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EMRE KIZILKAYA

@emrekizilkaya.bsky.social
4.7K followers 2.5K following 193 posts

Ph.D. in Media & Communication | '24-'25 Carr-Ryan Center Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School | Knight Visiting Nieman Fellow '19 | IVLP Alumnus | IBM Certified AI Developer www.linkedin.com/in/emre-kizilkaya #Media #Humanities #AI #Data #Ethics

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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
We have just concluded the largest EU-funded co-design project for international students with disabilities, moving beyond crowdsourced #accessibility databases and into the realm of AI-assisted mobile #apps.
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
I've received this email from #Amazon Turkey, announcing a public health recall regarding a wet wipe brand (Deep Fresh). I then searched online to read more about the decision of the public regulator. I discovered that Doğu Gazetesi, a local newspaper in #Erzincan, covered the story 5 days ago. +
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
A U.S. court has suspended the policy challenged in #CITRvRubio, blocking the gov't from denying or revoking visas of researchers, fact-checkers, and others working to understand the societal impacts of digital technologies. Let's inform all affected scholars. Kudos @thecoalition.bsky.social
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Our colleague @erolonderoglu.bsky.social has left @rsf-tr.bsky.social after 30 years. No individual has monitored more journalist trials or tracked press freedom violations in #Turkey as closely as he has. The #journalism community will miss his honesty, sincerity, and dedication to human rights.
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
I wrote an op-ed for @euobserver.com on how #EU's privatized #Schengen visa system now enriches the politically connected in Turkey while #BigTech executes "censorship on demand" against the journalists who exposed the problem: euobserver.com/222196/turke...
euobserver.com
Turkey turns Schengen visas into a pay‑to‑play system, while Big Tech blocks those who expose it
This is the full picture Turkey now offers the EU: a privatised border system that enriches the politically-connected, a Big Tech infrastructure that executes censorship on demand, and the rule of law...
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
I've just open-sourced #IntelAgent, a multi-agent system that I started building some six months ago. It is a free, privacy-first AI assistant for investigative journalists and academic researchers. It has 19 specialized sub-agents. All processing stays on your own hardware by default. 🧵
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
"It's intentional slop. You need to be so skilled to be this intentional with your slop." Here is the "VibeOS - Fully Hallucinated Operating System," recently presented by programmer @stevesanderson.bsky.social at Microsoft Build 2026 on June 2 in San Francisco:
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
As part of a new Turkish benchmark for LLMs, we tested 20 models with an evaluation dataset, HCBfT-TR200, developed at Galatasaray University. The results highlight significant performance gaps across the industry. 🧵 1/7
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
In an unusual move, the #Turkey rapporteurs of the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Committee of the Regions, and the Congress of Local & Regional Authorities have co-signed a joint letter: www.coe.int/en/web/congr... #Türkiye #EU #democracy
coe.int
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
"An automaton is a soulless creature but it may temporarily have a place & a function in the bodies of revolutions. But if an enlightened person becomes an automaton, this is first & foremost a denial of themselves, & their existence within the social structure is now a loss for society as a whole."
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
The @globalfreemedia.bsky.social published its 2026 Freedom of Information (FoI) Report. Data from more than 400 applications reveals persisting barriers to #FoI transparency in Turkey. Only 32% of requests received a meaningful response containing the information: turkiye.ipi.media/wp-content/u...
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Over the last 16 years, EU member states rejected 1M+ #Schengen visa applications from #Turkey. Since application fees are non-refundable, these rejections resulted in a €73M windfall for EU states. This a significant financial penalty for Turkish citizens. 1/5
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
A year has passed since the abrupt dismissal of Prof. Cemal Kafadar, who I believe is the leading Turkish historian today, from Harvard's Center for Middle Eastern Studies. This anniversary highlights how administrative actions undermine #AcademicFreedom. 🧵 1/7
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
1/2 Despite my affinity for #Italy, I found myself supporting #Bosnia in yesterday's #WorldCup qualifiers. This prompted some self-reflection regarding why we gravitate toward the disadvantaged. Evolutionary #psychology and #neuroscience suggest a strong human predisposition to favor the #underdog.
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
The @globalfreemedia.bsky.social #IPI wrote to #Google CEO Pichai to raise urgent concerns about the destructive impact of the company's recent #algorithm updates on the independent #journalism in #Turkey: turkiye.ipi.media/letter-to-go... #PressFreedom #MediaPluralism #AlgorithmicTransparency
turkiye.ipi.media
Letter to Google urging action on algorithmic impact on independent media - IPI Turkiye Website
IPI has written to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai to raise urgent concerns about the devastating impact of Google’s algorithmic updates on Turkey’s independent media landscape. Dear Mr. Pichai, The Intern...
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
1/5 🧵 Today I attended Cédric Villani’s lecture at Galatasaray University on "AI and Civil Society." A key takeaway: his deliberate reluctance to use #AI in his own work. He argues that the routine, time-consuming steps of labor are cognitively essential to human #reasoning.
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
The railway networks of Britain and the Ottoman Turkey at the end of the 19th century
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
I have released a #Python port of the #simulation models from Smaldino's textbook, "Modeling Social Behavior." Agent-Based Models (ABMs) offer a practical technical resource for researchers studying emergent social behaviors like group #cooperation and #network effects. github.com/ekizilkaya/m...
github.com
GitHub - ekizilkaya/modeling-social-dynamics-python: This Python implementation of social dynamics simulations from Smaldino (2023) features Numba-optimized agent-based models and descriptive document...
This Python implementation of social dynamics simulations from Smaldino (2023) features Numba-optimized agent-based models and descriptive documentation. Benjamin Fried published the original Julia...
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
I'm deeply saddened by the passing of Professor İlber Ortaylı, which marks the loss of one of Turkey's most significant historians. His defining trait was not unearthing new documents, but a vast memory that made him an exceptional synthesizer and our foremost history communicator. 1/3 #İlberOrtaylı
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
By advocating for #UBI, Sam Altman et al. transfer the burden of AI's negative impacts from corporations to public institutions. This will force nations' central banks to inflate the money supply, ultimately socializing the costs of mass #unemployment globally while tech lords privatize the gains.
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
#AI industry leaders argue Universal Basic Income, or #UBI, will solve automation-induced #unemployment. To test this premise, I developed a Python/Mesa #agent-based simulator integrating Bourdieu’s capital theory, bid-rent theory, and network homophily. (GitHub link to the model repository below)
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Israeli authorities arrested two Turkish journalists, prompting protests from Ankara. Fatih Polat, former editor of Evrensel, shared a brilliant comment on X today: "Israel's arrest of Turkish journalists is a blow to press freedom. Only Turkey is allowed to arrest them!" x.com/fpolat69/sta...
x.com
Fatih Polat on X: "İsrail'in Türkiyeli gazetecileri gözaltına alması basın özgürlüğüne darbedir. Onları sadece Türkiye gözaltına alabilir." / X
İsrail'in Türkiyeli gazetecileri gözaltına alması basın özgürlüğüne darbedir. Onları sadece Türkiye gözaltına alabilir.
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Territory claimed. A warning sign on a door at Istanbul University reads: “A #cat has given birth inside. Please do not use lecture hall.” Years ago, I sat in that very classroom as a student, taking the very same Political Organizations course, on a campus accustomed to coexisting with #animals.
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
A Trump ally is about to acquire the parent company of CNN, mostly for political reasons. This is reminiscent of how an Erdogan ally bought the media group I worked for, which also owned CNN Turk, in 2018.
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
I find it hard to believe that it's already been 10 years since the great Umberto Eco passed. He had said that "those who love #books know that a book is anything but a commodity."
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
Shoshana Zuboff outlines her rigorous case for abolishing #surveillance-driven social media in an interview with The Observer: observer.co.uk/culture/inte...
observer.co.uk
Shoshana Zuboff wants to abolish social media | The Observer
The Harvard professor believes that Silicon Valley’s business model must be outlawed. Her new film about the tragic case of Molly Russell explains why
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
Amara’s Law, coined by Stanford researcher Roy Charles Amara in 1978, states: “We tend to overestimate the effect of a #technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.”
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Over the years, I've come to believe that the true measure of a society is found in how it treats its weakest and its wisest.
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
"We knew that international #law applied with varying rigour depending on the identity of the accused or the victim," says Canadian PM Mark Carney in one of the most significant speeches by a head of government in the 21st century.
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
#EndImpunity #Justice #HrantDink
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
The Observer is asking readers to select the top books of the 21st century so far. It is a tough list to narrow down, but I’ve locked in my three votes: 1. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦 by Shoshana Zuboff 2. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 by Sunil Amrith 3. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐠 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 by Michael Lewis
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
RAM sticks I bought for $160 last year are now listed at $629. It’s unbelievable that cartel-like price-fixing by companies like #Nvidia and #Micron is now treated as normal, 20 years after the DRAM #antitrust cases. They’re gutting the consumer market to feed #AI data centers. The EU needs to act.
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Reposted by EMRE KIZILKAYA
The University of Chicago Press @uchicagopress.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
Celebrating the short, witty, philosophical phrases known as aphorisms, THE WORLD IN A PHRASE is an entertaining tour through the wisest sayings in the world. In this interview, author James Geary reflects on how ancient literary art form fits into age of social media.
buff.ly
Brief bursts of wisdom — Harvard Gazette
Aphorism lover and historian James Geary reflects on how ancient literary art form fits into age of social media.
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
Great to see the new edition of James Geary’s 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘗𝘩𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘦: 𝘈 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘧 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘮 published this month, which brings together a wide range of aphorisms that continue to resonate in 2025: www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n... #books #writing #language #culture #ideas
theguardian.com
‘Adults think with their mouths open’: five modern aphorisms to help us make sense of 2025
In his new book The World in a Phrase, author James Geary shares aphorisms from David Byrne, James Baldwin and more that speak to the modern day
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
I wrote a discussion paper for @harvard-carr-ryan.bsky.social as part of our #Technology and #HumanRights fellowship on #SurveillanceCapitalism. It examines how authoritarian states and #BigTech create a system of "dual domination" in fragile democracies: www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr...
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
1️⃣ Our new paper “𝐁𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫-𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭” is out in 𝘔𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴! 🚀 A 2-year mixed-method study on how locative algorithms and transit systems shape how international students see and move through Istanbul. 🔗 www.tandfonline.com/eprint/QBQ8I... #UrbanStudies #BigData #Istanbul #Lynch #Lefebvre
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
We had a great discussion with @courtneyr.bsky.social on "Big Tech + Big Brother: Resisting ‘techno-fascism’ and the surveillance state" at the @globalfreemedia.bsky.social World Congress & Media Innovation Festival in Vienna on October 25. Credit © Ronja Koskinen / IPI
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
Institutions with #integrity face a built-in disadvantage: they hold themselves accountable. Their leaders resign when mistakes are made. Populists, who never admit errors, outlast them. That’s democracy’s dilemma: protecting integrity from shamelessness. #BBC #Accountability #Democracy #Ethics
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
📣 New paper! @harvard-carr-ryan.bsky.social Technology & Human Rights Fellow 2024-25 @nicoleozer.bsky.social traces California's historic legacy as a #privacy leader, as AI transforms society today: www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr... #PrivacyRights #AI #DigitalRights #California #TechPolicy
hks.harvard.edu
Putting People Power into US Privacy Law: Learning from the Past to Light the Path to True Privacy Protection to Advance Rights and Democracy in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
With the current political climate and advances in artificial intelligence (AI), the stakes are higher than ever to advance new laws that make technology work for the people and promote access, equity...
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
Thousands gathered in Tel Aviv last night to mark 30 years since the assassination of Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin. Valerie Hamaty performed Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah in Arabic as tens of thousands listened in awe. Leaders like #Rabin are deeply missed in today’s divided world. #Peace #Gaza #Democracy
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
New @harvard-carr-ryan.bsky.social discussion paper: Burcu Kilic argues that dismantling #surveillance #capitalism requires structural transformation, not only of markets, but of the political, legal, and epistemic arrangements that sustain it. Read it here: www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr...
hks.harvard.edu
The Geopolitics of Surveillance Capitalism
Surveillance capitalism represents a new form of capitalism that converts human behavior into data for tracking, analysis, and monetization. Yet this framing obscures the deeper architecture that sust...
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
Yesterday in #Vienna's Auer Welsbach Park, an oak tree full of animals reminded me of Rumi's parable of the caged parrot. He longed for his free friends in India, imagining them able to fly to the grass or sit on the trees as they wish. That ability to #choose, for him, was #freedom.
An oak tree in a public park in Vienna.
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
Ahead of the 75th anniversary of its foundation, @globalfreemedia.bsky.social publishes an inspiring list of 75 books written by IPI members and press freedom heroes across the world to celebrate independent journalism: ipi.media/ipi-75-books... via @eisaklica.bsky.social
ipi.media
IPI 75 Bookshelf: 75 books to celebrate press freedom and independent journalism – ipi.media
As IPI celebrates its 75th anniversary, our team has compiled a list of 75 must-read books on press freedom and independent journalism.
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
I'll be in Vienna next week for the 2025 @globalfreemedia.bsky.social World Congress & #Media #Innovation Festival. Join our panel with Courtney Radsch, "Big Tech + Big Brother: Resisting ‘techno-fascism’ and the surveillance state", on Oct. 25 at 12:00 CEST. ipi.media/ipi-world-co... #IPIWoCo25
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
New research is here! @harvard-carr-ryan.bsky.social 2024-2025 fellow @sebasmartl.bsky.social reviews AI legislation in Latin America, uncovering significant gaps in rights-based safeguards. Read the full publication: www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr... #AI #HumanRights #LatinAmerica #TechLaw
hks.harvard.edu
Analyzing a Charter of Rights and Institutions to Tackle Surveillance Capitalism in the Era of Artificial Intelligence: The Case of Latin America
Artificial intelligence is advancing rapidly, sparking global concern over its risks, from misinformatio
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
We were in Spain last week for the 2025 Open Government Partnership Global Summit. With Oliver Money-Kyrle and Emre Ilkan Saklica, we contributed to sessions on civic participation in line with @globalfreemedia.bsky.social 's mission to promote open, accountable governance across Europe. #OGP2025
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Reposted by EMRE KIZILKAYA
Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
Macron remarks are notable- some quotes: "We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks that are controlled either by large American entrepreneurs or large Chinese companies, whose interests are not at all the survival or proper functioning of our democracies."
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
A great discussion paper by Montori et al. for @harvard-carr-ryan.bsky.social. They warn that surveillance capitalism is reshaping healthcare into a system focused on data rather than people, enabling Big Tech to commodify human experience and consolidate power: www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr...
hks.harvard.edu
The Un-Mattering of People: The Present and Near-Future of Surveillance Capitalism and the Fate of Care in Healthcare
The encroachment of surveillance capitalism into healthcare takes place as healthcare becomes increasingly industrialized.
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Reposted by EMRE KIZILKAYA
Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 28/09/2025
CEO pay is up 1,094% since 1978, while worker pay is up just 26%. Why do we always hear "we can't afford to pay our workers more" but never "we can't afford to pay our CEO more"?
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EMRE KIZILKAYA @emrekizilkaya.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
I stumbled upon this on the interwebs today:
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