of university administrators against individual teachers and instructors, and university admins should take a long look in the mirror and think about what that says about them

gwen howerton @kissphoria.bsky.social · 1d

OU has put the professor here on administrative leave:

Reposted by Sander van der Linden, Peter Thorne, Scott L. Greer , and 34 more Sander van der Linden, Peter Thorne, Scott L. Greer, Rosemary A. Joyce, David Rothschild, Philip N. Cohen, Jonathan M. Gilligan, Juan Cole, Rebecca Tushnet, David R. Miller, Silvia Secchi, Adrian Daub, Caroline T. Schroeder, Andrew Jacobs, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Margot C. Finn, Rebecca M. Bratspies, Brian Keegan, William Myers, David C. Kimball, Sarah Roberts, Aurélien Mondon, Mark Rice, Lisa Diedrich, Ann Bartow, Nelson Flores, Alessandro Rigolon, Seth Masket, Raúl Pacheco-Vega, Andrew Rudalevige, Brooke Harrington, Daxton R. Stewart, Manisha Sinha, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Clark Gray, Paul Franco

gwen howerton @kissphoria.bsky.social · 1d

OU has put the professor here on administrative leave:

The University of Oklahoma takes seriously concerns involving First Amendment rights, certainly including religious freedoms. Upon receiving notice from the student on the grading of an assignment, the University immediately began a full review of the situation and has acted swiftly to address the matter.
First, the college acted immediately to address the academic issue raised by the student. College leaders contacted her on the day her letter was received and have maintained regular communication throughout the process. As previously stated, a formal grade appeals process was conducted. The process resulted in steps to ensure no academic harm to the student from the graded assignments.
Second, the student reported filing a claim of illegal discrimination based on religious beliefs to the appropriate university office. OU has a clear process for reviewing such claims and it has been activated.
The graduate student instructor has been placed on administrative leave pending the finalization of this process. To ensure fairness in the process, a full-time professor is serving as the course instructor for the remainder of the semester.
OU remains firmly committed to fairness, respect and protecting every student's right to express sincerely held religious beliefs.
The UNIVERSITY of OKLAHOMA

Reposted by Meredith Broussard, Brian Keegan

Dare Obasanjo @carnage4life.bsky.social · 1d

The enshitification of scientific publishing marches on. First arXiv had to clamp down on submissions thanks to a flood of AI-written papers.

Now ICLR authors say their peer reviews were churned out by AI. Reviews full of hallucinated content that didn’t exist and offering useless, vague feedback.

Major AI conference flooded with peer reviews written fully by AI

Controversy has erupted after 21% of manuscript reviews for an international AI conference were found to be generated by artificial intelligence.

www.nature.com

Reposted by Rosemary A. Joyce, Brian Keegan

Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 1d

And this is so obnoxious because actual-politics is kind of a fucking layup right now.

Your opponents are running a historically corrupt government.

Be anti-corruption. Run on fixing the shit they broke, holding assholes accountable, and improving people’s lives.

Duh.

Reposted by Rebecca Sear, Cathy N. Davidson, Adrian Daub , and 3 more Rebecca Sear, Cathy N. Davidson, Adrian Daub, Adrian Vickers, Brian Keegan, Richard M. Carpiano

Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 2d

Unfortunately, in US journalism it is considered neutral to spread a lie, but it is considered "biased" to call out a lie. So, there is a structural asymmetry that rewards colorful lies with virality.

Reposted by Patrick S. Forscher, Brian Keegan, Ann Bartow

Dan Johnson (hire me) @coil.bsky.social · 2d

The numbers in here are hilarious.

Do you use AI on the job?
Execs: 87%
Managers: 57%
Workers: 27%

Planned investment by 2030: $5T
"Necessary" annual revenue to justify that spend: $650B
Current annual revenue: $50B

The Economist @economist.com · 2d

Three years into the generative-AI wave, demand for the technology seems surprisingly flimsy

Investors expect AI use to soar. That’s not happening

Recent surveys point to flatlining business adoption

econ.st

Reposted by Brian Keegan

Brewster Kahle @brewster.kahle.org · 2d

Please Donate to the Internet Archive. $25 helps.... a lot.

Useful to Journalists,
Useful to Students,
Useful to more than 2 million people a day.

Collections growing at 150TBytes/day

@internetarchive

archive.org/donate

www.cnn.com/2025/11/16/b...

Reposted by Anna O. Law, David Dunning, Scott L. Greer , and 9 more Anna O. Law, David Dunning, Scott L. Greer, Michael W. Kraus, Brian Keegan, David C. Kimball, Mark Rice, Ann Bartow, Kathleen Kennedy, Manisha Sinha, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, François Guesnet

Gravel Influencer @gravelinfluencer.bsky.social · 2d

The Boston Globe identified the companies in Massachusetts that employ the most SNAP recipients. A key stat: "In Massachusetts, 74% of working-age recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are employed, half of them full-time."

Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...

Number of SNAP recipients
Amazon 2,456
Walmart 2,318
Uber 1,799
DoorDash 1,462
Tempus Unlimited 1,425
Stop & Shop 989
Mass General Brigham 956
Dollar Tree 952
Albertsons Companies, Inc. 896
Bayada Home Health 887

Reposted by Alan Richardson, David R. Miller, Julia Lynch , and 6 more Alan Richardson, David R. Miller, Julia Lynch, Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, Brian Keegan, Nelson Flores, Jon Dean, Nicole Guenther Discenza, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

gwen howerton @kissphoria.bsky.social · 2d

idk not to mention how very nuanced and normal the actual response here was

Trans Professors comment
Mel Curth (She/They)
November 16, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Please note that I am not deducting points because you have certain beliefs, but instead I am deducting point for you posting a reaction paper that does not answer the questions for this assignment, contradicts itself, heavily uses personal ideology over empirical evidence in a scientific class, and is at times offensive.
While you are entitled to your own personal beliefs, there is an appropriate time or place to implement them in your reflections. I encourage all students to question or challenge the course material with other empirical findings or testable hypotheses, but using your own personal beliefs to argue against the findings of not only this article, but the findings of countless articles across psychology, biology, sociology, etc. is not best practice.
You argue that abiding by normative gender roles is beneficial (it is perfectly fine to believe this. but to then say that evervone should act
TPUSA OU

Trans Professors comment
the same, while also saying that people aren't pressured into gendered expectations is contradictory, especially since your arguments reflect a religious pressure to act in gender-stereotypical ways. You can say that strict gender norms don't create gender stereotypes, but that isn't true by definition of what a stereotype is. Please note that acknowledging gender stereotypes does not immediately denote a negative connotation, a nuance this article discusses.
Additionally, to call an entire group of people
"demonic" is highly offensive, especially a minoritized population. You are entitled to your own beliefs, but this isn't a vague narrative of
"society pushes lies," but instead the result of countless years developing psychological and scientific evidence for these claims and directly interacting with the communities involved. You may personally disagree with this, but that
TPUSA OU
2

Trans Professors comment
doesn't change the fact that every major psychological, medical, pediatric, and psychiatric association in the United States acknowledges that, biologically and psychologically, sex and gender is neither binary nor fixed.
I implore you apply some more perspective and empathy in your work. If you personally disagree with the findings, then by all means share your criticisms, but make sure to do so in a way that is appropriate and using the methodology of empirical psychology, as aligned with the learning goals in this class. If you have any additional questions or concerns about this or would like some additional educational resources, I would be happy to discuss this further and provide you with them.
3
TPUSA OU

Additional professor
Megan Waldron (She/Her/Hers)
November 16, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Samantha, I am the other instructor for this course, and I have also taken the time to read your paper. I concur with Mel on the grade you received. This paper should not be considered as a completion of the assignment.
Everyone has different ways in which they see the world, but in an academic course such as this you are being asked to support your ideas with empirical evidence and higher-level reasoning.
I find it concerning that you state at the beginning of your paper that you do not think bullying ("teasing") is a bad thing. In addition, your paper directly and harshly criticizes your peers and their opinions, which are just as valuable as yours. Disagreeing with others is fine, but there is a respectful way to go about it. That goes for discussion posts as well as reaction
papers.
Please employ more thoughtfulness in your future assignments
TPUSA OU

Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D. @brianckeegan.com · 2d

Ship them all to the ICC after Trump pardons them.

Sanho Tree @sanho.bsky.social · 17d

“Conflict experts tell The Independent that the “just following orders” defense may not stick under other administrations or federal judges who could find the strikes illegal, exposing Pentagon officials & others to criminal liability.”
Nuremberg, Madame Defarge, and Pepperidge Farms all remember.