Lisa Messeri
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lmesseri.bsky.social
Lisa Messeri
@lmesseri.bsky.social
5.4K followers 950 following 700 posts
anthropologist of sci & tech. Prof @Yale. author of "Placing Outer Space" and VR book "In the Land of the Unreal". tech criticism with good vibes.
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lmesseri.bsky.social
With Valerie Olson, we wrote "Spaced Out: Bringing Outer Space into Anthropological Conversations." We observe: "When anthropologists include outer spaces within anthropological space, they surface hidden binaries that shape anthropological conceptualizations of 'space' as a general category."
cover of the book "Otherwhere ethnography: an introduction to outer space studies." edited by Istvan Praet and Perig Pitrou
November 6, 2025 at 2:25 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
I hope you enjoy the paper! There are fun easter eggs hidden throughout, particularly the definition of AI that somehow made it past peer and editorial review and into the glossary. 13/
Artificial Intelligence (AI) domain of multidisciplinary academic inquiry that dates back to the mid-20th century. It has more recently become a successful marketing term deployed by large tech companies to describe a host of automated and semiautomated processes. Given that the purposely underdefined and hype-fueled meaning of AI has taken over more academic definitions, we limit our use of the term to capturing social trends and impulses rather than for referring to a scientific body of work.
October 21, 2025 at 3:47 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
The DEAD critique comes from observing the historical arc of experimental work, noting that the rise of computers, then MTurk, now LLMs has increasingly constrained the kinds of cognitive tasks that research participants perform. 7/
a funnel showing As investigations of cognition transition from the world to laboratory studies (blue), to computerized studies (red), to online studies (orange), to AI Surrogate studies (yellow), the varieties of cognition that are possible to measure become narrowed to Decontextualized, Engineered, Anonymized, Disembodied (DEAD) cognition.
October 21, 2025 at 3:47 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
We write, the “conditions upon which AI tools are built inherently exclude the same people who are already underrepresented in CogSci… AI Surrogates perpetuate an illusion of generalizability where researchers believe these models represent a broader swathe of humanity than they actually do.” 5/
a figure from the paper, illustrating illusions of generalizability. in the top, well-recognized illusion of generalizability arises when researchers mistake Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic (WEIRD) convenience samples as more representative of all humans than they actually are. The illusion is obscured when we describe convenience samples as ‘people’ or ‘humans’ in the papers we write. in the bottom, nother illusion of generalizability arises when researchers mistake DEAD cognitive processes as being more representative of all cognition than they actually are. This illusion is obscured when we write papers about abstracted cognitive processes rather than about the more specific forms of cognition that DEAD tasks measure.
October 21, 2025 at 3:47 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
In our nature paper, we discussed four visions of AI in science: the Oracle, the Surrogate, the Quant, and the Arbiter. This is a deep dive into the surrogate 🤖 - the promise that LLMs can serve as human research participants 2/
The abstract reads "Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have generated enthusiasm for using AI simulations of human research participants to generate new knowledge about human cognition and behavior. This vision of ‘AI Surrogates’ promises to enhance research in cognitive science by addressing longstanding challenges to the generalizability of human subjects research. AI Surrogates are envisioned as expanding the diversity of populations and contexts that we can feasibly study with the tools of cognitive science. Here, we caution that investing in AI Surrogates risks entrenching research practices that narrow the scope of cognitive science research, perpetuating ‘illusions of generalizability’ where we believe our findings are more generalizable than they actually are. Taking the vision of AI Surrogates seriously helps illuminate a path toward a more inclusive cognitive science."
October 21, 2025 at 3:47 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
No kings
October 18, 2025 at 4:03 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
The president of MIT has declined to sign "the compact". Full letter, as shared with the MIT community:
Dear Madam Secretary, I write in response to your letter of October 1, inviting MIT to review a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” I acknowledge the vital importance of these matters. I appreciated the chance to meet with you earlier this year to discuss the priorities we share for American higher education. As we discussed, the Institute’s mission of service to the nation directs us to advance knowledge, educate students and bring knowledge to bear on the world’s great challenges. We do that in line with a clear set of values, with excellence above all. Some practical examples: • MIT prides itself on rewarding merit. Students, faculty and staff succeed here based on the strength of their talent, ideas and hard work. For instance, the Institute was the first to reinstate the SAT/ACT requirement after the pandemic. And MIT has never had legacy preferences in admissions. • MIT opens its doors to the most talented students regardless of their family’s finances. Admissions are need-blind. Incoming undergraduates whose families earn less than $200,000 a year pay no tuition. Nearly 88% of our last graduating class left MIT with no debt for their education. We make a wealth of free courses and low-cost certificates available to any American with an internet connection. Of the undergraduate degrees we award, 94% are in STEM fields. And in service to the nation, we cap enrollment of international undergraduates at roughly 10%. • We value free expression, as clearly described in the MIT Statement on Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom. We must hear facts and opinions we don’t like – and engage respectfully with those with whom we disagree. These values and other MIT practices meet or exceed many standards outlined in the document you sent. We freely choose these values because they’re right, and we live by them because they support our mission – work of immense value to the prosperity, competitiveness, health and security of the United States. And of course, MIT abides by the law. The document also includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution. And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone. In our view, America’s leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence. In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences. Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education. As you know, MIT’s record of service to the nation is long and enduring. Eight decades ago, MIT leaders helped invent a scientific partnership between America’s research universities and the U.S. government that has delivered extraordinary benefits for the American people. We continue to believe in the power of this partnership to serve the nation. Sincerely, Sally Kornbluth cc Ms. May Mailman Mr. Vincent Haley
October 10, 2025 at 2:42 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
i'm much madder at Big Tech than i was when i first submitted this article. I offer my tracked changes revision as evidence of entering the no holds bar stage of my career.
And yet, both of these corporate futures have far more in common than in distinction. Especially as spatial computing has, like the metaverse, failed to garner the enthusiasm corporate overloads had anticipated, it is important to understand these terms in the context of the larger computing visions they seek to proffer. This vision wants users to be permanently and inescapably immersed in a world of digital overlays, such that the corporate product, in whatever technical form (headset, glasses), is the mediating screen through which we always and only experience the physical world. This is a vision we ought to refuse, and this article offers an admittedly modest strategy for refusal. I do so by offering a reading of the technological fictions that convey the spatialities and socialities of spatial computing
October 3, 2025 at 9:46 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
Turns out, Mapquest still labels the body of water to the west of Florida The Gulf of Mexico. Welcome to the resistance, Mapquest.
screen shot of a map, showing that the "gulf of Mexico" has not been relabled.
September 15, 2025 at 1:08 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
i check in with ChatGPT sometimes to see where it's at as a research tool. I asked it some questions about a current project. i was at first dishearteningly impressed. It found the main stuff i found (in minutes as opposed to weeks). But, within 6 prompts it was hallucinating. I have thoughts...
a screenshot of a chatGPT interface where it admits to making up a source.
July 16, 2025 at 7:21 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
Regarding the "AI for Good" conference presently going on, here's a short passage from "In the Land of the Unreal" (pg 9). This idea is drawing directly from Magalhães and @couldrynick.bsky.social's article “Giving by Taking Away.”
"Because “the good” is not a universally agreed upon concept but rather articulated through “regimes of knowledge,” “tech for good” projects that emerge from Big Tech companies shape definitions of what it means to do “good” work in ways that align with their mission, namely capital accumulation"
July 10, 2025 at 2:47 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
Disgusted by this Zoom UI: when i mouse over the link icon to copy a zoom link, it is replaced by an "AI companion" link.

Google was doing this with gemini for awhile as well. This is just nasty UI design, tricking people to click on a feature that they (I) don't want.
screen shot of a zoom interface with a link icon screenshot showing how the link icon is bumped over to make room for an AI companion
July 9, 2025 at 9:45 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
ah, so that's how you quit the gym.
screen shot with the following text "You may also cancel this contract if: You relocate your residence further than twenty-five (25) miles from any health club operated by the seller or from any other substantially similar health club which would accept the obligation of the seller; You die; or"
July 8, 2025 at 7:07 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
Threaten us with a good time, why don’t you
Trump threatens to cut musk’s government contracts as ties unravel
June 5, 2025 at 7:11 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
"Teaching with ChatGPT," an essay i wrote in 2023 reflecting on the first post-ChatGPT semester, holds up unfortunately well. www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
My third concern, however, makes me fear that there might be little we can do to curtail students’ instincts to incorporate AI into their workflow. Just as I was able to take a mediocre lesson plan and make it something fun and exciting, there are no doubt students who have performed similar alchemy and bragged to their classmates about receiving a top mark and doing less work. Given how accessible (and free) these apps are, students might come to feel that it is necessary to use AI both to keep up with the pack and, should faculty get used to AI-inflected products, adapt to the new normative style of the pack. Educators have been vocal in their criticism of GPT, and we can see how easily it will be used to replace, rather than assist, the work we desire our students to complete. Further, given its penchant for returning wrong information, I fear that our students will be conducting research in a digital environment where truths and realities are not a prerequisite for authoritative responses. While using AI in college might make our students better prepared to enter an AI-infused workforce, the trade-off will be that they might lose the ability to critically interrogate whether this is a workforce they even desire to enter.
May 8, 2025 at 12:58 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
Final projects for ‘Anthropology of Outer Space’ are on view until 4 at Yale Peabody Museum. My students built a world where there are humans on Mars. These are their things.
Sign for ‘Mars unearthed’ exhibit Plastic cups painted to look like different planets as part of the sun shrine CDs of Mars music Magma supplements for all your Martian needs
April 29, 2025 at 5:40 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
ffs indeed. this is the second time this ludicrous higher has pushed a news cycle. here's what i said to business insider last time. holds true....
April 24, 2025 at 4:49 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
scream. scream scream scream.

Perhaps most offensive, "Ask ChatGPT to do detailed online research, saving you hours of time."

Saving you time.... to do what? it's finals week? this is what students are pedagogically supposed to be doing during this period.
Use ChatGPT Plus to help you through finals: Upload dozens of docs, PDFs, and images and ask ChatGPT to summarize or quiz you Ask ChatGPT to do detailed online research, saving you hours of time Brainstorm writing ideas and get edits and writing tips, too Practice speaking foreign languages – or prep for interviews – with longer real-time conversations Create custom images for presentations and projects
April 15, 2025 at 5:19 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
It's the @dukepress.bsky.social spring sale, today and tomorrow. might i suggest using the FLASH50 discount code to get yourself a lovely copy of 'in the land of the unreal'?
www.dukeupress.edu/in-the-land-...
book cover of "in the land of the unreal" featuring a pink palm tree background and a person in a VR headset with head tilted up. the subtitle "virtual and other realities in los angeles" appears on the headset.
March 25, 2025 at 2:22 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
of the reckless NYT reporting on AI, this wins a special prize. The article contradicts itself. AI doesn't "spit out" an answer. An expert works with it as a tool and finds a novel solution. That is cool! but the writing, and headline in particular, edits out human agency in a deeply misleading way
Doctors Told Him He Was Going to Die. Then A.I. Saved His Life. The lifesaving drug regimen wasn’t thought up by the doctor, or any person. It had been spit out by an artificial intelligence model. In labs around the world, scientists are using A.I. to search among existing medicines for treatments that work for rare diseases. Drug repurposing, as it’s called, is not new, but the use of machine learning is speeding up the process — and could expand the treatment possibilities for people with rare diseases and few options. The lifesaving drug regimen wasn’t thought up by the doctor, or any person. It had been spit out by an artificial intelligence model. In labs around the world, scientists are using A.I. to search among existing medicines for treatments that work for rare diseases. Drug repurposing, as it’s called, is not new, but the use of machine learning is speeding up the process — and could expand the treatment possibilities for people with rare diseases and few options.
March 20, 2025 at 5:14 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
Is this Real? Noreen Khawaja and I crack open this question over at @yalereview.bsky.social. Contributions by @jessedamiani.bsky.social, Abou Farman, Joanna Radin, Sheila Hedi, Mona Oraby. yalereview.org/folio-is-thi...
March 11, 2025 at 10:35 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
I observe that "the seeming immutability of what flows through [powerful networks] mask local flexibilities that are necessary for mounting successful critiques of Big Tech's platforms, ideas, and organizations."
screen shot with the text: "The case study and this methodological reflection, taken together, amount to the project of putting Big Tech in its place. To do so recognizes the importance of networked, multisited work in studying tech elites while also arguing that the seeming immutability of what flows through the network masks local flexibilities that are necessary for mounting successful critiques of Big Tech's platforms, ideas, and organizations. In the case of VR, studying the technology's development from LA expands the narratives with which it travels and redraws the contours of the industry and its participants."
March 4, 2025 at 2:29 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
I'm putting together a lecture on Musk for "anthro of outer space" to get them to think about outer space as inherently political. I'll show them the connections and ideologies that undergird his push to Mars. And, friends, this is both the most terrifying and stupid lecture i've ever written.
a screenshot of a cartoon drawing of a desk with post-it notes scattered around. this is a prezi template that i'm using for the lecture
February 22, 2025 at 2:07 PM
lmesseri.bsky.social
I wanted to find a quote of Adams discussing apartheid, so I googled "douglas adams anti-apartheid"

None of the links were great, so i did what i normally don't do, which is to consult the AI Overview. 2/5
screen shot of AI Overview, with the following text Douglas Adams was a British author who contributed to an independent journal that supported anti-apartheid movements in Southern Africa. Explanation Adams was a writer, environmentalist, and atheist. He was best known for his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, which includes books, a radio series, a TV series, a computer game, and a movie. Adams wrote for Southern Africa, an independent journal that supported liberation movements in Southern Africa. Adams was part of a global solidarity movement that contributed to the success of the anti-apartheid struggle. Adams was also a humanist. A quote from his work was displayed on London tube trains as part of Humanists UK's 2009 atheist bus campaign.
February 17, 2025 at 12:20 AM
lmesseri.bsky.social
Yeah, appropriate time to be testing out university emergency communication.
Screen shot of phone notification indicating a test of the Yale alert system
January 29, 2025 at 3:07 PM