Martin Carcasson

The 3 fundamental arguments critical to the wicked problems mindset. (new post on the Wicked Problems Mindset page). col.st/11jp1

Enjoyed my conversation on Democracy Innovators, a Civic Tech podcast out of Europe. Recorded a few weeks ago, but the topic has only become more important across the globe. democracyinnovators.com/martin-carcass…

@matthewgburgess Yes on the backfire. Attacking an authoritarian that primarily uses us/them frames can just play into their frame (performing the role of “them” and strengthening the leader). So a direct attack may not be the best option. Need an alternative narrative.

Polarization and inter-group conflict breed sympathy for authoritarianism. An obvious implication is that inter-group-conflict-based approaches to combatting authoritarianism will backfire.

@ChrisWillx Our brains prefer simple stories and are problems are complex. Always going to be easier to critize/deconstruct rather than build/reconstruct. Some interesting things happening now with the Builders Movement (ted.com/talks/daniel_l…) and Levin's A Time to Build book.

Tearing down is more attractive than building up. “Notice it’s always “smash the system” and “demolish capitalism” and “eat the rich.” It’s never “help the needy” or “feed the poor.” You’ll see a thousand communists say “billionaires shouldn’t exist” but not a single one who says “poor people shouldn’t exist.” — @robkhenderson

@profgoose @nationaljournal Which clearly sets up clear natural incentives for really high quality engagment and nuanced discussions of complex issues... 🙄

It's still STUNNING to me, every time I see it, that we have reached a point in our current era where there are less than 40 (and really closer to 20) competitive seats for the House of Representatives (data from @nationaljournal).

Favorite line: "our democracy is not going to be revived by communities of the like-minded working in opposing silos to vanquish each other"

Really enjoyed my conversation on Michael's podcast. It focused on something I've been developing for awhile, important both to college campuses and our communities: making some distinctions between the terms debate, dialogue, & deliberation buzzsprout.com/2311101/episod…

@JohnRWoodJr Curious if you had a chance to read my principled impartiality paper, where I try to articulate the tensions around impartiality/objectivity in our current world. Not sure if I handed you a copy during your visit. nationalcivicleague.org/ncr-article/th…

I believe that, even if objectivity is impossible, the aspiration towards objectivity is indispensable.

This is going to be a cool speaker series at @UWyonews! (link below). We have Nadine Strossen coming Feb 25 to talk about free speech, @mcarcasson coming March 10 to talk about constructive dialogue, and Paul Steinhardt coming April 25 to talk about changing his mind as a researcher--recently challenging the inflationary universe theory he earlier helped to pioneer.

@andy_matuschak You may be interested but in this book from a friend of mine. @jgastil global.oup.com/academic/produ…

Recently served on a jury for the first time (assault with a deadly weapon, etc). Some surprises: 1. I knew that conviction requires unanimity. But acquittal requires unanimity! We couldn't agree; the result is a mistrial; the DA can re-try the case if they want.

@12thMan @AggieFootball Was an undergraduate at A&M for all three of these games (including the road trip to Austin in 1992). Aaron Glenn's pick six is probably may favorite sports memory. I was in the endzone with thousands of Aggies as he brought the ball from the opposite side all the way to us.

𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐟𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 🎥⤵️ From 1991-93, @AggieFootball used three game-changing takeaways by the Wrecking Crew to keep a stranglehold on the rivalry with Texas and the SWC. Relive these legendary interceptions by Marcus Buckley, Aaron Glenn and Dennis Allen: #GigEm

“I believe polarization is the No. 1 issue, because when we’re polarized like we are, we’re unable to address the problems at hand.” “The good news? We’re not nearly as polarized as we think, a lot of it’s manufactured, a lot of it’s fake.” - Dr. Martín Carcasson

.@CSULiberalArts professor and founder of the Center for Public Deliberation at @ColoradoStateU Dr. Martín Carcasson brought #WITW2024 home with the final keynote speech, "How Collaboration Can Bring Out the Best in Human Nature."

Water in the West is in just ✌️ days — we’re pretty excited about it 🎉 We want to thank @SwireCC for being a Content Sponsor of this year’s conversation💧 #WITW2024

@ProfessaJay Here's my attempt to reimagine civic education in light of what we better understand now about polarization and social psychology. nationalcivicleague.org/ncr-article/th…

Enjoyed by conversation with CSU President @CSUAmyParsons and the Straayer Center's @SammyLaw about CSU's democracy efforts for her new Next 150 podcast.

@SalomeSibonex @MichelleLZier Fighting polarizing tactics with polarizing tactics feels really good, but increases polarization, which tends to serve the status quo (because nothing gets done). So if you want to change things, probably need a different tactic.

It’s almost always a bad move to escalate a disagreement by using extreme, moralizing, accusatory language. This is a basic truth of conflict resolution and cooperation. And yet, intense escalation is often the go-to move for people disagreeing today, perhaps because it puts on a good show for their in-group and everyone is ignoring the eventual cost of continual escalation.

@chrisvanderveen You may be interested in this book (by @PaulaL_Ellis, @CUCMCIDean, and Voakes). It does a nice job of capturing both the importance of traditional professional journalism & the potential (& downsides) of citizen journalism. titles.cognella.com/news-for-us-97…

Are there stories that citizen journalists uncover that absolutely deserve the attention of the more mainstream press? Yes! Are the standards of some citizen journalists quite a bit lower than the more mainstream press? Yes! Do those two issues lead to conflict? Yes!

@jenmercieca They are Minnesota’s #1 gutter professionals.

Will no longer be active on this site. I post most often on linkedin, posting lots of developing ideas for comments and refinement. Connect or follow me there. linkedin.com/in/martin-carc…

Nice. Be like Brad.