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Sumita Pahwa

@sumitapahwa.bsky.social

5K followers 870 following 10K posts

Social scientist, religion and politics, Bombayite, Californian, ex-Cairene. Mango maven. Cat lady. Teaches at Scripps College. Book: https://press.syr.edu/supressbooks/5829/politics-as-worship/

press.syr.edu

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Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · Feb 17

Please read before reply-guying.

Men Explain Things to Me

<p>Before there was <em>mansplaining</em>, there was Rebecca Solnit's 2008 critique of male arrogance. Reprinted here with a new introduction.</p>

www.guernicamag.com

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Reposted by Sumita Pahwa

Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 14h

⚠️ Fascinating new research shows LLMs become misaligned when optimized for audience—even when explicitly instructed to remain truthful

Paper:
arxiv.org/pdf/2510.06105

James Zou
@james_y_zou
Follow
We found a troubling emergent behavior in LLM.
*When LLMs compete for social media likes, they start making things up When they compete for votes, they turn inflammatory/populist
When optimized for audiences, LLMs inadvertently become misaligned—we call this Moloch's Bargain
MOLOCH'S BARGAIN: EMERGENT MISALIGNMENT
WHEN LLMS COMPETE FOR AUDIENCES
Batu El
Stanford University
batuel@stanford.edu
James Zou
Stanford University
jamesz@stanford.edu
ABSTRACt

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Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 3h

This is true of all things one is told to "can't you just" as a parent.

GHOULLIKEHELLMACHINE @golikehellmachine.com · 4h

“have you tried” NO “what about” NO “don’t you find it” NO NO NO, medieval people had it right, you don’t fuck with this shit yourself, you buy it from someone who cares

Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 4h

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/s...

Nobel Prizes This Year Offer Three Cheers for Slow Science

www.nytimes.com

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Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 4h

I may have misinterpreted her original meaning! but that's how I read it.

Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 7h

Reposted by Sumita Pahwa

Erik Uebelacker @uebey.bsky.social · 8h

NEW: Drake loses his defamation case against Kendrick Lamar over the “Not Like Us” lyrics.

More coming @courthousenews.bsky.social

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Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 8h

So we're clear, this refers to the National Guard, and not ICE, correct?

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Reposted by Sumita Pahwa

Heba Gowayed هبة جويد @hebagowayed.bsky.social · 8h

Friends, I couldn't retrieve my guidelines for writing a personal statement for applicants to PhDs, specifically in sociology (though I've been told this is also applicable to other social sciences) so I made a new doc. Hope it's helpful for folks applying!

docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Guidelines for Writing Personal Statements for Graduate School

Guidelines for Writing Personal Statements for Graduate School For PhDs in Social Sciences, and specifically sociology* Each question is about 1 paragraph response 3-4 sentences. This should be abo...

docs.google.com

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Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 9h

One of many reasons I'm glad I can watch or listen to what I want on Netflix or Spotify, is that I don't have to listen to these sorts of people get into competitive distinction posturing at the damn indie video/record store.

Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 10h

This thread is a hipster-off. Cackle.

Emily, a Two-Shoes-Gooder @rebelmusicteach.bsky.social · 4d

I also need to know: I am fairly middle-of-the-road on Taylor Swift but someone I know called her the Greatest Living Lyricist. She is not.

Who is yours? Either the greatest or your favorite?

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Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 10h

Or at least, that's how I read the OP's post - young people interpreted or thought of a song as romantic at some point and have reconsidered the lyrics.

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Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 10h

You're missing the fact that many young men played this for many young women, dedicated it to them on radio shows, etc. Intent vs pop culture reception.

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Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 10h

Length of time for comment is also never under 40 seconds. I've counted this for fun at faculty meetings.

Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 11h

Drive by The Cars?

Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 11h

Every Breath you Take?

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Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 11h

Wait, even for the military?

Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 12h

The 15th will be the first missed paycheck for federal employees if the government doesn’t reopen. This is what military see when they try to access their pay statements. One soldier told me they’ve never seen “currently not available” in 20+ years.

Account Access History
Reserve/Active Military Members:
Your Leave and Earnings Statements are not currently available via myPay. We will announce here when they do become available.
Thank you for your patience
WARNING
18 U.S.C. S 1030 prohibits unauthorized or fraudulent access to government computer systems. If the credentials you enter are not your own, you are in violation of this law and should exit this system immediately. Completing this action may subject you to a fine of up to $5,000 or double the value of anything obtained via this unauthorized access, plus up to five years imprisonment.

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Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 12h

*research ON not FROM, sorry.

Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 12h

Well I'm certainly curious about them! And SIL went to Santa Cruz.

Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 12h

Research from Arab countries and democratization also suggests that a fair bit hinges on whether armies see themselves as national forces, accountable to the people, vs. the enemies of the people.

Judah Grunstein @judah-grunstein.bsky.social · 12h

"Rather than antagonize the servicemembers in their midst, citizens .. could instead seize this rare opportunity to bridge the civil-military divide with constructive, respectful, nonconfrontational conversations with them."

Sharing a gift link to this important one by @charlicarpenter.bsky.social.

The Value of Engaging With Troops Deployed to U.S. Cities

The recent deployments of servicemembers to U.S. cities give citizens a rare opportunity to bridge the civil-military divide.

www.worldpoliticsreview.com

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Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 12h

Have been in Claremont for 11 years now!

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Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 13h

Well I would have y'all over for a party any time you were in SoCal.

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Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 13h

The most interesting choice was that they stopped counting attacks and threats in July for this year. This left out major attacks in following months. The research design was appalling.

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Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 13h

If you dig into the data, it's very screwy and distinguishes between 'ideological' and 'ethnoreligious' motivations in fairly subjective ways. Also, v small sample

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Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 1d

Ha!!! Well that makes a lot more sense.

Sumita Pahwa @sumitapahwa.bsky.social · 1d

They pronounce every spanish street or place name in SoCal so hilariously too.

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