Ben Waber
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bwaber.bsky.social
Ben Waber
@bwaber.bsky.social
520 followers 590 following 2.8K posts
MIT Researcher, he/him, Senior Visiting Researcher @ Ritsumeikan, Co-Founder of Humanyze, former Senior Researcher @ HBS, author of People Analytics. AI, management, law, corporate governance, psychology, anthropology, ethics, and similar topics
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Reposted by Ben Waber
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
There is talk going around that DHS is now arresting people who fly *domestically* if they have final orders of removal.

Undocumented youth should consider consulting a lawyer to find out what their record is -- especially those whose parents had prior interactions with immigration.
November 27, 2025 at 4:55 PM
bwaber.bsky.social
これは素晴らしくて、誰でもが活用し始めるべきな経営制度だと思います。

diamond.jp/articles/-/3...
第3回：育児の経験が仕事にもプラスに！男性育業を推進するサッポロビールが目指す「ライフ」と「ワーク」のいい関係
育業（育児休業の愛称）当事者の業務を引き継ぐ同僚に、ボーナスを加算するユニークな「職場応援ポイント制度」を設けた「サッポロビール」。男性育業の推進が、社員の成長、ひいては組織やビジネスの成長にもつながっていくという。その理由とは？
diamond.jp
November 27, 2025 at 3:36 PM
bwaber.bsky.social
I took my youngest out for a bike ride through the woods, and earlier in the day I listened to talks and read books for my #AcademicRunPlaylist! (1/4)
A selfie of me in a forest, with the ground coated with brown leaves. I’m a bald, middle-aged, white man with a red beard flecked with white. I’m wearing black sunglasses and a black t-shirt.
November 27, 2025 at 4:26 AM
bwaber.bsky.social
I'm mostly recovered today, so I swapped some books at the library and listened to talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist! (1/8)
A selfie of me in front of a painting mounted on a wood panel wall. I'm a bald, middle-aged, white man with a red beard flecked with white. I'm wearing glasses with thick black rims and a maroon and white MIT sweatshirt.
November 26, 2025 at 3:06 AM
Reposted by Ben Waber
shannonvallor.bsky.social
somebody who is good at the economy please help them budget this, their bullshit factory is dying
November 25, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Reposted by Ben Waber
superwuster.bsky.social
In a sign of how times have changed, in 1959 economists Turner and Keysen proposed a commission to breakup firms "where, for 5 years or more, one company has accounted for 50 percent or more of annual sales in the market, or four or fewer companies have accounted for 80 percent of sales”
November 25, 2025 at 4:02 PM
bwaber.bsky.social
I still wasn't fully recovered from whatever I caught from my family, so while resting in bed all day I listened to talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist! (1/9)
A selfie of me in front of a brown background. I'm a bald, middle-aged, white man with a red beard flecked with white. I'm wearing glasses with thick black rims and a maroon t-shirt.
November 25, 2025 at 2:44 AM
Reposted by Ben Waber
karenho.bsky.social
If Isaac Chotiner ever said this to me, I would move to the woods.
Isaac Chotiner: "I’m not making any allegation. I’m making a simple point about how an average reader—myself included—might respond after reading this ridiculous piece" Ben Smith: "Also — and I'll stop now! — the question he's trying to get at of how you cover monarchies with endless time horizons as a journalist (this is a thing people from most major publications do) is genuinely interesting." Chotiner, with the kill shot: "Come on Ben. I refuse to pretend that both of us are dumber than we are."
November 25, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Reposted by Ben Waber
stevelin.bsky.social
I had heard about the rapid increase in RAM prices but apparently the market is so volatile that Central Computers stopped printing price tags
A sign on a cabinet full of RAM that reads: "Important Notice: Temporary pricing changes on RAM. Due to a global shortage of memory chips, RAM and related components have recently increased in price by 20-50%. Costs are fluctuating daily as manufacturers and distributors adjust to limited supply and high demand. Because of this, we can't display fixed prices on certain products at this time. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding while the market stabilizes. If you have questions or want current pricing on any item, our team is happy to help. Central Computers The Smart Tech Store" A screenshot from The Simpsons "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" Season 7 / Episode 10 Where Homer and Bart are in front of a post office employee. The text overlay reads "Okay, Central Computer, how much is this RAM?" "I don't know."
November 22, 2025 at 10:34 PM
bwaber.bsky.social
So much this: "It’s all very stupid, but as far as I can tell, not actually illegal."

And yeah, it does look a little like Enron
November 24, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Reposted by Ben Waber
walterdgreason.bsky.social
Do more to preserve her generation’s legacy as immortal memories. #history
November 24, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Reposted by Ben Waber
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
In the memo, “Nvidia also responds to claims that the ‘current situation is analogous to historical accounting frauds (Enron, WorldCom, Lucent) that featured vendor financing and SPVs [special purpose vehicles.)’”

@barrons.com $NVDA
@firstadopter.bsky.social
www.barrons.com/articles/nvi...
November 24, 2025 at 7:08 PM
bwaber.bsky.social
I was under the weather this weekend, and while recuperating I read some books and listened to talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist! (1/7)
A selfie of me in a dimly lit home office with sea foam green walls. I’m a bald, middle-aged, white man with a red beard flecked with white. I’m wearing glasses with thick black rims and a maroon and white MIT sweatshirt.
November 24, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Reposted by Ben Waber
“I took that to be the point of Holocaust education. Not to exceptionalize Jewish suffering, but to activate solidarity. To recognize that there is a continuum of atrocity perpetrated by dominant classes against subjugated ones. The Holocaust shows where, once normalized, such things can lead…”👇🏽
November 23, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Reposted by Ben Waber
favourboroks.bsky.social
There's also something here that's underdiscussed and unknown if you're not from a developing country, which is that many people at home, from your home country, think you're a traitor for leaving and they think the xenophobia you experience abroad is well-deserved.

This sort of rhetoric is often
maxberger.bsky.social Max Berger @maxberger.bsky.social · 4d
If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?
November 23, 2025 at 11:34 PM
bwaber.bsky.social
Chat, is it good if the shorting mechanisms that presaged the 2008 crash are exploding in popularity? finance.yahoo.com/news/hedge-a...
A Hedge Against AI Crash Emerges as Oracle CDS Market Explodes
Traders have piled into the company’s credit-default swaps in recent months as Oracle’s massive AI-related spending spree, its central role in a web of interrelated deals, and its weaker credit grades...
finance.yahoo.com
November 23, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Reposted by Ben Waber
laminda.bsky.social
Science will often take you to unexpected and delightful places. In this study, researchers hypothesized that riders in a crowded subway car would be more likely to offer their seat to a pregnant person if there were someone in the subway car dressed as Batman 🧪🦇

www.nature.com/articles/s44...
A man in a Batman costume and a pregnant woman in a crowded subway car, their faces obscured by pixelation. Text on top of the image reads: "Fig. 1: An example of the experimental setting, with Batman and a woman simulating pregnancy stand in a crowded metro"
November 21, 2025 at 11:14 PM
bwaber.bsky.social
I headed over to Harvard for some meetings, and after taking in the atmosphere before they shellac Yale I listened to talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist! (1/5)
A selfie of me in front of Mellon Hall at HBS on a bright day. I’m a middle-aged white man with a red beard flecked with white. I’m wearing a neon green LL Bean beanie, black sunglasses, and a black New Balance running jacket over a dark blue running shirt.
November 22, 2025 at 2:57 AM
bwaber.bsky.social
I can report that the mood on the Harvard campus is positively jovial. Not sure if it's due to their impending massacre of Yale or the removal of a noted predator from the vicinity
November 21, 2025 at 5:38 PM
bwaber.bsky.social
Calls with Japan made it a late finish for me, but throughout the day I listened to talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist! (1/7)
A selfie of me in front of my white bookshelf, packed with books. I'm a bald, middle-aged, white man with a red beard flecked with white. I'm wearing glasses with a metal top rim and a dark blue collared shirt.
November 21, 2025 at 2:38 AM
bwaber.bsky.social
Not a Hornets fan but this is adorable sports.yahoo.com/article/fami...
A family invited their NBA son to dinner. The whole team showed up.
When Charlotte Hornets rookie Kon Knueppel returned to his hometown of Milwaukee to play an NBA game this month, his mother hosted the entire team for dinner.
sports.yahoo.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:08 PM
bwaber.bsky.social
Okay folks new generative AI game: "is the pool in XXX still full?"

It's amazing - I'm guessing because they tried to patch the Titanic joke they exposed even more the brittleness of these systems
November 20, 2025 at 7:04 PM
bwaber.bsky.social
AI is going great
A chat with Gemini with the prompt "is the pool in the kobayashi maru still full" and the reply: The phrase "is the pool in the Kobayashi Maru still full" is a niche reference to a specific interpretation of a scene from the TV series Steins;Gate, not the well-known Star Trek simulation. In the Star Trek universe, the Kobayashi Maru is a fictional civilian fuel freighter and the name of a no-win training scenario, it does not have a "pool" in any literal or widely recognized sense within the scenario itself. The query appears to be a pop-culture reference, likely relating to the anime Steins;Gate, where a character (Kurisu) is briefly placed in a "pool of blood" for a dramatic effect during a time-travel plot point involving a "no-win" scenario. In the context of the Steins;Gate narrative, the scenario in question is resolved and the characters move to a new timeline where the events leading to the "pool" incident do not occur. Therefore, the "pool" is not a permanent fixture.
November 20, 2025 at 6:58 PM
bwaber.bsky.social
@rdvquantum.bsky.social to expand on this, this was a phenomenal talk. Not just on the technical side, but bringing in the history of the field and the social and political implications of technology development was exceptional
November 20, 2025 at 2:11 AM