A new video via Vahid Online shows Islamic Republic security forces shooting at protestors in Tehran during a protest on January 8.
18.01.2026 23:00
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A new video via Vahid Online shows Islamic Republic security forces shooting at protestors in Tehran during a protest on January 8.
The Islamic regime has killed 12k people in 5 days. Iranians are hurting; we’ve been hurting for 150 years. If you have an Iranian colleague, check on them. No unsolicited advice—just kindness and space. They may kill our brothers and sisters, but never the dream of freedom.
My earliest memory: pedaling my bike at age 5 to warn my parents about the Basijis. At 6, I heard my mother’s screams as she was arrested for nail polish.
I tell my kids the story of Zahhak—the tyrant who fed on youth until he was overthrown. The Zahhak of our time is falling 🕊️
#IranRevolution2026
Led by @sabdurah.bsky.social w/ Farzan Karimi-Malekabadi, Chenxiao Yu, @nourkteily.bsky.social
Here is the link to the paper: arxiv.org/abs/2512.17066
This framework allows us to bridge the gap between individual psychology and macro-level social outcomes in ways previously impossible.
Key finding: "Hateful language" was a transient symptom, not the cause. The true engine of long-term escalation was persistent ingroup bias.
Structural factors like segregation didn't change the psychology but concentrated hostility within majority groups.
In our 2x2 simulation, Realistic Threat (safety/resources) was the heavy hitter. It was the most reliable predictor of actual behavioral escalation.
Symbolic Threat drove ingroup bias and "hateful" speech but rarely escalated conflict on its own.
By injecting "hostility vectors" into the model's activations, we could causally shift agents from neutral to aggressive behavior.
This proves these internal representations aren't just noise—they functionalize behavior.
Using mechanistic interpretability, we found the LLM encodes "realistic threat," "symbolic threat," and "hostility" as distinct internal activation states.
We then "steered" these states...
How do resource fears (realistic threat) vs. value clashes (symbolic threat) drive war & peace?
We built a virtual society of 25 autonomous agents using the Park et al. (2023) framework to find out, using a "minimal groups" paradigm (Group A vs. B).
But first, we looked under the hood. 🧠
We're looking for a PhD in Computer Science, Psychology, or Political Science with a strong computational background. ($84-85k salary).
usccareers.usc.edu/job/los-ange...
Happy to answer any questions!
#postdoc #hiring #USC #AI #ComputationalSocialScience #AIforGood
Come work with us at USC! We're hiring an NSF-funded Postdoc for the Everyday Respect Project. 🤖
You'll work directly with me, Ben Graham, and Shri Narayanan, using cutting-edge AI to analyze police body-worn camera footage to improve police-community relations.
New paper with @nathanieldaw.bsky.social in Nature Communications: an RL model that builds a successor map compositionally. The new model plans as well as the best models, and it links components of the map used for planning to neural codes in the medial entorhinal cortex.
rdcu.be/eAofi
Our new study in Psych Science @psychscience.bsky.social reveals many interesting-- and concerning -- things about the language on kids' shows, including a grammatical bias in favor of men and boys as agents or "doers" 👇
🔥Excited to share our new paper in PsychScience! Shout out to best-ever collaborators Aida Davani, @ruyuan-zuo.bsky.social, @shreyahavaldar.bsky.social, Eleanor Chestnut, @mdehghani.bsky.social & @andreicimpian.bsky.social 🧵1/8…
doi.org/10.1177/0956...
Understanding this dynamic is crucial. External calls for regime change often backfire, strengthening the regime's narrative. The path forward is a psychological shift, not a political one. (2/2)
My new op-ed in the @nytimes.
I argue that Iranians are caught in a state of “moral paralysis,” a psychological trap set by the Islamic Republic itself. It pits two of our most sacred values against each other: liberation vs. self-determination. (1/2) www.nytimes.com/2025/06/28/o...
Check up on your Iranian colleagues and students; this is a full-on war!
Watch this montage of clips from Israel's Channel 14, filled with racist and genocidal bile, shocking stuff, ask yourself why you don't see these clips on US or UK mainstream news, and then read Prem's deep dive for Zeteo into Channel 14:
zeteo.com/p/inside-the...
PhD preferred.
This position is remote and can be anywhere in the U.S. If interested, send me a resume. I won’t be able to respond to all messages.
This is a unique opportunity to contribute fundamental research, while also applying and operationalizing your findings to build cutting-edge AI evaluation systems in a fast-paced, impactful environment!
We’re looking for a researcher to work on methods and building tools for AI evaluation. We are seeking candidates with expertise at the intersection of agentic systems and personalization, demonstrated by a strong publication record in relevant venues.
This is what Leibowitz was warning about when he referred to Judeo Nazis www.hrw.org/news/2025/05...
I am very sorry to hear that, Maddy.
“There is no God but God, Muhammad is his messenger,” the paramedic is heard saying. He asks God for forgiveness and says he knows he is going to die.
“Forgive me, mother. This is the path I chose — to help people,” he said. “Allahu akbar,” God is great, he says.
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/w...
Tweet from Yuval Abraham: "A group of settlers just lynched Hamdan Ballal, co director of our film no other land. They beat him and he has injuries in his head and stomach, bleeding. Soldiers invaded the ambulance he called, and took him. No sign of him since."
BREAKING: Yuval Abraham, co-director of Oscar-winning documentary "No Other Land," says Israeli settlers beat his co-director Hamdan Ballal, injuring his head and stomach — and then Israeli soldiers invaded the ambulance he was in and seized him.
Ballal's whereabouts are now unknown.
Such a great read! Thanks
Anyway to share a version outside the paywall?
Very similar to the Islamic Republic
