Dr. S.A. Applin
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anthropunk.bsky.social
Dr. S.A. Applin
@anthropunk.bsky.social
Applied Anthropologist researching how people promote, manage, resist, and endure change; and how they, algorithms, and ethics coexist. (Or not). Social Systems/Culture. Sometimes write for Fast Company. NYU/ITP alum
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New Article Alert By me @fastcompany.com 🚨
"Digital surveys may have hit the #AI point of no return."
Quantitative surveys can now be taken by AI that undetectably mimics humans. This can compromise results that will impact decisions based on these outcomes. A way forward? Qualitative Research!
Digital surveys may have hit the AI point of no return
A new study shows bots can be indistinguishable from humans in survey responses.
www.fastcompany.com
This is the same guy that bet the farm on the "Metaverse." Dude, stop trying to make "fetch" happen.
January 29, 2026 at 3:13 PM
“AI platforms cannot keep all the benefits of instant answers while pushing the costs onto creators and the wider web.”
January 29, 2026 at 2:52 PM
A reminder that we do not need #AVs. At all. Completely unnecessary.
January 29, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Well, they're wrong. Society didn't accept a mall bot running over a kid's foot, they aren't going to accept this.
January 29, 2026 at 2:24 PM
Reposted by Dr. S.A. Applin
The old test in moral philosophy ‘what if everyone did that?’ is coming back to haunt us. LLMs only work because the information they are sucking up was not generated by LLMs. But as they drive more and more real researchers out of business they are building layers and layers on their own quicksand.
January 28, 2026 at 8:22 AM
Reposted by Dr. S.A. Applin
Reminder! My next book event for The Killing Fields of East New York is at the Yorkville Public Library tomorrow, 5PM! 222 E.79th St. “Horn unspools a fast-paced and at times crackling yarn about the Brooklyn prosecutors and F.B.I. agents who pursued predatory lenders and brokers …” New York Times.
January 27, 2026 at 4:37 PM
Applin and Fischer 2015
"New Technologies and Mixed-Use Convergence
How Humans and Algorithms are Adapting to Each Other"

posr.org/w/images/b/b...
January 27, 2026 at 4:54 PM
I said it 10 years ago:
savageminds.org/2016/12/13/a...
January 27, 2026 at 4:52 PM
Reposted by Dr. S.A. Applin
Auschwitz was at the end of a process. We must remember that it did not start from gas chambers.

This hatred gradually developed: from ideas, words, stereotypes & prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanization & escalating violence... to systematic and industrial murder.

Auschwitz took time.
January 27, 2026 at 11:00 AM
Reposted by Dr. S.A. Applin
A review of the app stores “found 55 nudify apps on Google Play and 47 in the Apple App Store…”
Apple, Google host dozens of AI ‘nudify’ apps like Grok, report finds
A tech watchdog organization found 55 nudify apps on Google Play and 47 in the Apple App Store.
www.cnbc.com
January 27, 2026 at 12:39 PM
Reposted by Dr. S.A. Applin
A new study by Barbara Murdoch and colleagues reveals diverse bacterial communities inside scorpion venom secretions, with differences due to geography and between the two species studied, Paruoctonus becki and Anuroctonus phaiodactylus.

plos.io/4tfd7zk
Microbiota discovered in scorpion venom
With low nutrient availability and presence of numerous antimicrobial peptides, animal venoms have been traditionally considered to be harsh sterile environments that lack bacteria. Contrary to this…
journals.plos.org
January 27, 2026 at 1:33 PM
You have to separate the labor from management. Different ideologies. For some, yeah. For others, it's only about profit.
Some of those that work forces are the same that...

Silicon Valley isn't a community, so much as an ideological position where technology is the policy.
January 27, 2026 at 4:15 PM
Reposted by Dr. S.A. Applin
New: Unsealed court docs detail Big Tech’s yearslong, secret race to ingest the collective works of humanity, including Anthropic’s project to “destructively scan all the books in the world.”

Gift link: wapo.st/4rjXAMQ
How Silicon Valley built AI: Buying, scanning and destroying millions of books
Court filings reveal how AI companies raced to obtain more books to feed chatbots, including by buying, scanning and disposing of millions of titles.
wapo.st
January 27, 2026 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Dr. S.A. Applin
The UK has lost its measles elimination status, the World Health Organization has announced.

Vaccine disinformation is a worldwide pandemic that is killing us.
UK loses measles elimination status
Decision made after outbreaks in 2024, when there were nearly 3,000 cases in England and Wales.
www.bbc.com
January 27, 2026 at 5:23 AM
"Shocking," said no sensible human, ever.
In dozens of interviews, sociologist, UX researcher, and interaction designer Diana Enriquez finds middle managers forced to "feign AI success" in a weak job market—for instance, pretending error-free drafts came from AI tools that actually failed.
In Weak Job Market, Middle Managers Increasingly Forced to Feign AI Success
Amid all the hype, companies need human-centered AI that helps workers. Policymakers must protect labor at every level, writes Diana Enriquez.
buff.ly
January 26, 2026 at 10:57 AM
Seriously, THAT'S the worry?!? So much facepalm.
January 26, 2026 at 9:47 AM
Reposted by Dr. S.A. Applin
Buy some bookes from Dreamhaven yn Minneapolis: "DreamHaven specializes in new and used science fiction, fantasy, horror, film and media books, comics, and graphic novels."
dreamhavenbooks.com
Home - DreamHaven
Recent Additions
dreamhavenbooks.com
January 25, 2026 at 6:08 PM
Pay to be an #AI AGENT for Amazon's cloud! Why should Amazon take #privacy risks or obey laws ("laws, what are those?"), when they can have YOU DO THE WORK for them? Bask in the thrill that you can passively record neighbors, friends, family, colleagues, just like the SPY that you'll BEE—for AMAZON!
January 25, 2026 at 9:52 PM
Yep. Hire Anthropologists who specialize in automation. I'm one of them and I'm available.
Ooooooh I LOVE this column from Caitrin - “An Anthropologist’s Guide to Better Automation.” This is exactly the kind of juicy human stuff that makes robotics so fascinating to me. cacm.acm.org/opinion/an-a...
An Anthropologist’s Guide to Better Automation – Communications of the ACM
cacm.acm.org
January 25, 2026 at 8:32 AM
Reposted by Dr. S.A. Applin
“The researchers observed what’s called a ‘dose response,’ meaning the more frequently someone used AI, the stronger their symptoms were.”
Using AI for advice or other personal reasons is linked to depression and anxiety
A new survey found that people who spend more time with chatbots for social interactions or emotional support were likelier to report mental health symptoms.
www.nbcnews.com
January 25, 2026 at 2:04 AM
Odd choice since Amazon's various businesses are accelerating the demise of the planet...
January 24, 2026 at 10:28 AM
Reposted by Dr. S.A. Applin
MTV Rewind Lets You Revisit 40,000 Music Videos & Commercials from the Golden Age of MTV
MTV Rewind Lets You Revisit 40,000 Music Videos & Commercials from the Golden Age of MTV
MTV still exists. At least, it still exists in the United States, or in certain of that country's markets, for the time being. A flurry of premature obituaries recently blew through the internet after...
www.openculture.com
January 24, 2026 at 4:27 AM