Studies show that connecting with strangers:
-makes us happier
-makes us more open to other points of view
-boosts belief that other people are generally kind
👉 Designing for connection is good for individuals AND society! @greatergoodmag.bsky.social
greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item...
This is gorgeous.
27.02.2026 01:24 — 👍 22 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
The richest man owns X.
The second and third richest men control Google.
The fourth richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
The fifth richest man owns The Washington Post.
And now the sixth richest could soon take over both Paramount and Warner Bros.
See the problem here?
A 'Tiny Minority' of Social Media Accounts Drive Canadian Conspiracy Content via @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/News/2026/02...
25.02.2026 19:25 — 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0Where would you travel if you could not take or post photos? How would you travel?
20.02.2026 03:37 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Bluesky is the new science Twitter, new study by @whysharksmatter.bsky.social and Julia Wester concludes!
"Results show that for every reported professional benefit that scientists once gained from Twitter, scientists can now gain that benefit more effectively on Bluesky than on Twitter."
Meta's plan for launching glasses that people can use to secretly identify strangers on the street is to do it "during a dynamic political environment" when people who care about why that's bad are "focused on other concerns."
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...
"The tendency to perceive AI as a conscious agent is strongly correlated with a user’s ... propensity for apophenia (finding patterns in random events)."
Upshot: conspiracy-mined people more likely to believe that AI is conscious.
@collectiveintel.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/collecti...
"The most important design question is this: Can AI help make cooperation rewarding, not self-sacrificing?”
Powerful words from David Sloan Wilson, quoted in "The AI Cooperation Test" by @socialcohesiontech.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/techands...
Design broke the social contract. We can demand designs that uphold it.
Social apps may have to stop giving kids the "infinite scroll"
www.platformer.news/social-media...
This is Team Canada.
07.02.2026 04:55 — 👍 12 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0Only one Vancouver political party is letting its members choose its mayoral candidate through an open primary. The candidates will debate online tonight:
03.02.2026 20:13 — 👍 5 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
Amigos chilangos!
Pueden ayudar mi paisano Denis? Esta buscando líderes en activismo para tránsito público en CDMX.
@guillermobernal.bsky.social
@peatonito.bsky.social
❤️
30.01.2026 19:57 — 👍 28064 🔁 9226 💬 362 📌 760
The next time an architect tries to sell you an AI-rendered vision of paradise, you might want to run it theough this brilliant Anti-render machine to see what the place might look like on a crappy November morning.
antirender.com
I encourage you to read Chetty’s research.
30.01.2026 15:41 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
One of the most powerful things we can do to improve the lives of poorer children is let them live amongst wealthier people.
Raj Chetty’s research points the way.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/o...
This is a fascinating analysis of the Minnesota ICE raids pushback: How a community rejected violent extremists' attempt to define the American in-group.
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/anatomy-of-e... #Extremism #Fascism #ICE #Immigration via @mitpress.bsky.social
When AI Can Fake Majorities, Democracy Dies Quietly
open.substack.com/pub/powerofu...
It appears that TikTok USA is being configured as a state surveillance operation.
23.01.2026 20:54 — 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
In 2025, City Hall paralysis blocked 6 key sites from being developed. Ken Sim couldn’t build the majority required to get things done.
Enough. I’m moving to immediately unlock these sites for 4,000 affordable homes. No more excuses. #VanPoli #HousingNow
Hey Canadians,
Here's a smart essay from the brilliant @khelsilem.bsky.social on the purpose, limits and misuse of "land acknowledgements"
Dial down the performance and crank up the pragmatism. Really worth reading.
open.substack.com/pub/khelsile...
This report is aimed at business, institutional and NGO leaders. It doesn't address some of the key issues of democratic decline and inequity of our time. But it is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the trust divide. www.edelman.com/sites/g/file...
19.01.2026 18:40 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0From half to a third of respondents to the Edelman Barometer also say they won't help colleagues with different values.
19.01.2026 18:39 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0And people with this 'insular trust mindset' are less likely to trust leaders or journalists. In other words, suspicion about people outside our social groups seems to be reducing trust in institutions themselves.
19.01.2026 18:39 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
But the Edelman Trust barometer offers scary news about Insularity. 70pc of people in its 28-nation survey say they are unwilling or hesitant to trust people who are different than them.
19.01.2026 18:39 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
New Trust Barometer reveals diverging trust.
- Decline in trust in government leaders, news organizations.
- Growth in trust trust among neighbors, family, friends, coworkers, and even bosses.
People are good. It's our systems of governance, media that are broken.
lnkd.in/grdSwvyg
It sounds counterintuitive, but allowing buildings with just one staircase access can actually produce safer buildings.
Not to mention the tremendous effect on liveability that can come with smaller footprint buildings.
Read this excellent story!
How can different ppl watch the same ICE shooting video but see totally different things?
@jayvanbavel.bsky.social explores the science between partisan bias. I see an unprovoked attack. Someone on the far right sees self-defence. (Plz read before reacting)
open.substack.com/pub/powerofu...
