Alex Madva
@madva
Professor of Philosophy @ Cal Poly Pomona | Director of CA Center for Ethics & Policy | Co-Director of the Digital Humanities Consortium | Co-Author of Somebody Should Do Something
Spent the last 2 days bingeing all 8 episodes of the latest season of The UnMute Podcast with Myisha Cherry, and every one is a banger! Honored to be interviewed on one of the OG philosophy podcasts, "where philosophy and real-world issues collide" www.unmutepodcast.com/all-episodes...
✊❓Curious what "identity politics" is all about, but afraid to ask? Look no further than Nils Holtug's Identity Politics: Left and Right (@academic.oup.com) My book review is out today in Ethics! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/... 🧵 riffing on my opening paragraph... #identitypolitics
The Economist: PHILOSOPHERS GETS JOBS "fields more exposed to AI have suffered markedly worse outcomes. Between 2022 and 2024 graduates in the least-exposed quintile—studying subjects such as education, philosophy and civil engineering" had least bad outcomes (Philosopher employment went up!)
We celebrated alums, too! Like English grad Cierra Martinez! #Humanities represent! @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social @dryan149.bsky.social @mitpress.bsky.social
What a lovely celebration of this year's published authors from @calpolypomona.bsky.social! Big thanks to the CPP Library and folks like Elana Karshmer and Devan Sexton for putting it together! Congrats to my 18 fellow faculty on their accomplishments, incl philosopher @profdolske.bsky.social!
Boatloads of gratitude for the support from Provost Terri Gomez and Dean Camille Johnson, and for the countless other mentors, colleagues, students, friends, family, and cat who made all my scholarly and creative activities possible!
This year's Provost's Awards at @calpolypomona.bsky.social! Huge congrats to Paul Nissenson (Excellence in Teaching), Vilupanur Ravi (Excellence in Service), and... WHO ME?? First in humanities or social sci to take home Excellence in Scholarship since, I think, 2011! www.cpp.edu/provostsawar...
Some Thousand Should Oaks Something! Find me at Cal Lutheran this Thursday (in Thousand Oaks CA)! Huge thanks to fellow philosopher -- and CPP alum! -- Ashli Anda for making it happen! @mitpress.bsky.social @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social @dryan149.bsky.social @callutheran.bsky.social
South by SouthWUUUTTT!!?? @dryan149.bsky.social @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social @mitpress.bsky.social Skip Larry David's session at 4pm and come find us in 410 in the Hilton Austin
Sounds like was quite the spicy session at @spspnews.bsky.social! "Is SPSP a healthy organization?" Luke Conway's talk here: theapologeticprofessor.substack.com/p/the-scient... Compelling pres, but hard to hear indictments of others as incoherent when the indictment itself is fallacious (~4:45)
Bonus! Photo with @fionamacpa.bsky.social, CA's State Treasurer who is now running for Lieutenant Governor!
Looks like I forgot to skeet about this last week but: Fair Pay for the CSU Teamsters! Here's a good explainer from my university's newspaper thepolypost.com/news/2026/02... @teamsterslocal2010.bsky.social @cfaunited.bsky.social
then get back online in the afternoon for @cpp-ccep.bsky.social's panel on organizing hospitality workers in LA! serving-up-power-la.eventbrite.com
Somebody Should Do Something & that Somebody Could Be in the CSU! CSU's Got Talent on Wed 2/18, 10a (online)! Come for the TLDR of my book, stay for the exploration of concrete strategies for applying the book's lessons through our roles in the CSU! Register: events.zoom.us/ev/AjbgeQFT5...
Ha, well since you asked, I finished Spanish for English speakers and Italian for Spanish speakers so... But Spanish<->Italian is like... "salsa verde"<->"salsa verde". Feels like cheating. I bet some English dialects are harder for me to understand than Neapolitan Italian to Argentinian Spanish.
Lots of the dialogues in Duolingo are clearly written and voiced by AI now. (A bummer. They're super repetitive and boring.) But a little surprised their algo let this sub tweet get thru... "Someday you're going to be the President or a criminal." "Why not both?"
Top comment from Fred Oswald: "advanced hindsight is 20/20" 💀 Full article notes "Ariely was named hundreds of times" in the Epstein files. "However, Duke has said the two are unrelated." dukechronicle.com/article/duke... (Must be noted: lots of non-Ariely folks are collateral damage...)
Had a blast on @underthedesknews.bsky.social with V Spehar and @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social yesterday! Catch the full video here, plus some links to YouTube shorts in the thread below: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYGz... @dryan149.bsky.social @mitpress.bsky.social
Check out this presentation on AI literacy from my CPP colleague Carsten Lange (Econ)! Understanding Generative AI: A Beginner's Guide youtu.be/O55DtUkr1T8
Damn. But also: I (resident of LA County and academic who studies race, segregation, education, etc) had *no idea* this policy even existed. Am I the only one? www.nytimes.com/2026/01/20/u...
Ep.7: Algorithmic Identities? Race, Gender, and Social Media Featuring CSU Bakersfield's Tiffany Tsantsoulas (PHL) and CPP Librarian Rayheem Eskridge Find it anywhere you get your podcasts, or check out video recording on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfKO...
Ep. 6: How is AI reshaping the way we think, feel, and cope? 🤖🧠 Therapy chat bots, toxic productivity, loneliness epidemic?? From Student Fellows Erik Jaimes-Garcia (Psychology), Anton van Oppen (Environmental Civil Engineering), Kevin Tapia (Psychology), and Jesse Reyes (Industrial Engineering)
Ep. 5: 💻 What are the effects of AI on current and prospective software engineers? Student Fellow & CS major Mark Haddad explores topics like: ▶️ job prospects ▶️ career pathways ▶️ vibe coding ▶️ opportunities to increase productivity Mark interviews Dr. John Korah, Computer Scientist at CPP
New from the California Center for Ethics & Policy! Ep. 4 on AI and artistic creation by Student Fellow & CPP PHL major Nancy Garay... "I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing, not AI to do my art and writing so I can do laundry and dishes" ~ Joanna Maciejewska
In 2025, the Digital Humanities Consortium @ CPP brought technology and the humanities together through impactful workshops, hands-on learning, and student & faculty fellowships! 💡 Skill-building workshops 🤝 Interdisciplinary collaboration 🎓 Fellowships supporting innovation in tech + humanities
Making sure everything's in place before the #Eagles get-right game today! #FlyEaglesFly #GoBirds #cats
Back to working on Greek... Although there are still some bangers in the Spanish-for-English speakers Daily Refresh