好色先生TV

Across the country, American citizens engage in debate every four years over the issues facing the future of the nation, and then cast ballots to determine who will serve as the next president of the United States.

As an institution educating the next generation of leaders, scholars and innovators, 好色先生TV launched its Deeper Conversations series to facilitate free expression and explore divergent viewpoints. This fall, the series devoted programming to the U.S. election, offering the CMU community a space to engage over topics like polarization, immigration and election interference.

Richard Scheines, Bess Family Dean of the Mariana Brown Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and , dean of the , led the most recent programming for the Deeper Conversations initiative, meant to navigate difficult issues in real time.

Presenting challenging perspectives and promoting open-minded thought are not only important as a part of CMU鈥檚 mission, but also as part of our nation鈥檚 founding ideals, according to CMU President Farnam Jahanian.

鈥淭he difficult work of coming together for civil discourse, like we鈥檙e doing tonight, really does matter, because freedom of speech is not just foundational to our democracy, it鈥檚 a central tenet of higher education and certainly a central tenet of CMU education,鈥� he said to introduce this fall鈥檚 鈥淏ridging the Divide: Understanding and Addressing Political Polarization in America,鈥� held on Sept. 11.

鈥淎s a university, and as a community of citizens from diverse backgrounds, we have a unique opportunity to model and engage in civil discourse and to lead across differences,鈥� Krishnan said in his opening remarks for the event. 鈥淲e will consider what are the issues that are at stake and the policy implications that will affect millions of people locally and globally.鈥�

Joined by Kevin Zollman, Herbert A. Simon Professor of Philosophy and Social and Decision Sciences and director of the Institute for Complex Social Dynamics at Carnegie Mellon; Jonathan Cervas, assistant teaching professor with the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology (CMIST); and University of Pittsburgh professor Karina Schumann, the panel discussion, moderated by Scheines, sought to explore potential solutions to the divisiveness in American politics.

鈥淲e like to think about the United States as red states and blue states, but the fact of the matter is that there are Democrats in red states and Republicans in blue states,鈥� Cervas said. 鈥淲e really are a purple America. Votes are 鈥� at least on ideology 鈥� moderate, not extreme.鈥�

Regarding polarization, Scheines said when students have a chance to flex their critical thinking skills and discuss important issues, they recognize that the answers are more nuanced than the two parties may make them out to be.

"We have found in a lot of the classes we're teaching that given the opportunity to really have conversation where respect is the norm, we find out, one, there's many more viewpoints than people think there are,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd then, when they do get a chance to discuss and learn, they value it highly."

Immigration key for voters in 2024

On Oct. 1, CMU professor Brian Kovak, Princeton University professor Filiz Garip and Harvard Law School professor Sabi Ardalan titled 鈥淚mmigration at the Ballot Box: Key Issue for 2024鈥� that was moderated by New York Times journalist Hamed Aleaziz.

The group examined why people migrate, the crisis at the southern border and how immigration impacts the labor market for current U.S. workers, and the extent to which immigration influences job security, pay and benefits for existing workers.

鈥淧olitical debates in the U.S. and other high-income countries tend toward the extremes when answering these questions,鈥� said, professor of economics and public policy at 好色先生TV鈥檚 Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy.听

Some argue that immigrants 鈥渢ake jobs鈥� from native-born workers. Others contend that immigrants, implying that there鈥檚 little job competition and that some industries would struggle to exist without immigrant labor.

鈥淏oth of these extreme arguments are inconsistent with the evidence,鈥� Kovak said.

The idea that each immigrant worker displaces a native-born worker isn鈥檛 supported in data. In 2022, there were 30 million employed immigrants in the U.S. but only about 6.5 to 8 million unemployed people, far below the number needed to suggest one-to-one job displacement. This has been the case even in high-unemployment periods such as the Great Recession.

Data also suggests that no job is reliant exclusively on immigrant labor. that foreign-born workers form the majority in only three of 530 tracked occupations: manicurists, agricultural graders and taxi drivers. Even within these roles, a significant portion of workers are U.S.-born.听

In reality, the impact of immigrants on the labor market lies between the extremes and is well-documented.

鈥淭here is a mountain of statistical evidence on these effects, and it's clear that,鈥� Kovak said, 鈥減articularly when compared to other factors such as technological change, international trade, and offshoring.鈥� Those factors have a much larger impact on the U.S. labor market than immigration.

Crime rates have also dominated discussions about immigration. Numerous recent studies, using robust statistical methods, have examined this issue across various countries and have yielded consistently similar results.

鈥淚mmigration has but consistently leads to increased concerns about crime among existing residents,鈥� Kovak said. 鈥淚n other words, people seem to think that immigration substantially increases crime, but,.鈥�

Election interference

On Oct. 28,听 Audrey Kurth Cronin, director of CMIST, moderated a discussion titled 鈥淐yber-Enabled Nation-State Influence Operations: Are Russia, China and Iran Interfering in the U.S. Election?鈥澨�

The event considered how these countries use sophisticated tactics like information laundering, social media disinformation and cyber-enabled influence operations to sow discord, undermine election legitimacy and manipulate public opinion.听听

鈥淲ith the presidential election just a week away, it's critical to understand how adversaries are using technology to influence our electoral process,鈥� Cronin said. 鈥淚n recent years, nation-state interference has manifested in various different ways, and we're not always aware of them: hacking campaign accounts 鈥� that gets press 鈥� but also leaking confidential documents, manipulating social media to amplify select messages, and employing AI-driven tools to spread disinformation.鈥澨�

Featuring expert panelists Bret Schafer, senior fellow for Media and Digital Information at the Alliance for Securing Democracy with the German Marshall of the United States; Bryan Prior of the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center; and Darren Linvill, co-director of the Watt Family Innovation Center Media Forensics Hub and professor at Clemson University, the discussion touched upon concerns about the potential for increased disinformation activities leading up to and following the upcoming elections, stressing the importance of early detection, public awareness and robust countermeasures.

In his closing remarks, Scheines encouraged everyone to connect Deeper Conversations with other initiatives on campus, such as Carnegie Mellon鈥檚 Democracy Day.

鈥淒emocracy Day is dedicated to fostering civic participation, well-being and community engagement in the lead-up to Nov. 5 and beyond,鈥� he said.

Events include organized by CMU鈥檚 Center for Informed Democracy and Social-cybersecurity on Nov. 5 in the Gates-Hillman Complex, as well as a on Nov. 5 and a on Nov. 6, both in the Highmark Center for Health Wellness & Athletics.

What鈥檚 after the election?听

Five days before the inauguration of the 47th president of the United States, Deeper Conversations returns to discuss 鈥淎merica and the World: What's Ahead After the 2024 Election?"听听

On Jan. 15, 2025, Jahanian will join David Ignatius, a political affairs columnist for the Washington Post, for a fireside chat focused on the state of U.S. democracy in light of the November election.听

Krishnan reminded the crowd in September of the power each person has in actively taking part in that democracy.

鈥淓very election matters, whether it's for the leader of a country, the mayor of a town or the seat on your local school board,鈥� Krishnan said at the Sept. 11 event. 鈥淚t鈥檚 our privilege and responsibility to participate in this process to go out there, vote and make sure our voices are heard.鈥�