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Ousted propaganda scholar accuses Harvard of bowing to Meta

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Ousted propaganda scholar accuses Harvard of bowing to Meta

#491

Post by nulbyte »

shkkmo wrote: post #481
AlbertCory wrote: post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I could start the Evil Foundation and as long as I don't file for 501(c)(3) status, I'm still for-profit.

The foundation here is a 501(c)(3) non profit. However it is not a public charity, which is a sub classification that comes with stricter rules and higher donation tax write-off limits. People tend to assume all 501(c)(3)/nonproft and "public charity" are synonymous, but they aren't and that can make discussions like this confusing.

> However it is not a public charity, which is a sub classification that comes with stricter rules and higher donation tax write-off limits.

It sounds like you mean public charities have stricter rules. I find the opposite to be true. There are additional rules and reporting requirements that apply only to private foundations because of the limited funding and tight control of such organizations by a close-knit group of people.

Re: Ousted propaganda scholar accuses Harvard of bowing to Meta

#492

Post by ajkjk »

Arson9416 wrote: post #256
ajkjk wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fairly obvious, right?

No, which is why I'm asking.

Well if you need it spelled out: the "invisible hand" refers to indirect social impacts of free markets which are typically meant to be good things. So any example of market-ish behavior causing things that seem incontrovertibly bad, like buying a department chair under the guise of targeted donations to influence policy to (presumably) protect a certain class of actors, is an example of the "invisible hand" doing a bad thing, hence an example of how this "feature" of free markets, often used to defend them, is actually a bad quality.

This is totally unsurprising to most people who aren't directly benefitting from an unchallenged free market and it usually seems like the "invisible hand" is brought up as a bullshit argument by those already in power to justify accumulating more power, so it's a point of bitterness, hence the OP's sarcasm.

Re: Ousted propaganda scholar accuses Harvard of bowing to Meta

#493

Post by ajkjk »

Arson9416 wrote: post #303
fmbb wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The current economic system where (in the US) bribes are “speech” and corporations are people unavoidably leads to things like this project getting neutered. “The invisible hand” Adam Smith refers to are the unintended consequences from merchants’ want to keep their capital: increasing the domestic capital stock and enhancing military power for the state, i.e. protectionism etc. More broadly and lately it refers to a…

Bribery exists in every economic system, even before economic systems existed, and is not uniquely connected to the free market. Nor are they connected to "unintended societal consequences", since bribes very clearly have a specific goal. So it doesn't make any sense.

"Bribery exists in every economic system" is not an argument for being okay with bribery in this system.

Re: Ousted propaganda scholar accuses Harvard of bowing to Meta

#494

Post by midtake »

Throwaway account because this is an honest question. Why did the researcher have to look like that? It makes the person an easy target for further disinformation. I could post that the person hates white males and people would believe it without question, even though I have no basis for that statement. Facebook and Harvard got lucky that this person was a non-obstacle to removal by appearing so uncharismatic. It is a near certainty that most of you who opened the link formed your opinion of the matter shortly after looking at the picture of the propaganda researcher in question. I almost wonder if this is some sort of advanced test, since I have never heard of this researcher.

For whatever reason though this is a controversial element, even though a change in the person's appearance would make a greater impact to their career than anything else. If it were okay to discuss, someone would have told the person by now.

On a lighter note, propaganda research is not a new field at all, even if it is being rebranded as disinformation studies. Noam Chomsky comes to mind.

Re: Ousted propaganda scholar accuses Harvard of bowing to Meta

#495

Post by omginternets »

boringg wrote: post #417
macksd wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think sidelining the lead researcher and giving the project to another group is accurately described at "gutting a team". No, they didn't end the project, but the series of events described seems to be insinuating that she could have led the project if she was willing to have her work funded by Facebook, listen to one of their former people, etc. So if that was their goal, and they just got someone else to do the w…

FWIW that's definitely not gutting a team. Swapping out leaders makes a big impact but it isn't gutting a team. It could lead to the same outcome.

In academia, it very much is the same thing.

Re: Ousted propaganda scholar accuses Harvard of bowing to Meta

#496

Post by omginternets »

jongjong wrote: post #484
1letterunixname wrote: post #483

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not even closely related. One is big money corrupting academia, another is startup drama.

This is incorrectly assuming that all innovation happens in academia.

Sigh… no.

It’s saying that this is a case of academic innovation, and that that is startup drama.

Re: Ousted propaganda scholar accuses Harvard of bowing to Meta

#497

Post by dehrmann »

pixl97 wrote: post #336
dehrmann wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Teacher pay rarely raised There's an oversupply of most PhDs, so there's no need to raise their pay. And that's for professors. Grad students that teach are practically free.

So what is undersupplied that makes prices high for students?

It's more that student loan availability, the questionable promise of a middle-class life, and selling "dream schools" makes it easy to sell a $150k product to someone who doesn't need it and can't actually afford it.

Re: Ousted propaganda scholar accuses Harvard of bowing to Meta

#498

Post by JacobThreeThree »

r3trohack3r wrote: post #432

I'm hesitant to share this because it's completely unverifiable in any way I'd be comfortable documenting. Not my life, not my secrets to tell. I had a close friend who did undergraduate research in a fisheries department. They had been researching plant selection for aquaponics to increase the yield of tilapia. They had a filtration system that pushed tank water through a bed of plant roots. The plants would be harv…

Par for the course in higher education.

Corporations and wealthy donors don't give money while expecting nothing in return.

Re: Ousted propaganda scholar accuses Harvard of bowing to Meta

#500

Post by 93po »

lovecg wrote: post #194
93po wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should just tax income over $10 million at 90% for both people and corporations. Maybe then we could have an actual healthcare system

> We should just tax income over $10 million at 90% for both people and corporations. People - maybe. But why corporations? Isn’t that double taxation? The only way money leaves a corporation is through people which will be taxed eventually. As for the healthcare system, it doesn’t need more money. It needs an extreme regulation and red tape shake up. We could have vastly better healthcare today for the same amount o…

If you don't tax corporations then people will just buy their mansions and yachts through the company.

Double taxation already happens today.

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