Thread: How fascist policies are destroying the research that's been studying my brain for 8 years
I've been part of a Stanford adolescent brain development study since I was a kid - 8 years of my life contributing to science. Yesterday I saw firsthand how Trump's authoritarian bullshit is literally erasing scientific knowledge.
For years, this study included questions about gender identity - because, you know, that's actually relevant to understanding how adolescents develop. This year? Completely gone.
The researchers explained that Trump didn't just gut NIH funding - he made it illegal for any federally-funded research to even mention gender identity. They can't use the word "gender" at all. Only "sex" with binary options.
I watched these scientists - people I've known for years, who've dedicated their lives to understanding human development - have to explain how politicians are literally censoring their research. They called it "awful" but they had no choice: comply or lose all funding.
This hit me hard because this study has been part of MY life for 8 years. Watching authoritarians destroy scientific knowledge that includes my own data, my own contribution to understanding adolescent development - it's personal.
And this is happening everywhere. Universities across the country are being forced to choose between scientific integrity and keeping their research alive.
What we need to do:
This isn't just about research funding. It's about whether we'll let authoritarians decide what scientists are allowed to study about human beings.
Fascism doesn't just come for marginalized people - it comes for knowledge itself.
Akkoma 3.15.2; https://berkeley.edu.pl <akkoma@berkeley.edu.pl>
from Canada
This "We simulated what it would be like if LLMs ran a vending machine biz" paper ends up with the same kind of insane emails that I sometimes get in my inbox, maybe they have emulated the true mind of the average vending machine operator after all
@mcc I think PeerTube live chat is using XMPP. You can join using an XMPP client if your instance has that feature enabled.