Experimental and behavioral econ at Stanford in August (registration open)

 Here is the program and links to register for the Stanford Experimental Economics session at SITE this summer: 

Session 13: Experimental Economics  Wed, Aug 20 2025, 8:00am - Thu, Aug 21 2025, 5:00pm PDT

Organized by
Christine Exley, University of Michigan
Muriel Niederle, Stanford University
Kirby Nielsen, California Institute of Technology
Al Roth, Stanford University
Lise Vesterlund, University of Pittsburgh

###########

And here's an announcement of a workshop that will immediately follow that session:

On August 21-23 Stanford will host the third instance of the Graduate Student Boot Camp in Behavioral Public Economics. The camp is organized by Doug Bernheim, Ben Lockwood, and Dmitry Taubinsky. It will feature instructional sessions from each of them, as well as sessions from four external speakers: Matthew Gentzkow, Botond Kőszegi, Olivia Mitchell, and Matthew Notowidigdo.

We would also like to invite other young scholars—graduate students, postdocs and assistant professors—to audit the boot camp. We will not be able to provide accommodations or cover travel expenses, but we welcome participation in our lectures/discussions and meals.  If you are a young scholar interested in attending some or all of the camp, please indicate your interest (and which sessions you would be able to attend, so that we can gauge attendance and our capacity constraints) via this form: https://forms.gle/dNBWgkrUXtYXgnMT9. We are aiming for 10-15 young scholars.

If you are interested in the content covered in previous instances of the boot camp, you can find additional information here and here.

All best,
Doug, Dmitry, and Ben

Stanford celebrates the NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory (and recalls university-government collaboration on science)

 Remember when universities and the Federal government collaborated on big science?

The bold bet that built a telescope

"When the first images from the NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory were released on June 23, they marked a historic milestone for the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), a landmark 10-year campaign to map the southern sky with the world’s largest digital camera, set to begin full science operations later this year. 

"Today, Rubin is an $800 million observatory backed by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy (DOE). But two decades ago, it was little more than a vision without funding, a home, or agency support.

"That changed in 2003, when Stanford University and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory jointly launched the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC), setting in motion a chain of events that helped bring the LSST to life." 

 

the digital camera...

Romantic matching while kinky, short, Saudi, or Chinese

 Here are some dating and matrimony stories that have recently caught my eye

 The Guardian has the story of tourists wandering into the ethical monogamy site Feeld:

Unconventional dating app Feeld reports surge in ‘vanilla tourists’. User base has grown by 30% year on year since 2022, raising questions of how to integrate new and longstanding members   by Rachel Hall

 

Here's the short story:

The shorter man’s search for love  by Leah Harper

 

Here's a Saudi app (HT: Michele Petochi), to be used by parents or the daring, from Arab News:

Saudi matchmaking app, Awaser, is helping individuals find partners by bridging tradition and modernity by Afshan Aziz

 "One of the app’s most distinctive features is the ability for families to create and manage accounts on behalf of their children, a model that preserves the essence of traditional matchmaking while increasing the chances of finding a suitable match."

 

Here's the Economist on bride price inflation in China:

Bride prices are surging in China  Why is the government struggling to curb them?

Good luck to all, and be careful out there.

Congratulations to ESA award winners

 An email from the Economic Science Association (ESA) announces these new Fellows and award winners:

We are delighted to announce the recipients of the 2025 ESA Awards and the newest Fellows of the Economic Science Association. These awards recognize those who have made outstanding contributions to our field through research, service, mentoring, and leadership:

 

2025 ESA Distinguished Service Award
This award honours those who have played an exceptional role in the administration and growth of the ESA over the course of their careers. In 2025, we are proud to recognize two extraordinary recipients:

 

Professor Yan Chen
Professor Chen served as ESA President from 2015–2017. She established our mentoring program and served as the Director of the ESA Mentoring Program, a role she held until 2024. Through her efforts, hundreds of early career researchers have benefited from mentorship panels, helping to shape the next generation of experimental economists.

Professor Catherine Eckel
Professor Eckel served as ESA President from 2017–2019. Among her many contributions, she played a foundational role in establishing our ethics program, becoming ESA’s first Ethics Officer. She has been a dedicated mentor and advocate for junior scholars. Her leadership has been instrumental in making ESA a more inclusive and welcoming community for researchers at all stages of their careers.

---

2025 ESA Young Scholar Prize
This prize recognizes a young scholar whose work has made a significant methodological contribution to experimental economics. Candidates must either be under the age of 40, hold an untenured position, or be within 10 years of completing graduate school. We are thrilled to announce the 2025 recipient:

Professor Christine Exley
Professor Exley is recognized for her research on motivated reasoning, charitable giving, and gender. Her work stands out for its innovative experimental designs, pushing the boundaries of how we study behaviour in complex social contexts.

---

 2025 ESA Prize for Exceptional Achievement
This award honours a researcher who has overcome unusually challenging circumstances to make impactful contributions to experimental economics. We are very pleased to announce that the 2025 award goes to:

Professor Erin Krupka

Professor Krupka is widely known for her impressive work on social norms, including the development of incentivized norm elicitation techniques that have become a cornerstone in the field.

---

2025 ESA Fellows
The designation of ESA fellow is intended to recognize the lifetime contributions of ESA members who have advanced the frontier of knowledge in economics through the use of laboratory and/or field experiments. The designation of an individual as an ESA fellow is intended as a permanent recognition of their contribution to experimental science and to economics.

We are delighted to welcome the following distinguished Professors as the 2025 ESA Fellows:

• Mark Isaac
• Rosemarie Nagel
• Robert Sugden
• Lise Vesterlund
• James Walker

Their body of work has significantly shaped experimental economics and will continue to inspire researchers across generations.

---

The awardees and Fellows were selected by the 2025 ESA’s Awards and Fellows Committee. We extend our thanks to everyone who submitted nominations this year and encourage all ESA members to consider nominating deserving individuals for future awards and fellowships.

Please join me in congratulating this year’s outstanding scholars!

Lata Gangadharan (President, ESA)

The job description of intimacy coordinator (for sex scenes in films and plays)

 There's a new profession being practiced, akin to what stunt coordinators have long done in films, to try to keep the actors and stuntmen and women safe.  Intimacy coordinators coordinate sex scenes. 

Here's the story in the New Yorker:

How I Learned to Become an Intimacy Coördinator
At a sex-choreography workshop, a writer discovered a world of Instant Chemistry exercises, penis pouches, and nudity riders to train for Hollywood’s most controversial job.  By Jennifer Wilson 

" It is a new job—so new, in fact, that the union offers a definition on its website: “an advocate, a liaison between actors and production, and a movement coach and/or choreographer” of sex scenes. 

...

"Intimacy coördinators are one of the most visible “wins” of the #MeToo movement. It’s no surprise that the public has begun to perceive a director’s or a star’s attitude toward them as a proxy for his or her attitude about consent and abuse of power.

...

"Intimacy coördinators are part of the gig economy and thus susceptible to the same forces they are hired to mitigate. “We talk about the power dynamics that actors are under,” Jessica Steinrock, the C.E.O. of Intimacy Directors and Coordinators, the largest training program in the industry, said. “We are also under a significant amount of power dynamics.” She went on, “At the end of the day, sticking up for an actor and saying, ‘Hey, no, we can’t film this’—there’s a real chance that we’re going to get fired, and there’s really nothing we can do about it.”

##########

And the business of coordinating portrayals of intimacy has it's own journal: The Journal of Consent-Based Performance

Jewish cemetery and Pinkas synagogue in Prague

 During our visit to Prague in May we visited the Old Jewish Cemetery, crowded with the dead from the historic Jewish Ghetto.

 We also visited the Pinkas synagogue, whose walls are covered with the names of those murdered in the Shoah, with their birth dates and death dates.  The birth dates reveal a vibrant community, from small children to senior citizens.  The dates of death are all from 1942 to 1944.

 

Hate crimes in the United States

 The data graphic on hate crimes below is from the NYT editorial (and dates back to 2023).

Antisemitism Is an Urgent Problem. Too Many People Are Making Excuses.
June 14, 2025

 

 

Roland Fryer on the Economics of Slavery (in the WSJ)

 The Economics of Slavery
Probing the incentives and institutions that kept slavery alive can help us value what freedom means,  by Roland Fryer 

"Learning what slavery entailed is enough to horrify us; understanding why it endured demands economics. Moral repulsion at reducing people to property can—and must—coexist with the need to explain how such barbarism flourished in a nation that proclaimed “all men are created equal.” Only by probing the incentives and institutions that kept slavery alive can we fully appreciate what freedom means.

...

"Slavery endured not only because society condoned it but also because, for slaveholders, it paid. Fogel and Engerman overturned the then-fashionable view that bondage was an economically backward form of racist exploitation, manned by an idle workforce that dragged the South down. Their data revealed a colder truth: For those who owned people, slavery was the most profitable and therefore most rational labor system on offer. Recognizing the profit calculus behind slavery doesn’t dilute its moral horror—it sharpens it. It exposes how market incentives can entrench inhumanity and how the lure of profit can eclipse compassion.

...

"Teaching that slavery was simply racial exploitation differs from showing that it was capitalism run amok, an incentive-driven system that targeted black people because doing so maximized profit. Both interpretations acknowledge slavery’s brutality, but the economic framing sheds light on how incentives can be reshaped, pointing to concrete ways the future can be brighter."

8th Interdisciplinary Market Studies Workshop (IMSW), June 16 – June 18

 Markets are such an important way in which humans interact that I'm always cheered to note that economists aren't alone in studying them. (And studying them is different from simply appreciating them...:). Here's an interdisciplinary conference just finishing up that doesn't seem to involve many economists at all.

the program is here:

8th Interdisciplinary Market Studies Workshop (IMSW), June 16 – June 18, 2025, Stockholm School of Economics

 

 And here's the very interesting call for papers, which I've quoted below the link:

The 8th Interdisciplinary Market Studies Workshop
Theme: Nordic Noir – Exploring the Dark Sides of Markets 

"Since its first meeting in Sigtuna in 2010, IMSW has gathered scholars interested in the creation and operation of markets. At the heart of the workshop are empirical accounts of mundane market practices as well as market formation and change processes. Over the years, discussions at IMSW have highlighted the variability of market arrangements and outcomes, paid close attention to the metrologies and evaluative practices linked to markets, scrutinized the power in and of markets, and engaged in speculations on the possibility of better markets. While the ethos of the workshop has always been to question the benevolence and neutrality of markets, we believe that as IMSW now returns to Stockholm, the time is ripe for something a bit different. We therefore call for an even more explicit focus on the negative externalities, excesses, and ethical impotency of markets. As befits the return of IMSW to the land of Nordic noir, we invite contributions that explore the dark sides of markets.

Perhaps more than ever before, markets provoke concern. The climate crisis is intimately connected with the current economic system – and many find it easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. The growing influence of financial markets leads to the hegemony of narrow forms of valuation and the severing of many human ties. Marketized technologies pose threats to democracy through their production of both ignorance and further polarization. Digital market infrastructures work as mechanisms of surveillance but also facilitate the formation and operation of markets beyond the reach of regulatory interventions. The marketization of areas such as education and healthcare contributes to problems of unequal access, and bureaucratization makes structures inflexible to change or improvement. These and other similar developments certainly warrant the attention of the market studies community.

As IMSW turns 15, we propose, in the spirit of the gloomiest, moodiest instincts of adolescence, a side-step from constructivist market studies to "destructivist" market studies. This challenge involves new markets to study, new verbs to master, and new questions to ask. Instead of the very respectable markets usually studied by market studies scholars, we encourage the exploration of taboo markets, illegal markets, and repugnant markets. In addition to studies of imagining, designing, and maintaining markets, we would like to see inquiries into destroying, deceiving, threatening, and scheming in markets. We look forward to submissions addressing questions such as: What role do markets play in the current rather destructive time capsule? How are affects such as hate, fear, loathing, and shame provoked and used in markets? What effects do markets have when they create insiders and outsiders? How do market epistemologies help actors mobilize obscurity and opacity in society?

Markets have been lauded as mechanisms for optimal resource allocation and denounced as structures of oppression. Beyond this polemic debate, the workshop’s historical rooting in STS and ANT serves as a reminder to look beyond contestations and trace the practices (and not only the ideologies) that (in)form them. In short, the field of interdisciplinary market studies has responded by assuming a position where both “Le bon Dieu” and “The Devil” are to be found in the details. In this vein, we look forward to a workshop full of constructive discussions. While finding solutions to the problems identified may not always be within our reach, a sound introspection, reflection, and mapping of the values we guard definitely is.  

Submission topics

We particularly invite submissions that address or are related to any of the following topics, though we are open to other relevant areas of work:

The Externalities of Markets:

In line with the established approach of studying market framing, we invite submissions that explore the production of negative externalities and unexpected consequences of markets. This includes studies of markets for exchange objects with negative effects (i.e.,‘bads’ for sale instead of ‘goods’), human and non-human suffering caused by markets, as well as attempts to make visible and address negative externalities.

The Excesses of Markets:

Contemporary markets are characterized by excesses such as overconsumption, waste, and luxury indulgence. We invite submissions that explore the processes and practices giving rise to and making visible these and other excesses. This includes studying the setting of standards and norms related to sufficiency and excess, whether in relation to economic growth or consumer lifestyles.

The “Otherness” of Markets:

In contemporary market society, having access to markets can have decisive impact. For markets to operate, frames and/or boundaries need to be established, but boundaries (by default) also create insiders and outsiders. The “Otherness” of markets invites explorations of the effects of boundaries, focusing on the consequences of being an “outsider” with identifiable topics such as poverty, gender discrimination, and inequality.

The Ignorance of Markets:

Recent decades have seen increased trust in and skepticism towards knowledge produced in and around markets. Sophisticated tools improve forecasting and knowledge sharing, yet as recent failures of prediction have shown (financial crisis, Covid-pandemic, US election 2016) their conclusions can be arbitrary, biased, and ideologically motivated. We invite submissions that explore the production of ignorance and “non-knowledge” in markets as well as their hidden, discreet, and invisible dimensions.  

The Repugnance of Markets:

We invite submissions exploring themes of moral outrage, taboo, and disgust in and around markets. This includes the study of illegal and/or illicit markets, but also of variations in the legal and moral categorization of market phenomena across national, (sub)cultural, and temporal settings.

The Repair of Markets:

The dark sides of markets give rise not only to despair but also to various efforts at repair. The heterogeneity and pliability of markets remain central tenets in market studies and can be usefully applied also to situations of concern and discontent. We therefore invite contributions that explore the work of proposing alternative market arrangements and/or alternatives to markets, creating better markets, and caring for markets. "

 

HT: Koray Caliskan 

Informed consent and mortal sin, in the case of Medical Aid in Dying

 Studying morally contested transactions doesn't always suggest paths by which consensus might be reached. It often suggests that conflicting views may be irreconcilable. 

That seems to be the case for the growing legalization of Medical Aid in Dying (MAID, also called medically assisted suicide), about which I've recently blogged several times.  

MAID laws face determined religious opposition.  When Hawaii legalized MAID in 2018, the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu issued some guidance to clergy pointing out that the law's requirements for informed consent seemed to coincide with the requirements for a sin to be a mortal sin.

 Diocese of Honolulu November 5, 2018: Instruction Regarding Sacraments and Funerals In Situations Involving Physician Assisted Suicide for Clergy, Parish Staff and Ministers to the Sick and Homebound
“Everyone is responsible for his life before God who has given it to him. It is God who remains the sovereign Master of life. We are obliged to accept life gratefully and preserve it for his honor and the salvation of our souls. We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It is not ours to dispose of” (Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], no. 2280)

...

7."For a sin to be a mortal sin, three conditions must be fulfilled:

•  the matter must be grave,
•  the person must have knowledge of the gravity of the matter, and
•  the person must freely choose the matter after sufficient deliberation (see CCC, nos. 1857-1859).

8."The process required by the State of Hawaii for a person seeking medically assisted suicide is meant to guarantee that he or she is fully informed and has made a deliberate consent, thus likely fulfilling the requirements for mortal sin.

9." If a person dies in mortal sin without contrition, such final impenitence results in the “exclusion from Christ's kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back” (CCC, no. 1861; see no. 1864)

 

HT: Julio Elias

Axel Ockenfels to head new Adenauer School of Government in Cologne

 Here's the press release:

University of Cologne founds Adenauer School of Government 

"On 5 June 2025, the University of Cologne and the non-profit Alfred Landecker Foundation, founded by the Reimann family, signed a cooperation agreement to establish the Adenauer School of Government (ASG). The aim of the ASG is to establish itself as a leading, non-partisan center for public policy, governance and administrative sciences that helps to shape relevant developments in economics and other research fields. The school will be funded for an unlimited term, with an initial budget of ten million euros per year.

...

"Professor Dr Axel Ockenfels was appointed head of the Adenauer School of Government. He is Professor of Economics at the University of Cologne and Director at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods in Bonn. In addition to establishing the School as a central academic institution and preparing a study and research programme, the university will also initiate the first appointment procedures in the coming months."

#########

Here's the new school's new web page: Adenauer School of Government 

European workshop on Market Design, June 16-17

 The workshop takes place at ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research  L7, 168161 Mannheim

European Workshop on Market Design #5

16 — 17 June 2025

• Home
• Outline
• Program
• Venue
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Program

Download Program (pdf)

Monday, June 16

9:00 - 09:25			Welcome and Coffee
9:25 - 09:30			Opening Remarks
9:30 - 11:30 Session 1: Mechanism Design Chair: Marion Ott	Marco Ottaviani (Bocconi University with Nenad Kos): Self-Selection, Evaluation, and Optimal Ordeals Laura Doval (Columbia Business School, with Alex Smolin): Calibrated Mechanism Design
11:30 - 12:00			Coffee Break
12:00 - 13:00 Session 2: Natural Language Equilibrium Chair: Olivier Bos			Philip Reny (University of Chicago): Natural Language Equilibrium: Off-Path Conventions I
13:00 - 14:30 Lunch & Posters			Yulia Evsyukova (ZEW Mannheim): Selling Information with Free Samples Daniel Linnenbrink (ZEW Mannheim & Mannheim University): Pay-as-bid Auctions with Private Information Cyril Rouault (ENS Paris-Saclay, CEPS): Job Matching and Affirmative Action: The Impact of Transfer Policies Philip Zilke (University of Muenster): Funding mechanisms for green projects
14:30 - 16:30 Session 3: Competition Chair: Nicolas Fugger			Francisco Poggi (Mannheim University): tba Anna Sanktjohanser (Toulouse School of Economics, with Johannes Hörner & James Dana): Competition and Consumer Search
16:30 - 17:00			Coffee Break
17:00 - 18:00 Chair: Olivier Bos			Lecture in Memory of Nora Szech Thomas Mariotti (Toulouse School of Economics, with Andrea Attar & François Salanié): Competitive Nonlinear Pricing under Adverse Selection
19:00			Social Dinner (by invitation)

Tuesday, June 17

9:00			Coffee
9:30 - 11:30 Session 5: Matching 1 Chair: Thilo Klein	Karolina Vocke (University of Innsbruck): Stability in Matching Markets Vincent Meisner (Humboldt University of Berlin, with Müge Süer, Michel Tolksdorf & Sokol Tominaj): Confidence in Strategy-Proof Matching Mechanisms
11:30 - 12:00			Coffee Break
12:00 - 13:00 Session 6: Screening Chair: Daniil Larionov			Patrick Lahr (ENS Paris-Saclay, CEPS, with Axel Niemeyer): Extreme Points in Multi-Dimensional Screening
13:00 - 14:30			Lunch & Posters
14:30 - 16:30 Session 7: Information Disclosure Chair: Daniil Larionov			Paula Onuchic (London School of Economics, with Aurélien Salas): Disclosing Proxies Ferdinand Pieroth (Yale University, with Carlo M. Cusumano): Due Diligence in Common Value Auctions
16:30 - 17:00			Coffee Break
17:00 - 18:00 Session 8: Matching II Chair: tba			Tina Danting Zhang (UC Davis, with Ester Camina & Andrés Carvajal): Satisficing Matching
19:00			City Tour (by invitation)

 

 

Worrying about fascism like it's 1925--an open letter

 The organization https://stopreturnfascism.org/ has published an open letter (in multiple languages) expressing concern, one hundred years after an open letter concerned about the rise of Fascism in 1925.

The Manifesto of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals, 100 years later
"In 1925, the Italian intellectual Benedetto Croce wrote the first Manifesto of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals, knowing that he had the right to speak and the duty to respond to the rise of Fascism on Italy.

"A century later, intellectuals from around the world are raising the alarm and speaking out against the return of Fascism.

"As of June 14th, 2025, the 2025 letter has been signed by over 400 academics, including 31 Nobel Prize winners. Join them in defending democracy. "

 

Here's the letter in English: June 14, 2025

A Century Later: A Renewed Open Letter Against the Return of Fascism

Some excerpts: 

"On 1 May 1925, with Benito Mussolini already in power, a group of Italian intellectuals publicly denounced his fascist regime in an open letter. The signatories – scientists, philosophers, writers and artists – took a stand in support of the essential tenets of a free society: the rule of law, personal liberty and independent thinking, culture, art and science. Their open defiance against the brutal imposition of the fascist ideology – at great personal risk – proved that opposition was not only possible, but necessary. Today, 100 years later, the threat of fascism is back – and so we must summon that courage and defy it again.

"Fascism emerged in Italy a century ago, marking the advent of modern dictatorship. Within a few years, it spread across Europe and the world, taking different names but maintaining similar forms. Wherever it seized power, it undermined the separation of powers in the service of autocracy, silenced opposition through violence, took control of the press, halted the advancement of women’s rights and crushed workers’ struggles for economic justice. Inevitably, it permeated and distorted all institutions devoted to scientific, academic and cultural activities. Its cult of death exalted imperial aggression and genocidal racism, triggering the second world war, the Holocaust, the death of tens of millions of people and crimes against humanity.

...

" Fascism never vanished, but for a time it was held at bay. However, in the past two decades, we have witnessed a renewed wave of far-right movements, often bearing unmistakably fascist traits: attacks on democratic norms and institutions, a reinvigorated nationalism laced with racist rhetoric, authoritarian impulses and systematic assaults on the rights of those who do not fit a manufactured traditional authority, rooted in religious, sexual and gender normativity.

...

"This is an ongoing struggle. Let our voices, our work and our principles be a bulwark against authoritarianism. Let this message be a renewed declaration of defiance."

Nobel laureates: Eric Maskin, Roger B Myerson, Alvin E Roth, Lars Peter Hansen, Oliver Hart, Daron Acemoglu, Wolfgang Ketterle, John C Mather, Brian P Schmidt, Michel Mayor, Takaaki Kajita, Giorgio Parisi, Pierre Agostini, Joachim Frank, Richard J Roberts, Leland Hartwell, Paul Nurse, Jack W Szostak, Edvard I Moser, May-Britt Moser, Harvey James Alter, Victor Ambros, Gary Ruvkun, Barry James Marshall, Craig Mello, Charles Rice

Leading scholars on fascism and democracy: Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Timothy Snyder, Jason Stanley, Claudia Koonz, Mia Fuller, Giovanni De Luna and Andrea Mammone

The full list of signatories can be found here

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem's centennial party is cancelled

The Hebrew University in Jerusalem is older than the state of Israel, and is and has been a steady anchor in difficult times.  It was scheduled to celebrate its 100th anniversary on Monday. I was planning to attend. 

But here’s the latest

" It is with deep regret that we inform you of the cancellation of this year’s Board of Governors events at the Hebrew University, in accordance with the directives of Israel’s Homefront Command and in light of the current security situation. ... We thank you for your understanding and continued support, and we join together in hoping for quieter and peaceful days ahead."

On behalf of the Hebrew University,

The Hebrew University Celebrates 100 Years Since Its Opening 

 "The Hebrew University of Jerusalem celebrates its centennial as a pioneering academic institution that has significantly shaped Israel’s intellectual, scientific, and cultural landscape. Founded by visionaries like Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann, the university has been a hub for groundbreaking research, producing leaders in various fields and fostering global academic collaborations. It continues to excel in innovation, diversity, and industry partnerships, reinforcing its commitment to education, scientific advancement, and societal impact as it embarks on its second century."

#####

As part of the ceremonies, the Hebrew University planned to award a number of prizes, and ten honorary doctorates (including to two economists and a computer scientist:) 

Interdisciplinary science: a heated dispute

 Here's an article in the latest PNAS, about issues in evolution that I know nothing about, but I was struck by how clearly the author makes plain in the abstract his view that some authors of other papers also know nothing.

Complexity myths and the misappropriation of evolutionary theory  by Michael Lynch, Edited by Nils Stenseth    https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2425772122

Abstract: Recent papers by physicists, chemists, and geologists lay claim to the discovery of new principles of evolution that have somehow eluded over a century of work by evolutionary biologists, going so far as to elevate their ideas to the same stature as the fundamental laws of physics. These claims have been made in the apparent absence of any awareness of the theoretical framework of evolutionary biology that has existed for decades. The numerical indices being promoted suffer from numerous conceptual and quantitative problems, to the point of being devoid of meaning, with the authors even failing to recognize the distinction between mutation and selection. Moreover, the promulgators of these new laws base their arguments on the idea that natural selection is in relentless pursuit of increasing organismal complexity, despite the absence of any evidence in support of this and plenty pointing in the opposite direction. Evolutionary biology embraces interdisciplinary thinking, but there is no fundamental reason why the field of evolution should be subject to levels of unsubstantiated speculation that would be unacceptable in any other area of science.

Evangelical resolution on the 21st Century

 The NYT has the story:

Southern Baptists Endorse Effort to Overturn Same-Sex Marriage
The nation’s largest Protestant denomination was motivated by conservative Christians’ success in reversing Roe v. Wade.   By Ruth Graham

"Southern Baptists voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to call for the overturning of the Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage, with strategists citing the successful effort that overturned the right to legal abortions as a possible blueprint for the new fight.

...

"The measure opposing same-sex marriage was part of a sweeping and unusually long resolution under the title, “On Restoring Moral Clarity through God’s Design for Gender, Marriage, and the Family.” It includes calls for defunding Planned Parenthood, for “parental rights in education and healthcare,” and ensuring “safety and fairness in female athletic competition,” a reference to the debate over transgender women in women’s sports.

...

"The resolution that passed on Tuesday criticizes the pursuit of “willful childlessness” and refers to the country’s declining fertility rate as a crisis. That language goes beyond Baptists’ traditional support of general “family values,” embracing a cultural agenda that encourages larger families as a matter of civilizational survival. Baptist theology does not oppose birth control per se.

Other resolutions passed on Tuesday called for banning pornography, and condemning sports betting. “We denounce the promotion and normalization of this predatory industry in every athletic context,” the gambling resolution stated. It called on corporations involved to “cease their exploitative practices,” on policymakers to curtail sports betting, and on Christians to refuse to participate.

...

"Last year, the convention adopted a resolution opposing the use of in vitro fertilization, frustrating many Republicans who wanted to reassure voters that their opposition to abortion would not endanger widely popular fertility treatments."

New York State senate passes medical aid in dying bill

 Yesterday the NY State Senate took the next step in making medical aid in dying legal in NY.  Now the bill goes to the governor...

The NYT has the story:

New York Moves to Allow Terminally Ill People to Die on Their Own Terms
A bill permitting so-called medical aid in dying passed the State Legislature and will now head to Gov. Kathy Hochul for her signature. by Grace Ashford

"Eleven states and the District of Columbia have passed laws permitting so-called medical aid in dying. The practice is also available in several European countries and in Canada, which recently broadened its criteria to extend the option to people with incurable chronic illnesses and disabilities.

The bill in New York is written more narrowly and would apply only to people who have an incurable and irreversible illness, with six months or less to live. Proponents say that distinction is key.

“It isn’t about ending a person’s life, but shortening their death,” said State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Manhattan Democrat and one of the sponsors of the bill. It passed on Monday night by a vote of 35 to 27, mostly along partisan lines.

...

"The bill was first introduced a decade ago by Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, a Westchester Democrat who leads the body’s Health Committee, at a time when few states were considering such measures.

...

"The bill has earned the support of a range of powerful interest and advocacy groups, including the New York State Bar Association, the New York State Psychiatric Association, the Medical Society of the State of New York and the New York Civil Liberties Union.

"While it was also backed by some religious groups, including Congregation B’nai Yisrael, a Westchester synagogue, and Catholics Vote Common Good, it was staunchly opposed by the New York State Catholic Conference."

Medical aid in dying bill advances (controversially) in New York State

 A bill to legalize Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) in New York state has passed the Assembly and been referred to the Senate (after which it would go to the Governor for signature).  It's controversial, so I don't have a good sense of whether it will become law.

Here's the text of the bill itself, on the NY State Assembley page: "Medical Aid in Dying Act"

Here's a well written article summarizing the controversy, and ultimately opposing the bill in its present form.

Will New York Soon Make It Too Easy to Die?   By Madeleine Kearns

"In April, New York’s “Medical Aid in Dying Act” passed the state assembly by a vote of 81 to 67. It has until the end of the legislative session—June 12—to face a vote in the Senate. On Thursday, June 5, Senate majority leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said she believed there were enough votes for the legislation to pass and “it is likely that it will come to the floor.” Perhaps as soon as Monday, June 9.

If the legislation passes, New York would join the 11 other states that have legalized assisted dying in various forms. (It is also legal in the District of Columbia.) For those who have seen difficult deaths or are daunted by the prospect, the kind of death Nancy describes—peaceful and pain-free—is what they are hoping the law will all but guarantee.

But those opposed to assisted suicide—their preferred term—warn that such laws endanger the vulnerable by reshaping social norms so that, for some, the right to die becomes a duty to die. Moreover, New York’s legislation, they argue, is on the “outer edge” of liberalization, eliminating safeguards that exist in other states where medical aid in dying (MAID) is legal."