Nostr notes by Alfie Kohn

Proposed school district policy on A.I. from Emily Cherkin: ...

2026-10-29T12:05:29Z

Proposed school district policy on A.I. from Emily Cherkin: "Just like we teach our students about the dangers of drugs without providing them with drugs, we will teach our students about AI without using AI": https://firstfish.substack.com/p/the-only-ai-policy-schools-need

Also of possible interest: https://fairplayforkids.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/BigTechsYoungestTargets_ONEPAGER.pdf

Maybe on some level they're uncomfortable with their own ...

2026-10-28T12:31:45Z

Maybe on some level they're uncomfortable with their own bigotry, so they try to rationalize it by inventing a reality in which those they persecute are threats. "Trans people want to forcibly transition your kids!" echoes "Gays are groomers, looking for converts" and, before that, "Black men are after 'our' women."

"Where 20th-century fascism manipulates language to destroy ...

2026-10-11T12:08:39Z

"Where 20th-century fascism manipulates language to destroy truth, 21st-century fascism controls reality through algorithms and the outright purchase of media properties....all while accusing its victims [of being] the perpetrators of the very crimes that [it] openly conspires to commit."
-Gil Duran, The Nerd Reich

Nostr event nevent1qqs22qel0uk38rs5u43h8j8zervf0t366qnrs73d6hvhr4t4l7shl4szypzj6t3mhg5hu2e76e2qltrj904r2gz3ffxnjfswdgrng6gdh6xh2t3ryxt

2026-10-10T14:04:01Z

Reading for years about "content creators," I'd been ...

2026-10-02T11:50:11Z

Reading for years about "content creators," I'd been silently mispronouncing the first word and wondering when we're going to hear about people who *aren't* so damn satisfied with whatever they came up with.

Nostr event nevent1qqsd8gnysafc9kvry3r9mgzscarsqs3luex97qawh9ff0rq2w07fknczypzj6t3mhg5hu2e76e2qltrj904r2gz3ffxnjfswdgrng6gdh6xh2zwvech

2026-09-30T16:10:39Z

Brilliant.

It's not just that A.I. hallucinates. It's that AI ...

2026-09-30T11:53:50Z

It's not just that A.I. hallucinates. It's that AI induces *us* to hallucinate as it "sustains, affirms, & elaborates on our own delusional thinking & self-narratives...[Our] false beliefs can not only be affirmed but can more substantially take root and grow as the A.I. builds upon them":
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260509210652.htm

Norbert Weiner saw it more than 70 years ago: "We have modified our environment so radically that we must now modify ourselves in order to exist in this new environment."

Today, in Capitalism as Self-Parody: "Extinction of the ...

2026-09-29T13:06:55Z

Today, in Capitalism as Self-Parody:

"Extinction of the species is a small price to pay for the possibility of making a fortune on my investment!"

cc: that friend of yours who apparently needs one more reason ...

2026-09-25T21:41:33Z

cc: that friend of yours who apparently needs *one more reason* to stop using Facebook, Insta, or Whatsapp

Creative subversion of evil EDITED TO ADD THIS CAVEAT: Some folks ...

2026-09-06T11:28:08Z

Creative subversion of evil

EDITED TO ADD THIS CAVEAT:
Some folks are saying this hasn't actually happened (despite the original post's explicit claim to the contrary) - and I have no evidence one way or the other. Best to treat this as an intriguing, though obviously very risky, possibility rather than a confirmed report of something already being done.

Nostr event nevent1qqste6sumdmj7p8tt5x8rgukllemf6p7lexy933dv64jg44lgyhuxfczypzj6t3mhg5hu2e76e2qltrj904r2gz3ffxnjfswdgrng6gdh6xh2a7q9hp

2026-09-05T14:14:40Z

Huh.

Jamelle Bouie is right. It's not about economics or political ...

2026-08-24T17:41:23Z

Jamelle Bouie is right. It's not about economics or political ideology. Everything he does - including the tariffs - must be seen through the lens of his psychopathology.

"Obviously I'm about as qualified to be a senator as a ...

2026-08-21T22:01:19Z

"Obviously I'm about as qualified to be a senator as a raccoon is to be a neurosurgeon. But I'm hoping S.C. Republicans will overlook my flagrant incompetence if I change the subject and reassure them that I'm also a rank transphobic bigot": https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/20/us/politics/darline-graham-debate-south-carolina.html

To placate, or hide from, the regime's mandates and ...

2026-08-20T18:10:11Z

To placate, or hide from, the regime's mandates and prohibitions, organizations scrambled to find other labels for their support of diversity and inclusion. I guess this is the next logical step:

Given what follows, shouldn't the headline have been "How ...

2026-08-15T19:17:14Z

Given what follows, shouldn't the headline have been "How Trump's Destruction of the U.S. Food Safety System Allowed Cyclospora to Sicken Thousands"?

It's not just the racist. murderous vigilantes who believe ...

2026-08-14T13:53:47Z

It's not just the racist. murderous vigilantes who believe their pogroms are blessed by their deity. It's the fact that the political, legal, and law-enforcement system of their country consistently allows - and even abets - their evil.

An old-school Marxist could hardly be more effective than this ...

2026-08-11T11:54:34Z

An old-school Marxist could hardly be more effective than this headline on a mainstream investment website at reminding us that growth in our economic system is unashamedly constructed on human misery.

Ad in The Onion ...

2026-08-10T15:03:46Z

Ad in The Onion

1/2 A qualitative study on how homework perpetuates inequities: ...

2026-08-06T12:01:43Z

1/2
A qualitative study on how homework perpetuates inequities: Richer kids' advantages help them to succeed with assignments; they're then "seen by teachers as responsible, motivated, and capable." Conversely, kids who struggle with homework because of fewer resources are blamed for lacking responsibility or motivation: https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/xf96q_v1

Dedication in a book by P.G. Wodehouse: "To _______, without ...

2026-08-04T11:53:58Z

Dedication in a book by P.G. Wodehouse:
"To _______, without whose...sympathy and encouragement this book would have been finished in half the time"

The richest person in the world, who's also a white ...

2026-08-01T17:36:37Z

The richest person in the world, who's also a white supremacist (and a misogynist and an anti-Semite), will personally spend more than $100 million to make sure plutocrat-friendly Republicans keep the Senate.

It's been awhile since my last civics class, but this is how democracy is supposed to work, right?

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/us/politics/elon-musk-midterms-republicans.html

While some developmental psych researchers do look at factors ...

2026-07-28T12:01:58Z

While some developmental psych researchers do look at factors that affect children's moral development or psychological health, I'm struck by how many parenting studies, just like popular parenting books, take for granted that the desired outcome is compliance - i.e., kids doing whatever they're told.

To Trump et al., the value of an education is measured purely in ...

2026-07-27T11:49:36Z

To Trump et al., the value of an education is measured purely in monetary terms: https://newrepublic.com/post/213446/trump-litmus-tests-student-loans-degrees-income. But this is common on the right: A very similar anti-intellectual sensibility was heard from Reagan (https://medium.com/politically-speaking/the-republican-assault-on-education-700b2cd16a34) and, well, from Hitler (https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/the-ways-to-destroy-democracy/).

You start by looking for a specific answer but wind up learning ...

2026-07-25T14:46:26Z

You start by looking for a specific answer but wind up learning about the subject's history on one website, discovering a podcast about a related topic on a second site, then finding a discussion forum on something tangential. This is what Google is actively trying to discourage us from doing by having its A.I. do a search for you and serve it up on its own site.

New study of almost 100K people in 66 countries: "A happy ...

2026-07-24T11:50:42Z

New study of almost 100K people in 66 countries: "A happy society is more than just a collection of happy individuals." Public policies that promote the common good, "building open, fair, and supportive societies," are more likely to produce happiness "than policies focused exclusively on improving the lives of individual citizens": https://www.psypost.org/scientists-identify-five-key-factors-linked-to-happiness-across-66-countries/

If you read only one article from 1949 today, make it this gem by ...

2026-07-23T11:48:19Z

If you read only one article from 1949 today, make it this gem by Robert Benchley called "How to Get Things Done." It's not only very funny; the strategy he describes actually sort of works: https://adam.nz/how-to-get-things-done

Well, what do you know? A manuscript editor with a van..." ...

2026-07-19T16:30:08Z

Well, what do you know? A manuscript editor with a van..."

‪When you find yourself denouncing Amnesty International (and ...

2026-07-13T21:45:20Z

‪When you find yourself denouncing Amnesty International (and becoming an apologist for whoever they've identified as violators of human rights), it's probably time to reexamine your entire moral framework.

cc: defenders of Israel

https://bsky.app/profile/esqueer.net/post/3mqkm7t7pq22e

Characteristically pointed piece by Cory Doctorow on the ...

2026-07-10T12:32:24Z

Characteristically pointed piece by Cory Doctorow on the difference between the left and the right, particularly with regard to property rights: https://pluralistic.net/2026/07/08/wilhoitian/#human-rights-v-property-rights

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2026-07-08T12:46:05Z

Every July 4 I like to recall the political philosopher Benjamin ...

2026-07-04T12:23:10Z

Every July 4 I like to recall the political philosopher Benjamin Barber's observation that this country was created not by individuals but by neighbors - and therefore what we really need is a declaration of interdependence. Never more important than now, with purveyors of hatred and fear in power.

Interesting insight from social scientist Stephanie Coontz ...

2026-07-01T16:24:14Z

Interesting insight from social scientist Stephanie Coontz (paraphrased in a review of her new book): A stereotypical and often toxic version of masculinity assumes that men and women must be opposites, but "manhood was once counterposed more against childhood than womanhood. Maturity was what turned a boy into a man - the development of self-control and judgment, not aggressiveness."

A new study finds that teachers are significantly more likely to ...

2026-06-30T11:58:42Z

A new study finds that teachers are significantly more likely to defer to an inappropriately low grade (for a specific student assignment) that was suggested by A.I. than if the same harsh grade was proposed by a human colleague:
https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/5/6/pgag146/8703788

Eye-opening passage from Haberman & Swan's new book about ...

2026-06-27T13:38:29Z

Eye-opening passage from Haberman & Swan's new book about Trump during his second term:

Apropos of A.I.: "When the American biotech industry became ...

2026-06-26T12:27:28Z

Apropos of A.I.:
"When the American biotech industry became worried about the negative potential of genetic engineering tools in the 1990s, it didn’t rush ahead to clone humans before China could get there; it instead lobbied Congress and relevant international bodies to limit the most odious possibilities for these innovations. The possibility that another actor might do something bad doesn’t give you the moral right to do something similar":
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/17/opinion/ai-dangerous-openai-anthropic.html?unlocked_article_code=1.s1A.dLH_.mnIvY4nyoCLk&smid=url-share

Jen Sorenson nails it, as always. ...

2026-06-25T21:32:05Z

Jen Sorenson nails it, as always.

Probably a good thing that Martin Buber isn't alive to see ...

2026-06-17T11:57:52Z

Probably a good thing that Martin Buber isn't alive to see people interacting with the counterfeit humans known as chatbots, pretending they're talking to a friend, a therapist, or even a lover. When he finally stopped weeping, he'd have to invent a new category of warped relationships, one below "I-It".

Has anyone ever written a better sentence than this one by Ring ...

2026-06-13T11:19:37Z

Has anyone ever written a better sentence than this one by Ring Lardner?

“’Shut up,’ he explained.”

The psychoanalyst Erich Fromm recalled that, as a boy, ...

2026-06-05T11:58:28Z

The psychoanalyst Erich Fromm recalled that, as a boy, "whenever someone told me he was a businessman I always felt a little embarrassed. I'd think: God, he must feel awful having to admit that he's not doing anything else with his life except earning money."

Seems crazy, I know, but we have to be prepared to pay a price if ...

2026-06-03T19:33:59Z

Seems crazy, I know, but we have to be prepared to pay a price if we want to make sure that a handful of very rich men can become even richer.

Much has been written about Trump's fascist aesthetic: gold ...

2026-06-02T11:04:50Z

Much has been written about Trump's fascist aesthetic: gold and marble everywhere, an enormous arch, huge banners featuring Dear Leader's scowling face on government buildings, and so on. But a spectacle sponsored by the regime in which two people in a cage savagely pummel each other, the goal being to cause agony and/or injury to the point of immobility, for our entertainment? This brings us closer to the core of a true fascist sensibility.

I guess the critics who predicted that Bezos's Washington ...

2026-05-27T10:45:27Z

I guess the critics who predicted that Bezos's Washington Post would abandon hard-hitting politcal journalism are feeling pretty silly now, huh?

Intriguing: Research finds that the rank-and-file workers who ...

2026-05-21T13:23:32Z

Intriguing: Research finds that the rank-and-file workers who carry out the immoral orders of authoritarian regimes usually aren't motivated by either ideological commitment or fear. They're "loyal losers" who are offered a way to salvage their careers: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/world/americas/actually-democracy-dies-in-hr.html?unlocked_article_code=1.j1A.A767.yRU-KeNoO9i_&smid=url-share.
Obvious implications for the U.S.:

A recent poll finds that the only group in which a majority say ...

2026-05-18T12:56:52Z

A recent poll finds that the only group in which a majority say they're exicted about AI are those who make more than $200K a year.
https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3955

Future historians will try to explain how these corporations ...

2026-05-16T21:07:15Z

Future historians will try to explain how these corporations managed to convinced millions that dystopian developments were actually utopian.

The universe - and all known principles of human psychology - ...

2026-05-14T19:32:58Z

The universe - and all known principles of human psychology - again make sense now that our initial assumption has been confirmed: No one has ever loved Stephen Miller.
https://www.rawstory.com/stephen-miller-2676875552/

"Men have become the tools of their tools." -Thoreau, ...

2026-05-07T11:54:19Z

"Men have become the tools of their tools."
-Thoreau, 1854

"After just ∼10 minutes of AI-assisted problem-solving, people who lost access to the AI performed worse and gave up more frequently than those who never used it."
- research finding, 2026
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2604.04721

When experts warn about authoritarianism, these are exactly the ...

2026-05-06T16:37:02Z

When experts warn about authoritarianism, these are exactly the kinds of developments they have in mind.

Drinking salt water when you're thirsty just makes you ...

2026-05-05T11:59:57Z

Drinking salt water when you're thirsty just makes you thirstier.

Competing to feel better about yourself ultimately makes you feel worse about yourself (even if you win).

And guess what new research finds about the effect of interacting with chatbots when you're lonely?
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09567976261427747

Did someone say "equal justice under the law"? ...

2026-05-01T00:54:07Z

Did someone say "equal justice under the law"?

Nice piece that draws an analogy between relying on a GPS (vs. ...

2026-04-24T12:08:25Z

Nice piece that draws an analogy between relying on a GPS (vs. developing a sense of direction) to teachers who offer direct instruction of math procedures (vs. helping kids to develop math sense): https://www.middleweb.com/53328/are-you-gpsing-your-students-in-math-class/

Why not just teach kids principles AND procedures? This 1991 study found that the destructive effects of step-by-step direct instruction aren't offset by adding richer content: https://perryresearchgroupatillinois.weebly.com/uploads/4/1/6/7/41674785/perry_1991_cognitive_development.pdf. And this study 25 yrs later confirms it: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306030326_Improving_conceptual_and_procedural_knowledge_The_impact_of_instructional_content_within_a_mathematics_lesson

Let this be a warning to Democrats: If you insist on criticizing ...

2026-04-21T12:57:09Z

Let this be a warning to Democrats: If you insist on criticizing a country that kills tens of thousands of civilians, you risk losing the support of people who defend the killing of tens of thousands of civilians.

Fascinating: Corporations invented the very idea of disposability ...

2026-04-13T11:38:34Z

Fascinating: Corporations invented the very idea of disposability - and promoted recycling as a mostly pointless palliative to escape blame. A damning couple of paragraphs from a review of this new book: https://tinyurl.com/bde78zeh

Disheartening but not surprising to find one school district (and ...

2026-03-26T11:17:54Z

Disheartening but not surprising to find one school district (and college) after another adopting AI policies that accept Big Tech's framing of the technology as unstoppable so all that's left is to tweak how it's used.
Reposting my link-laden take on the topic - "The Chatbot in the Classroom, the Forklift at the Gym": https://www.alfiekohn.org/article/ai/

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2026-03-22T14:28:37Z

This is very much in character for Israel, which for years has ...

2026-03-18T22:08:17Z

This is very much in character for Israel, which for years has "repeatedly undermined Palestinians who sought to end Israel's occupation through negotiations or nonviolent pressure" (Peter Beinart) - arresting or killing those urging diplomacy and then claiming there's no one to negotiate with.

Lots of research (which I reviewed in my book "No ...

2026-03-09T11:40:37Z

Lots of research (which I reviewed in my book "No Contest") shows that participating in competition - any activity where one person or group must fail in order for another to succeed - undermines moral development and generosity.
But one study really stands out. It found that merely growing up with a competitive parent is enough to reduce a child's empathy. It's sort of like the effects of breathing secondhand smoke.

Nostr event nevent1qqsg6ynuxelk68396ufg3umdy49d7kem7jav2zmy2rk9krgkq0u6w3qzypzj6t3mhg5hu2e76e2qltrj904r2gz3ffxnjfswdgrng6gdh6xh2q0c0k2

2026-03-07T17:35:26Z

Even people who aren't anti-AI are sickened by OpenAI's ...

2026-03-04T12:55:08Z

Even people who aren't anti-AI are sickened by OpenAI's active role in supporting MAGA authoritarianism at home and its atrocities abroad. There's now an active movement to urge people to stop using its chatbot. Do you have friends or colleagues who need to see this? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/04/quit-chatgpt-subscription-boycott-silicon-valley

"Teacher shortage" (e.g., in AK, AZ, FL MI) is shorthand ...

2026-03-03T12:51:43Z

"Teacher shortage" (e.g., in AK, AZ, FL MI) is shorthand for "shortage of teachers willing to work under crappy conditions and/or for insufficient pay."

More generally, as author Garret Keizer reminds us, "Our entire economic system rests on the principle of paying people less than their labor is worth."

If you need me, I'll be in the library, moving Margaret ...

2026-02-23T13:53:16Z

If you need me, I'll be in the library, moving Margaret Atwood's books to the nonfiction section

https://www.throughline.news/p/the-trump-administration-is-trafficking

In case you worried that far-right politicians were just banning ...

2026-02-20T13:07:36Z

In case you worried that far-right politicians were just banning instructors from teaching disfavored content (e.g., slavery was bad; LGBTQ folks are human beings), it turns out they're also mandating curriculum content. So it's not just "Here's what you can't teach" but also "Here's what you must teach."

One of the best pieces I've seen about Epstein - how he, like ...

2026-02-19T17:56:26Z

One of the best pieces I've seen about Epstein - how he, like Trump was a depraved con man whom the elite (in academia, business, and politics) not only lacked the courage to denounce but actively cozied up to and whose evil they thereby encouraged: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-anand-giridharadas.html?unlocked_article_code=1.NVA.M7Ba.LRi6Yx-xpe0k&smid=url-share

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2026-02-13T17:49:15Z

In case you worried that Bezos's decision to decimate the ...

2026-02-10T02:14:43Z

In case you worried that Bezos's decision to decimate the reporting staff at the Washington Post might adversely affect the paper's ability to cover critical news stories...

"If you identify conservatism with any principle, you ...

2026-01-25T18:22:05Z

"If you identify conservatism with any principle, you inevitably end up finding hypocrisy. But if you conceive of conservatism as efforts by dominant groups to maintain their dominance, with principles occasionally deployed instrumentally, the contradictions/hypocrisy fade away." -David Roberts

There's no irony when the right justifies killing a nurse b/c he had a gun. Or brutalizing Capitol cops on J6. They never meant for "gun rights" or "law & order" (or "free speech") to apply universally.

Nostr event nevent1qqszywrkhqsgvpfek8uulgapj0adtc22u3pfrdyjv5y7c9tavyr5mhqzypzj6t3mhg5hu2e76e2qltrj904r2gz3ffxnjfswdgrng6gdh6xh2zt29ny

2026-01-24T22:31:30Z

Adam Serwer on what it means in concrete terms that Trump has ...

2026-01-22T17:38:30Z

Adam Serwer on what it means in concrete terms that Trump has essentially destroyed the independence of the Dept. of Justice: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/01/trump-justice/685684/

"If OpenAI embraces advertising and pivots to...surveillance ...

2026-01-22T13:08:53Z

"If OpenAI embraces advertising and pivots to...surveillance capitalism," said Roger McNamee, a former mentor to Mark Zuckerberg, "it would constitute a 'five-alarm fire.'" (A chatbot that continuously monitors users’ thoughts and feelings can steer them in directions meant to benefit advertisers.)

HOW IT STARTED .... HOW IT'S GOING

Our culture's competition compulsion: It seems there's no ...

2026-01-13T13:01:01Z

Our culture's competition compulsion: It seems there's no activity so engaging - from singing to coding, from math to oratory - that it can't be ruined by gratuitously pitting kids against each other and defining success as making everyone else fail.

Trumpians who praise ICE (and denigrate its victims) but also ...

2026-01-09T14:53:56Z

Trumpians who praise ICE (and denigrate its victims) but also support the J6 seditionists' assault on Capitol police officers are not being inconsistent or hypocritical. Here's why: https://www.thebulwark.com/p/renee-good-ashli-babbitt-fascism

"Trump’s belief in his own global omnipotence, and his ...

2026-01-03T21:53:26Z

"Trump’s belief in his own global omnipotence, and his desire to grab the territory and natural resources of other countries has been held in check until now by his fear of entanglement in foreign wars....[so] the worst thing about the Maduro rendition is that it worked....
He looks at the world through the eyes of a 19th-century imperialist, but with 21st-century weapons":
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/03/putin-russia-us-foreign-policy-venezuela

From Kalen Dion: ...

2025-12-28T12:38:58Z

From Kalen Dion:

The 38% of Americans who don't identify as Christian are ...

2025-12-25T13:58:03Z

The 38% of Americans who don't identify as Christian are officially unwelcome in MAGAmerica. (Of course Christians, too, ought to be appalled by this casual contempt for secular democracy.)

A reminder during this holiday season, courtesy of the late ...

2025-12-23T12:37:45Z

A reminder during this holiday season, courtesy of the late Barbara Ehrenreich, about the "major philanthropists of our society."

We may be heading toward a world in which it seems peculiar or ...

2025-12-22T13:23:13Z

We may be heading toward a world in which it seems peculiar or even foolish to read an article or book in its entirety. Incredibly, schools - K-12 & higher ed. alike - seem reconciled to becoming the accomplices of Big Tech by pointing us there.

When you look at the research, it's remarkable how ...

2025-12-20T15:01:55Z

When you look at the research, it's remarkable how inefficient deliberate practice and study are for increasing kids' vocabularies. Free reading generally turns out to be more effective than direct, explicit instruction, even for learning academic words: https://www.readingmatrix.com/files/20-d7ceydef.pdf.

Similarly, the data have consistently shown that direct, discrete grammar instruction is unhelpful, unnecessary, and even counterproductive: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1337014/.

From "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead": "There ...

2025-12-17T12:06:26Z

From "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead": "There must have been a moment, at the beginning, where we could have said--no. But somehow we missed it."

quoting
nevent1q…h2ps
If nothing's done to stop Trump and the GOP, in three more years there'll be nothing left of this country.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/16/trump-dismantle-national-center-atmospheric-research-climate/87798771007/

A blatant act of unprovoked aggression that should be instantly ...

2025-12-10T23:04:04Z

A blatant act of unprovoked aggression that should be instantly and unanimously condemned by the entire world community

Those who lose a contest often experience resentment and ...

2025-12-10T14:58:30Z

Those who lose a contest often experience resentment and self-doubt. But competition also does ugly things to those who win, this study showed: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120229104746.htm. Ultimately everyone loses when we're pitted against one another.

So much of conservatives' angry nostalgia for "how simple ...

2025-12-04T16:43:26Z

So much of conservatives' angry nostalgia for "how simple life used to be" in the good old days confuses a life-cycle effect (what is true of people at a certain age) with a period effect (what is true of everyone at a certain point in history).

More here: https://www.alfiekohn.org/blogs/aggressive-nostalgia/

Real men commit war crimes and also sneer at efforts to deal with ...

2025-12-02T16:24:30Z

Real men commit war crimes and also sneer at efforts to deal with climate change (since, as we all know, it's a sign of confidence in one's masculinity to find solar energy emasculating): https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/climate/climate-change-disinformation.html

Offered without comment ...

2025-11-20T01:51:51Z

Offered without comment

Interesting study suggests that competition exacerbates social ...

2025-11-19T12:33:22Z

Interesting study suggests that competition exacerbates social inequality: Lower social-class university students (and other adults) do worse than their higher-class counterparts on a reasoning task only when they're pushed to win (i.e., focus on outperforming others): https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2019-10560-001

In case you needed another reason not to: ...

2025-11-12T15:05:52Z

In case you needed another reason not to: https://www.pcmag.com/news/ask-chatgpt-about-affairs-abortion-be-careful-marketers-peek-prompts

Much has been said about Musk's appalling social media posts. ...

2025-11-09T15:09:43Z

Much has been said about Musk's appalling social media posts. Joyce Carol Oates takes a moment to notice what he *doesn't* post.

Killing usually requires dehumanizing one's victims. Thus, ...

2025-11-08T12:10:21Z

Killing usually requires dehumanizing one's victims. Thus, one of the most important services the press can perform is to rehumanize them. Profiles of some of the Venezuelan villagers recently murdered by the U.S. military at Trump & Hegseth's direction (and the loved ones left behind): https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-boat-strikes-drugs-cocaine-trafficking-95b54a3a5efec74f12f82396a79617ea

Any time you hear people make a dismissive reference to ...

2025-11-05T17:41:29Z

Any time you hear people make a dismissive reference to "DEI," take a moment to reflect on what that says about their character and values. Apparently they're opposed to the very idea of diversity (vs. homogeneity) or equity or inclusion. (Or else they just mean "I'm a racist bigot.")

Murdoch stands for only the highest-quality journalism ...

2025-11-03T16:32:54Z

Murdoch stands for only the highest-quality journalism

A new episode of my podcast, Kohn's Zone, just dropped -- ...

2025-11-01T13:09:17Z

A new episode of my podcast, Kohn's Zone, just dropped -- "Making Kids Work a Second Shift": Is it time to stop focusing on how much homework kids are assigned and take a step back to ask whether research, logic, and values support requiring any homework at all? https://www.alfiekohn.org/podcasts/

What if all you knew about Mamdani was that Trump, Cuomo, Adams, ...

2025-10-24T13:56:55Z

What if all you knew about Mamdani was that Trump, Cuomo, Adams, real estate tycoons, and billionaires were working together desperately to prevent his election?

A one-paragraph definition of Doctorow's ...

2025-10-19T16:42:33Z

A one-paragraph definition of Doctorow's "enshitification" for those who were unclear on the concept. (For more, see my paywalled, virus-ridden essay.)

Nostr event nevent1qqsqp8z45plt34dwnhx2zc0lq0adm09qcvhxsrrlx7uk62hzrgf32cczypzj6t3mhg5hu2e76e2qltrj904r2gz3ffxnjfswdgrng6gdh6xh2s3q3d8

2025-10-19T12:10:57Z

"When this is over, do not forget what ICE did, and what ICE ...

2025-10-12T01:19:57Z

"When this is over, do not forget what ICE did, and what ICE is. And do not make room for them in society. Make sure they know that they are, and will continue to be, reviled and beneath contempt."
- Ari Cohn, 1st Amendment lawyer

Nostr event nevent1qqsde9xsp5lhsn4mu0ypjt7gkgyj5h2x6pr4rnyfzdhk7rkuycf7gwszypzj6t3mhg5hu2e76e2qltrj904r2gz3ffxnjfswdgrng6gdh6xh25e039a

2025-10-07T11:18:23Z

A new survey finds that about 1/3 of respondents - representing ...

2025-10-03T11:42:45Z

A new survey finds that about 1/3 of respondents - representing some 90 million adults in the U.S. - endorsed the view that “having a strong leader for America is more important than having a democracy” (https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/pxfnk_v1).
Can schools address this crisis? Listen to my conversation with Joel Westheimer on the latest episode of Kohn's Zone: https://www.alfiekohn.org/podcasts/

AI opt-out deal ...

2025-10-02T15:28:27Z

AI opt-out deal

"ICE goes masked for a single reason - to terrorize Americans ...

2025-09-30T17:45:04Z

"ICE goes masked for a single reason - to terrorize Americans into quiescence."

- from a decision issued today by a federal judge (appointed by Reagan)

A new MIT study with young adults (mostly college students) finds ...

2025-06-19T11:36:28Z

A new MIT study with young adults (mostly college students) finds a clear "cognitive cost" of using ChatGPT to write essays: less satisfaction, less inclination to think critically, and lower levels of brain connectivity (based on EEG analysis) as compared with those who wrote without AI: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2506.08872
(Summary: https://www.media.mit.edu/publications/your-brain-on-chatgpt/)

Beyond its continuing slaughter of civilians in Gaza and ...

2025-06-13T01:11:22Z

Beyond its continuing slaughter of civilians in Gaza and ever-more-brutal occupation of the West Bank, Israel has lately attacked Lebanon, Syria, Yemen...and now Iran. Imagine the brainwashing required to convince someone that, no matter how much evil it instigates, this nuclear-armed theocracy is always - indeed, by definition - just defending itself.