Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by William D. O'Connell

Dani Rodrik @drodrik.bsky.social · May 22

Three things made the US a rich and powerful nation: the rule of law, its science & innovation system, and openness to foreign talent. Remarkable how Trump has taken a sledgehammer to all three. No enemy of this country could do more.

300 3.8K 11K

Reposted by William D. O'Connell

Chris Sardo @mcsardo.bsky.social · May 22

We cannot speak with any sort of authority about the dangers of AI to democracy and the need for authentic communication if we're not willing to show through our actions that we value these things in our own work!

3 5

Reposted by William D. O'Connell

Dr. Mike P. Moffatt @mikepmoffatt.bsky.social · May 22

"Do home prices need to come down?" has received a lot of love, and the question: What if wage growth goes up?

A: It helps, but even if we could *double* real wage growth, Oakville will still need 19 years to hit 2005 affordability.

Read here: www.missingmiddleini...

1 4 18

Reposted by William D. O'Connell

Erin Lockwood @erinkaylockwood.bsky.social · May 21

Yes. Sometimes there will be lists of obviously fake books, but more often we won't notice it at all.

AI detectors, zooming in to examine every image and video for "tells," counting on ChatGPT's quirk-of-the-week to out its use is a mug's game.

The only solution is a political-epistemic one. 🧵

Parker Molloy @parkermolloy.com · May 21

I know that people love to scream at anyone who dares to try to give people a heads up about how advanced "AI"-type stuff is (which is essential for being able to spot it to avoid getting fooled by it), but I think it's important, actually, to be aware that this is where the tech is currently at.

Grace @gracekind.net · May 20

VEO3

Prompt: “a man doing stand up comedy in a small venue tells a joke (include the joke in the dialogue)”

The video and audio are generated together.

1 2 9

William D. O'Connell @williamoconnell.bsky.social · May 20

An education in the arts was a sign of extreme privilege until very, very recently. Modern public universities making it accessible is unambiguously good for society and, apparently, business. Yet provinces continue to roll it back!

William D. O'Connell @williamoconnell.bsky.social · May 20

Provinces have been moving funding away from the things AI cannot replicate/replace (creativity, critical thought, writing) and towards what it can (complex mathematics, programming) and, in ten years, will wonder why Canadian productivity continues to lag.

1

William D. O'Connell @williamoconnell.bsky.social · May 20

Business leaders have been screaming this for several years, and yet Canadian provincial governments across the political spectrum continue to aggressively defund their universities' arts programs.

Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · May 20

Liberal arts majors rise up www.cnbc.com/2025/05/16/c...

Even so, demand for humanities majors is on the rise, and with good reason.

At a conference last year, Robert Goldstein, the chief operating officer of BlackRock, the world’s biggest money manager, said the firm was adjusting its hiring strategy for recent grads. “We have more and more conviction that we need people who majored in history, in English, and things that have nothing to do with finance or technology,” Goldstein said.

This demand for liberal arts degrees is due in part to the rise of artificial intelligence, which drives the need for creative thinking and so-called soft skills.

1

Reposted by William D. O'Connell

Dr. Mike P. Moffatt @mikepmoffatt.bsky.social · May 19

Here's a cheat sheet, for those who claim that Canada's housing crisis is isolated to a few pockets of the country. There are substantial regional variations, but the pockets of unaffordability are very, very large.

Raw data here: www.missingmiddleini...

2 9 32

Reposted by William D. O'Connell

Dr. Mike P. Moffatt @mikepmoffatt.bsky.social · May 17

Latest at MMI. The government had a bad week on housing. The problem isn't a lack of message discipline but something larger and more structural: It lacks clear goals and objectives for middle-class housing, which is leading to poor policy.

Read here: www.missingmiddleini...

5 24

Reposted by William D. O'Connell

Alex Usher @alexusherhesa.bsky.social · May 16

Change in overall provincial government spending vs. total provincial government spending on post-secondary education, Canada, 2006-07 to 2025-26 (2006-07 = 100). It's not austerity, it's the choices.

2 56 76

Reposted by William D. O'Connell

Dr. Mike P. Moffatt @mikepmoffatt.bsky.social · May 16

The new federal Housing Minister's stated goal for middle-class housing affordability is to keep home prices flat and let wages catch up.

We ran the numbers - that would take up to 50 years in some parts of Canada.

Read more here: www.missingmiddleini...

9 17 45

Reposted by William D. O'Connell

Dr. Mike P. Moffatt @mikepmoffatt.bsky.social · May 16

If the federal government's position is that we don't need to lower the price of homes for the middle class, then I think they'll need to make some changes to the National Housing Strategy Act.

2 20 67

Reposted by William D. O'Connell

Dr. Mike P. Moffatt @mikepmoffatt.bsky.social · May 15

Question for the federal government: The platform contained a lot of (IMO very good) measures, like reducing DCs, to lower the cost of homebuilding.

Is the end goal of reducing homebuilding costs to reduce prices, or to increase developer margins?

4 9 39

William D. O'Connell @williamoconnell.bsky.social · May 14

Not a good start.

Should home prices go down? ’No,’ says Canada’s new housing minister - National | Globalnews.ca

Gregor Robertson, the former Vancouver mayor, was sworn in as housing minister in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new cabinet on Tuesday.

globalnews.ca

1

William D. O'Connell @williamoconnell.bsky.social · May 13

This disgraceful episode is brought to you by FanDuel, America's #1 sportsbook!

MLB reinstates Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson, making them Hall of Fame eligible

Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson were reinstated by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred on Tuesday, making both eligible for the sport’s Hall of Fame after their careers were tarnished by sports gambl...

apnews.com

1

William D. O'Connell @williamoconnell.bsky.social · May 11

In case you ever feel like your vote doesn't matter, know there is one person in suburban Montréal who did, literally, cast the deciding vote.

Quebec riding of Terrebonne flips to Liberals after recount shows candidate won by single vote | CBC News

After a judicial recount, sources tell CBC News the Quebec riding of Terrebonne has flipped to the Liberals, who have beaten the Bloc Québécois by one vote. The result means the Liberals have 170 seat...

www.cbc.ca

1 9

Reposted by William D. O'Connell

Mike De Souza @mikedesouza.bsky.social · May 10

More on Danielle Smith govt breaking access law in this report by @matthewblack.ca - Edmonton Journal:

“McLeod’s investigation began in August of 2023 following reporting from the Narwhal and the refusal of all government departments to process a series of requests made by the Globe and Mail.”

Alberta government failed to follow access to information rules

A report from Information and Privacy Commissioner Diane McLeod found the province had improperly refused to process a number of requests.

edmontonjournal.com

2 34 65

Reposted by William D. O'Connell

Jared Wesley @jaredwesley.ca · May 10

This is an appalling development with Bill 54.

“McClure writes that some of the bill makes improvements, but other changes "will deteriorate the service provided to electors, compromise Albertans' trust in the democratic process, and remove elements of transparency and accountability."”

Lisa Johnson @reportrix.bsky.social · May 10

Alberta’s chief electoral officer warns new rules proposed by the UCP bill will basically kneecap a bunch of the work of the election commissioner in investigating complaints and enforcing compliance, including on financial contribution rules and limits. www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/politics/alb...

Alberta chief electoral officer warns UCP proposals will hurt investigative ability

EDMONTON - Alberta's chief electoral officer is warning the government that proposed legislation will impair the election commissioner's power to investigate election rule breaking.

www.thecanadianpressnews.ca

5 66 110

Reposted by William D. O'Connell

Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · May 9

JUST NOW: A federal judge ordered the immediate release of Rumeysa Ozturk, the Tufts PhD student who was taken on the street in Massachusetts by masked immigration authorities.

Ozturk has been detained in Louisiana for the past 6 weeks. But today, the judge ordered that she be allowed to go home.

Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · May 9

HAPPENING NOW: Bail hearing for Rumeysa Ozturk, the Tufts PhD student who remains in detention in Louisiana after she was taken from her home in Massachusetts by masked immigration authorities.

The hearing is before a Vermont judge. Ozturk is appearing virtually from Louisiana.

9 180 760

Reposted by William D. O'Connell

Daniel McDowell @danielmcdowell.bsky.social · May 9

Technology is melting our college students' brains.

Link: www.msn.com/en-us/news/t...

2 1 7

William D. O'Connell @williamoconnell.bsky.social · May 9

Wow! Congratulations Salam! Extremely well deserved.

1 1

Reposted by William D. O'Connell

Salam Alsaadi @alsaadi.bsky.social · May 9

Personal news- I’ll be joining the University of Georgia’s Department of International Affairs as an Assistant Professor in 2026, after a postdoc at Harvard’s Weatherhead Center this year. I’m really excited for these next steps and deeply thankful to everyone who’s supported me along the way.

2 1 11

Reposted by William D. O'Connell

Erin Lockwood @erinkaylockwood.bsky.social · May 7

I think it's worth working through the logic of how the AI cheating mess is symptomatic of a broader epistemic and economic crisis, in which the tenuous bargain higher ed struck with to society to credential job applicants in exchange for being allowed to exist has completely eroded.
🧵

Erin Lockwood @erinkaylockwood.bsky.social · May 7

Students are AI-cheating their way through college because they are rightly terrified of economic precarity and doing everything they can to avoid it, which means getting a college degree because they've been told that a degree is necessary for a reasonably well playing job. And they're not wrong!

1 2 2

Reposted by William D. O'Connell

Erin Lockwood @erinkaylockwood.bsky.social · May 7

Students are AI-cheating their way through college because they are rightly terrified of economic precarity and doing everything they can to avoid it, which means getting a college degree because they've been told that a degree is necessary for a reasonably well playing job. And they're not wrong!

1 3 7