In this episode, we talk about how a former professor and science equity activist used a sockpuppet Twitter account to gain access and prestige when interacting with academics and professionals online. Key to her strategy was to invent and then impersonate a fictional Hopi scientist working at Arizona State University. Things got even stranger when she killed her fictional character and blamed it on a poor national and organizational response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This story by Asher Elbein, which includes an interview with Dr. Marisa Duarte, makes some excellent points that merit your attention before tuning in: https://gen.medium.com/the-death-of-a-fake-twitter-personality-reveals-the-systemic-rot-of-academia-19e9c6c9aa9a

This episode was recorded August 7, 2020 at 2:50pm MST.

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