[Linganth] Ling Anth and LLMs Reading Group - Oct 20 - Janet Connor - Computing Consensus

[Language Machines]

Dear Language Machines Network,

We'd like to invite you to our next reading group meeting. We'll discuss *Janet
Connor’s (Leiden)* draft article “*Computing Consensus: Language
ideological work in LLM-assisted deliberative democracy*” on *Monday,
October 20, 2025 from 18:00-20:00 CEST* (Time Zone Converter
<https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html?iso=20251020T160000&p1=259>).
See below for the schedule of future meetings.

*Abstract:*
This article asks how the digital platform Polis and its experiments with
large language models (LLMs) reconfigure democratic participation oriented
around consensus. Through
analysis of media coverage of Polis and developers’ public discussions of
the platform, I argue that there are mutually reinforcing conceptual and
technical limitations to
computationally assisted deliberation. Developers reframe consensus from a
discursive achievement to a computationally surfaced pattern. They make
deliberative democracy a
computing problem which LLMs are uniquely fit to solve. Yet those
“solutions” raise new questions and contradictions around what the public
is, how it circulates, and the nature of
consensus.
*Keywords*: Consensus; Democracy; Languages ideologies; Large language
models; Publics

Please RSVP by filling out this form
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd6qQZ6bWqiFeHkWFhI6URlsM4qsfOwXODLNYEn2qf4VijOXw/viewform?usp=header>
to
receive the Zoom link and PDF of the article when it's available (not to be
circulated please).
To be added to the listserv, please simply email us at
languagemachinesnetwork at gmail.com

We look forward to seeing you there!

Anna, Siri, and Michael



October 20, 2025

Janet Connor

“Computing Consensus: Language ideological work in LLM-assisted
deliberative democracy”


November 17, 2025

Evan Donahue

“Structuralism, Vector Spaces, and the Science of Meaning”


December 15, 2025

Jack La Violette and Mikael Brunila

“Metalanguage, ideology, and alienation in the age of generative AI”


January 2026

Spencer Kaplan

TBD



---
Anna Weichselbraun, PhD
Gastprofessorin, Institute für Europäische Ethnologie, Universität Wien
http://www.annaweichselbraun.com

*New article!* Weichselbraun, Anna. “‘How Will I Know?’: Semiotic
Indeterminacy, Transparency, and Expectations of Sincerity in the Global
Nuclear Order.” *Signs and Society*, January 28, 2025, 1–17.
https://doi.org/10.1017/sas.2024.2. <https://doi.org/10.1017/sas.2024.2>

*Join the workshop on LLMs and linguistic anthropology!* Meets monthly to
discuss pre-circulated papers. Email languagemachinesnetwork at gmail.com to
join the list.
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