Spencer Kaplan
@spencerkaplan.bsky.social
Anthropologist of machine learning and its circuits in the Bay Area. PhD candidate @yale, currently in the field. he/him
spencermkaplan.com
spencermkaplan.com
Fieldwork at the Effective Altruism conference this weekend. So many bright young minds strategizing to prevent hostile takeovers by technologies that don't exist...all while a human-led hostile takeover may already be underway
February 23, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Fieldwork at the Effective Altruism conference this weekend. So many bright young minds strategizing to prevent hostile takeovers by technologies that don't exist...all while a human-led hostile takeover may already be underway
I didn't attend the Paris AI Safety Summit this year, but I did visit the same site in 2016 for Monumenta. I photographed Huang Yong Ping's "Empire": a skeletal serpent winding among shipping containers. IMO that pic depicts the industry more accurately than any picture from last week's event:
February 18, 2025 at 2:25 AM
I didn't attend the Paris AI Safety Summit this year, but I did visit the same site in 2016 for Monumenta. I photographed Huang Yong Ping's "Empire": a skeletal serpent winding among shipping containers. IMO that pic depicts the industry more accurately than any picture from last week's event:
Visiting a new office today for field work. Every office is full of books. It’s as if they leave them out on purpose—little clues…or diversions?
February 6, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Visiting a new office today for field work. Every office is full of books. It’s as if they leave them out on purpose—little clues…or diversions?
Planetary ambitions from Burning Man to NeurIPS
December 11, 2024 at 9:16 PM
Planetary ambitions from Burning Man to NeurIPS
With more scale, this model will solve all ethics
November 20, 2024 at 4:12 PM
With more scale, this model will solve all ethics
SF tech founders are already trying to live in one neighborhood, and now this sauna trend? It's like they're trying to reinvent gay culture
www.wsj.com/lifestyle/sa...
www.wsj.com/lifestyle/sa...
Want to Network in Silicon Valley? Bring a Bathing Suit
Instead of bars and restaurants, saunas are the new place for investors and founders to socialize and raise money
www.wsj.com
November 15, 2024 at 8:39 PM
SF tech founders are already trying to live in one neighborhood, and now this sauna trend? It's like they're trying to reinvent gay culture
www.wsj.com/lifestyle/sa...
www.wsj.com/lifestyle/sa...
I wrote about trust, technology, and the value of IRL tech communities using some old fieldwork on blockchain in Berlin. You can expect more work on trust and technology, including AI. DM for a copy or find it here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Facing blockchain’s double bind: Trustless technologies and “IRL friends” in Berlin’s NFT community - Spencer Kaplan, 2024
How does a community remain committed to an imagined digital future despite that future’s inherent contradictions? This article analyzes such a challenge as it ...
journals.sagepub.com
October 28, 2024 at 10:34 PM
I wrote about trust, technology, and the value of IRL tech communities using some old fieldwork on blockchain in Berlin. You can expect more work on trust and technology, including AI. DM for a copy or find it here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Well...that happened! My first thoughts on Burning Man in context of my larger project on AI here: spencermkaplan.com/2024/09/27/t...
October 7, 2024 at 5:44 PM
Well...that happened! My first thoughts on Burning Man in context of my larger project on AI here: spencermkaplan.com/2024/09/27/t...
My article about gay bankers has been making its rounds this week. First on a course syllabus (exciting!) and last night on right wing twitter (spooky!)
March 10, 2024 at 8:49 PM
My article about gay bankers has been making its rounds this week. First on a course syllabus (exciting!) and last night on right wing twitter (spooky!)
In the anthropological spirit of professional amateurism, I built a model and wrote about it: spencermkaplan.com/2024/03/07/a...
AnthropoloGPT: Experimenting with RAG for teaching anthropology
Teaching with AI When I tell people (especially academics) that I research AI, they often ask about classroom uses of AI. The questions are anxious ones. Will students lose access to reliable informat...
spencermkaplan.com
March 7, 2024 at 9:14 PM
In the anthropological spirit of professional amateurism, I built a model and wrote about it: spencermkaplan.com/2024/03/07/a...
Lots of worthy entries, but the ML paper acronym of the week is: "Measuring Agents’ Competence & Harmfulness In A Vast Environment of Long-horizon Language Interactions (MACHIAVELLI)"
February 23, 2024 at 7:33 PM
Lots of worthy entries, but the ML paper acronym of the week is: "Measuring Agents’ Competence & Harmfulness In A Vast Environment of Long-horizon Language Interactions (MACHIAVELLI)"
Today I was told that brain-computer interfaces funded by crypto will save us from AI extinction. But don't worry, the AI extinction people laughed at the crypto part. Oh and this was the view from the venue:
February 7, 2024 at 2:29 AM
Today I was told that brain-computer interfaces funded by crypto will save us from AI extinction. But don't worry, the AI extinction people laughed at the crypto part. Oh and this was the view from the venue:
Nobody told me my research grants might count as taxable income when not strictly reimbursements...unless I'm doing it wrong? 🫠
February 2, 2024 at 6:44 PM
Nobody told me my research grants might count as taxable income when not strictly reimbursements...unless I'm doing it wrong? 🫠
If anyone wanted a vibe check on AI in SF…
January 31, 2024 at 2:40 AM
If anyone wanted a vibe check on AI in SF…
Been thinking about what makes a good interview from interlocutor’s perspective in a given field. With gay bankers a good interview they considered almost “therapeutic.” In AI a good interview is “interesting” (presumably something they could bring up at dinner)
January 27, 2024 at 9:00 PM
Been thinking about what makes a good interview from interlocutor’s perspective in a given field. With gay bankers a good interview they considered almost “therapeutic.” In AI a good interview is “interesting” (presumably something they could bring up at dinner)
Haven’t even stepped 100 feet into the field
January 4, 2024 at 1:31 AM
Haven’t even stepped 100 feet into the field
This weekend my studio held its annual holiday sale and I sold my pottery for the first time ever…to total strangers!
December 4, 2023 at 10:39 PM
This weekend my studio held its annual holiday sale and I sold my pottery for the first time ever…to total strangers!
My research really messes with the recommendation algorithms. I guess I'm a "fan" 🫠
November 29, 2023 at 9:30 PM
My research really messes with the recommendation algorithms. I guess I'm a "fan" 🫠
Reposted by Spencer Kaplan
Use discount code E24MSSRI and get the book for a cool $20 (and delivery mid-Feb) when you pre-order at www.dukeupress.edu/in-the-land-...
Really excited to share this bold and very LA cover 😍! It was exciting to work with Matt Tauch at @dukepress.bsky.social. Even more fun to get to see @kwissoker.bsky.social in person moments after receiving this beauty! Out in March, available for pre-Order on the website. I can't wait!
November 20, 2023 at 4:55 PM
Use discount code E24MSSRI and get the book for a cool $20 (and delivery mid-Feb) when you pre-order at www.dukeupress.edu/in-the-land-...
Clubs in Toronto have great décor:
November 19, 2023 at 2:37 PM
Clubs in Toronto have great décor:
The models’ believers hallucinate just as their models do
November 18, 2023 at 4:48 PM
The models’ believers hallucinate just as their models do
First Santos, now Altman. Did not think about them as the same sub genre of gay man but whatever that genre is, they’re not having a good week
November 17, 2023 at 11:00 PM
First Santos, now Altman. Did not think about them as the same sub genre of gay man but whatever that genre is, they’re not having a good week
"Just because we're at the party doesn't mean they want to talk to us!": how I explained alien communications to students in Anthropology of Outer Space (before ranting about semiotic processes)
November 13, 2023 at 8:36 PM
"Just because we're at the party doesn't mean they want to talk to us!": how I explained alien communications to students in Anthropology of Outer Space (before ranting about semiotic processes)
Not...this...upon opening the AAA conference app
November 9, 2023 at 3:19 PM
Not...this...upon opening the AAA conference app