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/

Signal: brianckeegan.26 .. more

Videos

Computer science 36%

Communication & Media Studies 30%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Pinned

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

*led

Don't get me started now on lead-210 as the underappreciated kid brother of radiocarbon.

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

Somebody save this nerd: I've fallen into a fixation on bomb pulse chronology which has now lead me down the garden paths of trying to find social history about chronostratigraphy and radiopurity.

Reposted by Brian Keegan

Mathieu O'Neil @mathieuon.bsky.social · 1h

Based on #Debian survey results, new @dcpcouncil.bsky.social report examines how #FLOSS #FOSS #opensource can foster sustainable production. Findings include community rejection of restrictive licences as incentives and workplace obstacles to reducing environmental impacts. dcpc.info/publications...

Reposted by Brian Keegan

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 3h

If you are interested in the methodology behind the Data Workers' Inquiry Project (@dataworkersinquiry.bsky.social), this is the paper for you.

Research doesn't have to be exploitative.👇🏽

Milagros Miceli @milamiceli.bsky.social · 12h

📣New paper!
Thrilled to share the methodological recipe for @dataworkersinquiry.bsky.social in this article co-authored with @adiod.bsky.social @krystalkauffman.bsky.social Camilla Salim Wagner, Laurenz Sachenbacher @alexhanna.bsky.social & @timnitgebru.bsky.social

👉 ojs.aaai.org/index.php/AI...

Proceedings of the Eighth AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society (AIES2025)

Methodological Considerations for Centering Workers’ Epistemic Authority in AIResearchMilagros Miceli1, 2, 3, Adio-Adet Dinika1, Krystal Kauffman1, Camilla Salim Wagner2, 3,Laurenz Sachenbacher2, 3, Alex Hanna1, Timnit Gebru11The Distributed AI Research Institute2Weizenbaum-Institute3Technische Universit ̈at Berlinmila@dair-institute.org, adio@dair-institute.org, krystal@dair-institute.org, camilla.salim.wagner@tu-berlin.de,l.sachenbacher@tu-berlin.de, alex@dair-institute.org, timnit@dair-institute.org

Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D. @brianckeegan.com · 3h

The actuarial countdown on Biden dying would’ve received wall-to-wall coverage and a hundred different visualizations.

Ed Bott @edbott.com · 3h

Oh how sad.

Trump looking like an ancient piece of shit on a ny times page with a headline that says he is so tired

Reposted by Brian Keegan

Ed Bott @edbott.com · 3h

Oh how sad.

Reposted by Brian Keegan

jonah valdez @jonahmv.bsky.social · 4h

New from me @theintercept.com: the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s legacy will always be that of a tool of Israeli occupation and genocide, instrumental in the killings of 1000s of Palestinians and worsening a manufactured famine. Not whatever “success” GHF claims.

theintercept.com/2025/11/25/g...

Gaza Humanitarian Foundation Calls It Quits After Thousands Die Seeking Its Aid

The aid group GHF oversaw relief in Gaza during a period defined by the killings of Palestinians seeking food during famine.

theintercept.com

Reposted by Brian Keegan

Ryan the Design Lion @ryanmiglavs.bsky.social · 5h

From a few days ago, but this moving piece by @karenattiah.bsky.social for The Guardian is cogent, illuminating, and infuriating.

Fuck Trump, and fuck all the fascist collaborators, including Bezos and his monsters corrupting the Washington Post. MBS murdered their reporter.

The Saudification of America is under way | Karen Attiah

Jamal Khashoggi’s plight and murder was a warning sign for the US, of the impending loss of freedom and censorship that would sweep the country

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Brian Keegan

Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 6h

Another baby has just died of whooping cough in Kentucky, thanks to RFK Jr. and his merry band of anti-vaxxers.

My feeling toward RFK Jr. and the Republican Senators who confirmed him is utter contempt.

Third Kentucky infant dies from whooping cough as statewide cases surge

A third Kentucky infant has died from whooping cough in the last 12 months, the Kentucky Department for Public Health said Monday.

www.wlwt.com

Reposted by Brian Keegan

Eric Levitz @ericlevitz.bsky.social · 9h

AI threatens to liberate the rich from their age-old dependence on ordinary people's labor -- thereby entrenching a permanent oligarchy.

My essay on that grim hypothetical is now out from behind the paywall www.vox.com/the-highligh...

The most likely AI apocalypse

How artificial intelligence could be leading most humans into an inescapable trap.

www.vox.com

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

Reconstruction and Gilded Age

Sam Ulmschneider @samulmschneider.bsky.social · 1d

I figure Ken Burns has one, maybe two big documentary series in him before he fully retires. What do you think they should be? My votes include Football, Hip-Hop, World War 1, Reconstruction (though Skip Gates did this one well), Iraq/Afghanistan, 19th Century Expansionism.

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

This is Voyager erasure.

Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 1d

It’d be exciting to think that Bluesky has people pretending to be American like Twitter but I honestly don’t think they could talk about Star Trek Deep Space 9 the way it’s expected here without having watched all the episodes a dozen times

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

Laying the groundwork for bailing out AI bros.

=
The WHITE HOUSE
Q
Sec. 3. Operation of the American Science and Security Platform. (a) The Secretary shall establish and operate the American Science and Security Platform (Platform) to serve as the infrastructure
for the Mission with the purpose of providing, in an integrated manner and to the maximum extent practicable and consistent with law:
(i) high-performance computing resources, including DOE national laboratory supercomputers and secure cloud-based Al computing environments, capable of supporting large-scale model training, simulation, and inference;
(ii) Al modeling and analysis frameworks, including Al agents to explore design spaces, evaluate experimental outcomes, and automate workflows;
(ill) computational tools, including Al-enabled predictive models, simulation models, and design optimization tools;
(iv) domain-specific foundation models across the range of scientific domains covered;

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

“jUsT aBoLiSh BlAcKrOcK”

Reposted by Brian Keegan

Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 1d

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

“Siri, have accounting tricks and financial engineering shenanigans ever caused financial crises in the past?”

Techmeme @techmeme.com · 1d

How Meta's financing structure for its $27B Louisiana data center, which helps it keep debt off its books, hinges on some convenient accounting assumptions (Jonathan Weil/Wall Street Journal)

Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

Reposted by Brian Keegan

Techmeme @techmeme.com · 1d

Reposted by Jacob Montgomery, Alan Richardson, Brian Keegan , and 1 more Jacob Montgomery, Alan Richardson, Brian Keegan, David Darmofal

Sam Ulmschneider @samulmschneider.bsky.social · 1d

Reposted by Brian Keegan

Ben Werdmuller @werd.io · 1d

These Mamdani transition committees are seriously impressive. Hiring @ruha9.bsky.social for the technology committee is very smart. And so many more. www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news...

NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announces transition committees

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced Monday the creation of 17 transition advisory committees made up of more than 400 people.

www.cbsnews.com

Reposted by Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Jean Burgess, Philip N. Cohen , and 11 more Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Jean Burgess, Philip N. Cohen, Cathy N. Davidson, Benjamin Braun, Robert C. Richards, Laurent Dubois, Alan Richardson, Brian Keegan, Kate Starbird, Lisa Diedrich, Larry W. Hunter, Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 1d

Honored to serve on Mayor-elect @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social Transition Committee on Technology. For too long, too many New Yorkers have been left behind. NYC deserves governance that centers affordability, equity, and the public good-looking forward to the work ahead. www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news...

NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announces transition committees

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced Monday the creation of 17 transition advisory committees made up of more than 400 people.

www.cbsnews.com

Reposted by Juan Cole, Brian Keegan

Adam H Johnson @ahjohnson.bsky.social · 1d

I wrote a book about US media’s complicity in the Gaza genocide. It's available for pre-order. It’s a data-driven and, I hope, thorough account of how center-left media sold the American public on mass death in Gaza.

Out 4/21. 100% of royalties go to @mecaforpeace.bsky.social.

How to Sell a Genocide - Pluto Press

A gripping exposé of how the corporate media fuelled genocide in Gaza

www.plutobooks.com

Reposted by Brian Keegan

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 1d

New from 404 Media: X has shown where accounts are actually being run from, revealing many MAGA accounts are actually grifters in Eastern Europe, Asia, etc. But the situation is much, much worse. Entire guides specifically on how to squeeze US audiences with AI.

www.404media.co/americas-pol...

America’s Polarization Has Become the World's Side Hustle

The 'psyops' revealed by X are entirely the fault of the perverse incentives created by social media monetization programs.

www.404media.co

Reposted by R. M. Wilson, Sebastian Karcher, Brian Keegan , and 1 more R. M. Wilson, Sebastian Karcher, Brian Keegan, Zen Faulkes

violet allen @blipstress.bsky.social · 1d

I see some book piracy discourse, and, to make a positive argument in favor of buying books, your marginal ability to influence what books get published and support the careers of writers you like is massive compared to most other forms of media.

Reposted by Philip N. Cohen, Brian Keegan

The Nexus Project @nexusproject.bsky.social · 1d

The U.S. State Department is repeating a white nationalist conspiracy theory.

On Friday, it claimed that “mass migration poses an existential threat to Western civilization.”

That line comes straight from the Great Replacement myth: the lie that immigration is a plot to erase white populations.

A tweet from the official Department of State twitter says "Mass migration poses an existential threat to Western civilization and undermines the stability of key American allies. Today the State Department instructed U.S. embassies to report on the human rights implications and public safety impacts of mass migration."

Reposted by Brian Keegan

Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 1d

It's absolutely disgusting what the New York Times, and particularly Azeen Ghorayshi, is doing with its coverage of autism. It's so deeply irresponsible.

It's the same playbook they ran on trans kids.

A podcast app interface displaying an episode of The Daily from The New York Times titled “The Autism Diagnosis Problem.” The screen shows the podcast artwork in blue and yellow gradients, the episode date (11/24/25), duration (29:23), and file size (34 MB). Below is text summarizing how autism diagnoses have broadened over time, mentions of public figures like Elon Musk and Bill Gates, and comments from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about rising autism rates. The description states that reporter Azeen Ghorayshi explains what is driving the increase in diagnoses.

Reposted by Brian Keegan

HK @hkesvani.bsky.social · 1d

God it's so cool that so much of British and European nationalist politics has broadly been shaped by warehouse clickfarms rented by guys in South Asia running "how to make money from racist old people" workshops, and that this has had more influence on media and politics than any grassroots group

Reposted by Brian Keegan, Cecilia Rikap

jonathan w. y. gray @jwyg.bsky.social · 1d

look forward to being back in Paris on 2nd dec to speak about public data cultures 🌱
jonathangray.org/2025/11/24/p...
at @sciencespo.bsky.social with Séverine Dusollier, Yochai Benkler, @ceciliarikap.bsky.social, Léo Pascault, Balazs Bodo and @arisimarta.bsky.social