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Michael Brownstein

@michaelbrownstein.bsky.social

170 followers 180 following 150 posts

professor of philosophy and department chair, John Jay College professor of philosophy, CUNY Grad Center alum, Deep Springs College author, Somebody Should Do Something: How Anyone Can Help Create Social Change

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Michael Brownstein @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social · Apr 23

My new book--with Alex Madva and @dryan149.bsky.social--has a cover!

In print 9.16.25, but why not preorder a copy now? mitpress.mit.edu/978026204978...

@mitpress.bsky.social #CoverReveal #Bookstagram

Thanks to Frank Augugliaro for the cover design

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Michael Brownstein @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social · 2d

Cannot figure out how to embed YouTube clips, ugh

Michael Brownstein @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social · 2d

The reason personal choices matter for the climate crisis (and a everything else). Our choices help (re)shape the culture that shape the other choices we make, as @madva.bsky.social, @dryan149.bsky.social, and I argue in Somebody Should Do Something. @mitpress.bsky.social

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Alex Madva @madva.bsky.social · 3d

Super fun *start* to Thursday evening at least, and huge thanks to Michael's and my moms for rallying so many of our Philly friends and family! @upenn.edu

Photo of Alex Madva and Michael Brownstein in front of an audience at the Penn bookstore

Photo of a stack of books entitled Somebody Should Do Something, in front of a sign for the University of Pennsylvania

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Reposted by Michael Brownstein

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 3d

Is it cancel culture when they threaten to kill you?

www.nj.com/news/2025/10...

Sold-out Ta-Nehisi Coates speaker appearance in N.J. canceled over security reasons

Organizers canceled a sold-out Ta-Nehisi Coates event in Montclair citing undisclosed security concerns.

www.nj.com

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Reposted by Michael Brownstein

David Wallace-Wells @dwallacewells.bsky.social · 3d

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Michael Brownstein @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social · 3d

Or throw to first for goodness sakes

Michael Brownstein @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social · 3d

Amtrak got me to Philly two hours late, but after a sprint from 30th St, it was a fun time with @madva.bsky.social talking about Somebody Should Do Something at Penn. Good turnout given that we were competing with the (ill-fated) Phillies game. @dryan149.bsky.social @mitpress.bsky.social

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Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 4d

Picture how big the Hoover Dam is. An absolute unit. The Hoover Dam has a power capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW).

The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.

jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 4d

SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled

The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency

@heatmap.news

Esmeralda 7 Solar Project Has Been Canceled, BLM Says

It would have delivered a gargantuan 6.2 gigawatts of power.

heatmap.news

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Reposted by Michael Brownstein

Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 4d

A master class from MIT in responding to authoritarian overreach:

Your “premise … is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.
… America’s leadership in science & innovation depends on independent thinking & open competition for excellence.

Dear Madam Secretary,
I write in response to your letter of October 1, inviting MIT to review a "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education." I acknowledge the vital importance of these matters.
I appreciated the chance to meet with you earlier this year to discuss the priorities we share for American higher education.
As we discussed, the Institute's mission of service to the nation directs us to advance knowledge, educate students and bring knowledge to bear on the world's great challenges.
We do that in line with a clear set of values, with excellence above all. Some practical examples:
• MIT prides itself on rewarding merit. Students, faculty and staff succeed here based on the strength of their talent, ideas and hard work. For instance, the Institute was the first to reinstate the SAT/ACT requirement after the pandemic. And MIT has never had legacy preferences in admissions.
• MIT opens its doors to the most talented students regardless of their family's finances. Admissions are need-blind. Incoming undergraduates whose families earn less than $200,000 a year pay no tuition. Nearly 88% of our last graduating class left MIT with no debt for their education. We make a wealth of free courses and low-cost certificates available to any American with an internet connection. Of the undergraduate degrees we award, 94% are in STEM fields. And in service to the nation, we cap enrollment of international undergraduates at roughly 10%.

source:
https://orgchart.mit.edu/letters/regarding-compact

• We value free expression, as clearly described in the MIT Statement on Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom. We must hear facts and opinions we don't like - and engage respectfully with those with whom we disagree.
These values and other MIT practices meet or exceed many standards outlined in the document you sent. We freely choose these values because they're right, and we live by them because they support our mission - work of immense value to the prosperity, competitiveness, health and security of the United States. And of course, MIT abides by the law.
The document also includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution. And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.
In our view, America's leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence. In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences. Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education.
As you know, MIT's record of service to the nation is long and enduring. Eight decades ago, MIT leaders helped invent a scientific partnership between America's research universities and the U.S. government that has delivered extraordinary benefits for the American people. We continue to believe in the power of this partnership to serve the nation.
Sincerely,
Sally Kornbluth

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Michael Brownstein @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social · 5d

Friends in Chicago: alert! alert!

Daniel Kelly @dryan149.bsky.social · 12d

Chicagoland Friends! Two weeks from today I'll be in town at The Seminary Coop to talk about social change and my new book. It would be great to see you! It's from 4-5pm Thursday 10/16, and I will probably be thirsty afterwards.

www.semcoop.com/event/daniel...

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Reposted by Michael Brownstein

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 5d

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

nyti.ms

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Michael Brownstein @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social · 5d

All the thanks in the world to @casbsstanford.bsky.social

Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford @casbsstanford.bsky.social · 5d

A copy of the NEW BOOK @mitpress.bsky.social, "Somebody Should Do Something," has entered the Center's world renowned Ralph W. Tyler Collection! 📖

Two of its authors, @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social (2019-20) & @dryan149.bsky.social (2018-19), worked on the book during their CASBS fellowships 😏 🙌

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Michael Brownstein @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social · 5d

Great essay by @himself.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...

Opinion | You Beat Trumpism by Banding Together. It’s as Hard and as Simple as That.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Michael Brownstein

Alex Madva @madva.bsky.social · 7d

And... we're off! My first stop on the SSDS book tour was tonight and will be tough to top! Westport Library is an amazing venue, couldn't ask for a better moderator than Sharon Suchotliff, and huge thanks to Jennifer Keller and co for making it happen!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY5K...

#booksky

Common Ground: 'Somebody Should Do Something' w/ Michael Brownstein, Alex Madva, & Daniel Kelly

YouTube video by The Westport Library

www.youtube.com

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Michael Brownstein @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social · 8d

“Yet if forces like economic collapse and war supply momentum to big social change, they don’t dictate the shape of history. Human beings, their projects and their institutions carve grooves into the future that structure the direction of change.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/o...

Opinion | How to Save the American Experiment

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Michael Brownstein

MIT Press @mitpress.bsky.social · 8d

Censorship has no place in a free society. To mark the start of #BannedBooksWeek, we've curated a list of recent MIT Press books to help you read for your rights: mitpress.mit.edu/reading-free...

Promotional image depicting three 3D covers of MIT Press books. Books featured are "Somebody Should Do Something," "On Liberalism," and "Rewiring Democracy."

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Reposted by Michael Brownstein

Society for Philosophy and Psychology @socphilpsych.bsky.social · 8d

Somebody Should Do Something: How Anyone Can Help Create Social Change
 📚From Michael Brownstein, Alex Madva & Daniel Kelly

Somebody Should Do Something

Changing the world is difficult. One reason is that the most important problems, like climate change, racism, and poverty, are structural. They emerge from o...

mitpress.mit.edu

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Reposted by Michael Brownstein

Alex Zielinski @alexzee.bsky.social · 9d

Federal officers fired tear gas into a crowd of marchers minutes after they arrived outside Portlands ICE building this afternoon:

Federal agents fire tear gas, make multiple arrests during protest outside Portland ICE facility

Hundreds of protesters marched to facility from nearby Elizabeth Carruthers Park in Southwest Portland.

opb.org

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Reposted by Michael Brownstein

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 9d

This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will. It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.

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Michael Brownstein @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social · 10d

Aside from having to record it in my overheated closet, this was a really fun interview with Andrew Keen. Appreciated the hard questions--like whether there can be a science of social change--and occasional pushback.
@madva.bsky.social @dryan149.bsky.social @mitpress.bsky.social #booksky

How to Lose Loudly: What the Left can Learn from the NRA

Episode 2577: Michael Brownstein on how anyone can create social change

keenon.substack.com

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Michael Brownstein @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social · 11d

Children. Children like my children and your children. If I force myself to imagine masked men breaking into my home at night, zip tying my kids and taking them away, it’s nauseating. Hard to imagine worse.

Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 11d

According to eyewitnesses, armed ICE agents dragged kids out of their beds in the middle of the night, zip tied them and put them in rented vans while raiding an * entire apartment building* on the South Side of Chicago.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOXO...

‘F--- them kids’: ICE agents drag children out of bed, ransack Chicago building

YouTube video by MSNBC

www.youtube.com

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Michael Brownstein @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social · 11d

Seems like that ideal could be something like: kings are in it for themselves; Democrats are in it for everyone else.

Michael Brownstein @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social · 11d

"Fusion" coalitions that can defeat autocrats in elections need to stand, uncompromisingly, for something. Overlooking deep differences to make strategic compromises is no doubt crucial, but there needs to be a unifying ideal.

Worth reading:

Opinion | This Is What Autocrats Dread

www.nytimes.com

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Michael Brownstein @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social · 11d

Exactly the point Dem lawmakers should be making.

Guy Grossman @guygrossman.bsky.social · 11d

If the WH won't commit to respecting Congress's power of the purse, why should Democratic lawmakers spend time bargaining on spending priorities?

Michael Brownstein @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social · 12d

Just in case you find yourself near Wayne, PA on Fri Oct 10th, stop by Main Point Books to ask @madva.bsky.social all the hard questions about making social change!

@dryan149.bsky.social @mitpress.bsky.social #booksky

www.eventbrite.com/e/somebody-s...

Somebody Should Do Something: How Anyone Can Help Create Social Change

Main Point Books welcomes Alex Madva for a discussion of how communities create social change

www.eventbrite.com

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