Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by EMRE KIZILKAYA

Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 5d

Macron remarks are notable- some quotes: "We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks that are controlled either by large American entrepreneurs or large Chinese companies, whose interests are not at all the survival or proper functioning of our democracies."

Defend Democracy @defenddemocracy.bsky.social · 5d

President Macron: “Europeans, let's wake up!

We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks.”

defenddemocracy.eu/macron-democ...

99 2.3K 7K

EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 7d

A great discussion paper by Montori et al. for @harvard-carr-ryan.bsky.social.

They warn that surveillance capitalism is reshaping healthcare into a system focused on data rather than people, enabling Big Tech to commodify human experience and consolidate power:

www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr...

The Un-Mattering of People: The Present and Near-Future of Surveillance Capitalism and the Fate of Care in Healthcare

The encroachment of surveillance capitalism into healthcare takes place as healthcare becomes increasingly industrialized.

www.hks.harvard.edu

1 2 7

Reposted by EMRE KIZILKAYA

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 10d

CEO pay is up 1,094% since 1978, while worker pay is up just 26%.

Why do we always hear "we can't afford to pay our workers more" but never "we can't afford to pay our CEO more"?

390 5.2K 15K

EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 13d

I stumbled upon this on the interwebs today:

4

EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 22d

I'm honored to share that my Ph.D. thesis, 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑙𝑔𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑚𝑖𝑐 𝑉𝑒𝑖𝑙: 𝐴𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑡, 𝐴𝐼 𝐵𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑆𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛-𝐶𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑁𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑅𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔, has been accepted.

My deepest gratitude goes to all my mentors, including my advisor Professor Kerem Rizvanoglu. I’ll share more about the findings soon.

2 23

EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · Aug 27

Latest from my fellows at ‪@harvard-carr-ryan.bsky.social‬ :

🎧 ‪@lexzard.bsky.social‬ on #DMA in a podcast with Prof Mathias Risse: www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr...

📄 ‪@sebasmartl.bsky.social‬ on "Algorithmic #Discrimination in Latin American Welfare States": www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr...

Digital Rights Across Borders: EU vs. US on Consumer Data Protection

www.hks.harvard.edu

1

Reposted by EMRE KIZILKAYA

European Open Source Academy (EOSA) @eosa.bsky.social · Jul 24

📢Important read : OFE Publishes Landmark Study Calling for Funding Europe’s Open Digital Infrastructure through an EU Sovereign Tech Fund (EU-STF)

👉Read President of EOSA Daniel Stenberg's statement of support and OFE's full report here : europeanopensource.academy/news/stateme...

1 2

EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · Jul 21

"One of my favorite things about America is my constitutional right to make fun of the powerful," #Colbert once proudly said in 2015 after reporting a Turkish man faced two years in jail for comparing President Erdoğan to Gollum from The Lord of the Rings: www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3Sv...

1

EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · Jul 10

"Not since a series of coups in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s have such high-profile political leaders been removed from office on the basis of as yet unpublished evidence, which suspects' lawyers dismiss as fabricated."

Reuters analysis on what is happening in #Turkey: www.reuters.com/world/middle...

Turkey detains hundreds of Erdogan opponents in pursuit of 'octopus' of corruption

Tayyip Erdogan's main political opponents have faced an unprecedented crackdown that has seen more than 500 detained in just nine months, according to a Reuters review of a sprawling investigation that has accelerated dramatically in recent days.

www.reuters.com

2 6

EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · Jul 5

To paraphrase a sentiment often attributed to Max Planck (and more accurately to Thomas Kuhn):

Truth never triumphs, its opponents just die out.

2

EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · Jun 20

"I've been under arrest for three months, stripped of my freedom because, as a communications professional, I managed election campaigns. Let me be clear: Winning an election is not a crime. There is no such offense in Turkish law," says Necati Ozkan, an aide to the jailed Istanbul Mayor Imamoglu.

4

EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · Jun 2

"Accumulations of wealth, talent, and influence as we find them at places like Harvard are justified only if utilized to make things better, especially for people who could never attend such places."

Mathias Risse's new @harvard-carr-ryan.bsky.social commentary: www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr...

On the Occasion of Commencement: What Harvard is to the World

The views expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights or Harvard Kennedy School. These perspectives have been presented to enc...

www.hks.harvard.edu

4

Reposted by EMRE KIZILKAYA

Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · May 29

This is what happens when you put internet conspiracy theorists in charge of major government departments.

The MAHA Report Cites Studies That Don’t Exist

The Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” report misinterprets some studies and cites others that don’t exist, according to the listed authors.

www.notus.org

120 960 3.2K

Reposted by EMRE KIZILKAYA

MSNBC @msnbc.com · May 27

Harvard professor Laurence Tribe reacts to Trump’s latest attacks on Harvard University

@lawrenceodonnell.msnbc.com is joined by Harvard Constitutional Law Professor Laurence Tribe who sounds off on Trump’s attempts to block international students from the university.

WATCH:

Harvard professor Laurence Tribe reacts to Trump’s latest attacks on Harvard University

YouTube video by MSNBC

www.youtube.com

7 18 54

Reposted by EMRE KIZILKAYA

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health @hsph.harvard.edu · May 16

With nearly all of Harvard Chan School’s direct federal grants terminated, we are relying on philanthropy to power our research and support our educational programs. Every gift, regardless of size, advances our vision of health, dignity, and justice for every human. Support our work: hsph.me/whygive

13 160 280

Reposted by EMRE KIZILKAYA

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health @hsph.harvard.edu · May 23

Harvard Chan School students come from 74 nations. They are curious, compassionate, and driven to make a difference.

To our valued community of international students, a message from Harvard President Alan Garber: www.harvard.edu/president/ne...

Photo of students in graduation robes walking past rows of empty chairs under a tent with international flags, including Switzerland, Sweden, Sri Lanka, Spain, South Africa, and Singapore displayed in the background.
The overlaid text states:
To our international students:
At this difficult time we will do everything we can to support you.

3 27 85

Reposted by EMRE KIZILKAYA

Dr. Canan Çalışkan @drcanancaliskan.bsky.social · May 23

The results show that language models, trained mostly on WEIRD data, fail to capture cultural cognitive differences. Greater cultural diversity in training and evaluation is essential to reduce bias and improve global applicability.

EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · May 11

Research suggests the similarity between large language model and human responses declines for typical cognitive tasks as you move away from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies.

More in this 2023 paper from Harvard biologists: doi.org/10.31234/osf...

1 1

EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · May 12

New @harvard-carr-ryan.bsky.social #Commentary by Mathias Risse:

The election of American-born Pope Leo XIV represents a historic convergence of Catholic social teaching, human rights advocacy, & a renewed form of American soft power on the global stage. #PopeLeoXIV #HumanRights #SoftPower

Our Man in Rome: On the Extraordinary Fact that an American Was Elected Pope, and What it Means for Human Rights

The views expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy or Harvard Kennedy School. These perspectives have been presented to e...

www.hks.harvard.edu

1

EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · May 11

Some important notes on this paper:

a. It's a preprint (I couldn't find a peer-reviewed published version).

b. The analysis appears to focus on GPT models, not necessarily all LLMs.

c. The LLM landscape has evolved rapidly since 2023.

1

EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · May 11

Research suggests the similarity between large language model and human responses declines for typical cognitive tasks as you move away from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies.

More in this 2023 paper from Harvard biologists: doi.org/10.31234/osf...

2 5

EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · May 8

#News:

Musk's #X has restricted the jailed opposition leader's account in #Turkey.

Legal experts criticize the platform's dubious statement which downplayed its role that boosts #censorship.

It's incompetence at best, if not malice.

I wrote in more detail here: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

European Democrats @europeandemocrats.bsky.social · May 8

Elon Musk’s decision to block @ekremimamogluresmi.bsky.social ‘s X account only in Turkey — where he represents the democratic opposition — is alarming. If President Erdogan weren’t in power, and if Musk didn’t share this political alignment, this act of censorship would never have happened. 1/2

2 3

EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · May 7

Driving a taxi or ambulance may help ward off the most common type of dementia.

It may be related to an enlarged hippocampus which manages spatial memory.

However, this benefit did not seem to extend to others with jobs involving navigation, like pilots:

www.health.harvard.edu/blog/two-job...

Two jobs may lower the odds of dying from Alzheimer's disease — but why? - Harvard Health

Researchers have found that the risk of death due to Alzheimer's disease is markedly lower in taxi and ambulance drivers compared with hundreds of other occupations. And the reason could be that th...

www.health.harvard.edu

1

EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · May 2

I contributed to "Trump 100 Days," a discussion paper series by the @harvard-carr-ryan.bsky.social that examines the early trajectory of his second presidency.

Read the full report, with contributions from Harvard faculty, fellows, and affiliates: www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/defaul...

3 5

EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · Apr 29

“It is difficult to understand what could be meant by the objective character of an #experience, apart from the particular point of view from which its subject apprehends it.” — Thomas Nagel

5

Reposted by EMRE KIZILKAYA

Ayla Albayrak @aylushka.bsky.social · Apr 27

New York Times: Turkey’s People Are Resisting Autocracy. They Deserve More Than Silence. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/27/o...

Opinion | Turkey’s People Are Resisting Autocracy. They Deserve More Than Silence.

The world’s democracies can speak up to make Erdogan’s life less comfortable.

www.nytimes.com

2 6