Sam Wang
Neurosciencer, democracy reform studier, plotter of data by hand as first step. At Princeton too. Come visit my long-form essays at samwang.substack.com
- Don't know what basic research is good for? Wonder why we as a nation spend money for nerds like me to go off in wild directions? Agriculture and NIH research on wild yams led to...cortisone & other steroid treatments for inflammatory & stress-related illness. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
- Under authoritarianism, citizens & organizations become targets of punitive measures: Politicians may be investigated, media may be hit with frivolous lawsuits, businesses may face audits, universities may lose funding, & journalists and other critics may be harassed. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/o...
- NSF programs are critical to US prosperity. NIH mostly biomedical. NSF spans *all* physical and social sciences. Fighting the attacks: Democracy Forward, Public Citizen, Protect Democracy links: democracyforward.org/action/donate/ www.citizen.org/article/publ... protectdemocracy.org/donate/
- Reposted by Sam WangA new Florida law creates new felony charges for people who volunteer for ballot initiatives. People subjected to those charges could be disenfranchised themselves. “Here you are, trying to keep democracy going, and you can lose your right to vote." boltsmag.org/florida...
- The current moment of destruction may be a chance for Democrats to become more forward-looking:
- Reposted by Sam WangIt's a good thread (even if it sometimes makes the mistake of veering into "the party's problem is that they haven't adopted my priors"), but any critique of party politics that doesn't address the role of the media as an arbitrator that likes to put its finger on the scale is incomplete
- Why are Dems—champions of every major policy advance since the New Deal—so deeply wedded to status-quo, poll-tested politics? The answer lies in Stafford Beers' 5-level Viable Systems Model: They lack Systems 4 & 5 dealing with future coordinating it with present. 1/25 www.salon.com/2025/05/10/w...
- Reposted by Sam WangMarc Andreesen received government funding from NSF to create Mosaic.
- (6/11) The internet exists because we invested in science. Decades before it changed the world, the NSF laid the groundwork for the internet—funding research, building networks, and connecting universities. Without public investment, there would be no world wide web. www.nsf.gov/impacts/inte...
- Reposted by Sam Wang“Leo called for an ‘authentic, just and lasting peace’ in Ukraine and…also made a plea for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and for humanitarian aid to be allowed to be distributed ‘to the exhausted civilian population’…” www.nytimes.com/2025/05/11/w...
- New Jerseyans, call your Representative! U.S. Capitol switchboard, 202-224-3121. Also call your state representative. That's more work - take a look here: www.njleg.state.nj.us#findLegislator
- Waiting for my senators @booker.senate.gov and @andykimnj.bsky.social, and congresswoman @mikiesherrill.bsky.social to head over to Newark to demand the release of the city's mayor.
- guess who's the front-runner for governor now
