iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Julián Posada @posada.website · 12/10/2026

I’m sharing the preprint of my chapter, “Digital Labor Platforms as Infrastructure of Extractivism,” in Digital Labour in a Turbulent Era, edited by Paola Tubaro (Edward Elgar Publishing). 🔗 Book chapter preprint: lnkd.in/gEjieN2e 📖 Also, #PlatformExtractivism is out NEXT WEEK: lnkd.in/eK8fVw7X

Screenshot of the first page of a book chapter preprint, “Digital Labor Platforms as Infrastructure of Extractivism” by Julian Posada, Yale University, published in Digital Labour in a Turbulent Era, edited by P. Tubaro (Edward Elgar, 2026). The abstract says the chapter proposes platform extractivism as a framework linking commodification, epistemic dominance, and reproduction through territory. Drawing on mixed-methods research with Venezuelan and Colombian data workers, it shows how AI depends on precarious platform labor, how annotation systems present US norms as universal knowledge, and how data work is sustained by unpaid reproductive labor and community networks.

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Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 09/10/2026

One of the handful of articles telling it like it is instead of misinforming the public. By @saragoud.bsky.social for @thebulletin.org Yes. Its bad science based on numbers out of various behinds, but that's not how most of the rest of the media is discussing it. thebulletin.org/2026/09/how-...

thebulletin.org

How the bad science of AI doomerism is good for big business

There is no clear path showing that today’s AI systems will lead to superintelligence, much less a basis for calculating the probability of doom.

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Counterpoint: It would be great if people read some of the things that have been written about AI surveillance of workers! press.princeton.edu/books/hardco... www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/hilke... www.cambridge.org/core/books/q... www.ucpress.edu/books/uberla... jacobin.com/2026/09/amaz...

press.princeton.edu

Data Driven

A behind-the-scenes look at how digital surveillance is affecting the trucking way of life

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Julián Posada @posada.website · 28/09/2026

With #PlatformExtractivism out October 20, here’s a preview: two maps of average client and worker web traffic, 2018–2023. Venezuela stands out. The book explores why it became a data work hub, focusing on working conditions, territory, and epistemology. 🔗 More Info: www.ucpress.edu/books/platfo...

Two grayscale world maps show average client and worker web traffic across 20 platforms, 2018–2023. Darker shading indicates higher traffic shares; the lightest shade indicates no data.

Top map, client traffic: United States 34.6%; Netherlands and United Kingdom 9.8% each; Canada 5.2%; Russia and India 4.9% each; Belize 4.1%; Brazil 2.7%; France 2.5%; Philippines 2.4%.

Bottom map, worker traffic: United States 22.9%; India 12%; Brazil 8.6%; Philippines 8.5%; Venezuela and Kenya 6.2% each; Albania 5.8%; Colombia 4.2%; Nigeria 2.6%; Morocco 2.1%.

Source: Julián Posada, Platform Extractivism, University of California Press, 2026.

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Tim Newman @tnewmsblues.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Sharing a few observations and connections we found through mapping the data work portion of the AI supply chain for DataWorkLandscape.org. Read on at the link below for more about the data workers behind US military tools and many other industries you may not know are sourcing data workers.

dataworklandscape.org

Data Work Landscape

Tech companies in the AI industry are powered by workers who develop, train, test, and maintain AI systems. We’re shining a light on this shadowy industry.

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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Humans are reading your ChatGPT chats. Just like humans are behind your food delivery robots and various other applications of automated technology. Usually underpaid humans in other countries.

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Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 13/09/2026

To ppl suggesting Stanford as an "independent Anthropic & OpenAI auditor" “The membrane between academia and industry...is practically nonexistent at Stanford, a school so entangled with tech that it can be hard to tell where the university ends and the businesses begin” nymag.com/intelligence...

nymag.com

You Are Not a Parrot

And a chatbot is not a human. And a linguist named Emily M. Bender is very worried what will happen when we forget this.

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Three Scary Rogue Agents in a Trenchcoat @alexhanna.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

My first long-form video is up: Myths Around AI and Productivity! Based on the work we’ve been doing at @dairinstitute.bsky.social with The Luddite Lab, we dispel 5 common myths around AI and labor by looking at what studies actually say about AI’s impact on labor. youtu.be/3BO0iy91lfU

youtu.be

Myths Around AI and Labor

YouTube video by Dr. Alex Hanna

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Data Workers’ Inquiry @dataworkersinquiry.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

What happens to consent in a workplace where refusing a request means losing work? Find out in the new report by James Mojez Oyange, one of the workers whose face, voice and documents were collected by the companies that employed him. data-workers.org/mojez/

data-workers.org

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Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 02/09/2026

One of our DAIR pillars is to put forward our vision for a positive technological future rather than watching on the sidelines as the broligrachy gets to implement their dystopian dreams. So @adiod.bsky.social edits a series we call The Possible Futures Series. dair-institute.org/projects/pos...

dair-institute.org

Possible Futures Blog Series

Broad, near-future speculative pieces designed to de-center dominant narratives about technology and challenge us all to realize that things can be different.

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Democracy Now! @democracynow.org · 27/08/2026

Julián Posada, a professor at Yale University, speaks about AI data work that is outsourced to Venezuela. The workers, some of whom are paid as little as 50 cents per hour, “would not know who the employers were or what even the AI they were helping develop is.”

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beth semel @bethmsemel.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

BYTE magazine covers go hard

The Jan 1980, Volume 5, Number 1 issue with BYTE magazine, the small systems journal, a McGraw Hill Publicaiton. the magazine's title is in off-white retro-futuristic text on the top left corner. underneath this there is a still life-style painting of an old console computer that looks like it's built into an old-timey dressing room vanity. The screen reads, in green text, MADAM: DINNER IS SERVED. on the vanity's dark wood lacquered surface is a half-drank martini glass, a white glove, a string of pearls, and some sort of remote control with a long antenna. the subtitle at the bottom right corner reads, in small white text, DOMESTICATED COMPUTERS

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Tim Newman @tnewmsblues.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

If you would like to learn more about the role of Objectways and Labellerr in the global AI data work supply chain, check out DataWorkLandscape.org to learn more about their customers, business partners and investors.

A network graph from DataWorkLandscape.org showing some of Labellerr’s business relationships.

A network graph from DataWorkLandscape.org showing some of Objectways’ business relationships.

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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

This is a case study in pro-AI propaganda, and annoying enough to inspire a Saturday thread: bsky.app/profile/bren... 🧵>>

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Miz I. @ewemiz.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

exactly!! the first paragraph conflates two different audiences (reddit atheists vs liberal tumblr girlies, broadly) and also mischaracterizes 1) the larger audience that hank green has built, and 2) the comparatively niche nerdfighter community

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Coraline Jortay 喬海霖 @qiaoj.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Got a new google scholar notification, so I go check and find this very cool poem by Wang Jibing 王计兵, the recent Lu Xun prize winner, prefacing a PhD thesis on women migrant workers and the gig economy PhD students in all disciplines: more poems in theses please, we love to see them! ✨💫

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Miz I. @ewemiz.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

reading a monograph someone in a symposium recommended me - but i forgot to note down the gracious soul who did. now that i am completely enamored with the book all i can do is yell out ‘thanks’ into the academic ether 😭

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Susan DuBose @houseofbast777.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

'The New American Gothic' Criselda Vasquez Oil on canvas 72” x 48"

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The Great Pumpkin Papers 🎃🎃🎃 @professormusgrave.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Yes, self promotion sucks, academics, but if you don’t do it nobody will find out about your work. The point is to publish and be read, not publish and hope you are discovered by fate, lifted out of a humble and pure obscurity so that you may be both famous and retiring

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The Verge @theverge.com · 12/06/2026

While his mountain of horrible personal conduct could fill multiple books, one fact in particular stands out: A year ago, Musk’s actions directly led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. He did it knowingly. And, worse — gleefully. Read more: www.theverge.com/tech/949259/...

Verge headline: The world's first trillionaire is a killer
by TC Sottek

Image of Elon Musk doing a "fascist salute" in the form of an oil painting on a wall

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Three Scary Rogue Agents in a Trenchcoat @alexhanna.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Babe wake up, new techno optimist manifesto just dropped

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Miz I. @ewemiz.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

only if u pay me the 80k in tuition those three terms were worth

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The Distributed AI Research (DAIR) Institute @dairinstitute.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Thought gig work couldn’t get more horrifying? Your employer might secretly be the US military. On the next Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000, Niamh McIntyre joins @emilymbender.bsky.social and @alexhanna.bsky.social to discuss her latest investigation. Mon, Mar 30, noon PT www.twitch.tv/dair_institute

twitch.tv

dair_institute - Twitch

Twitch account for The Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR).

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Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Sisyphus but every day he unsubscribes from marketing and promotion emails.

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the Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

hey boss if this AI is gonna speed up my work so much can I get a six hour day for eight hours pay? feels like that'd really help a lotta peopl -- boss? you still there? boss?

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sociohat @sociohat.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

maybe my gender is like zelda im a princess most of the time but I turn into sheik to help out boys. I haven't played oot

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Jim Musil Painter @jimmusilpainter.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

My painting WINTER SUNRISE One of 20 full length painting videos in The Landscape Painting Studio. Learn to paint stunning landscapes using my easy to follow techniques.

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Miz I. @ewemiz.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

i have 9 days before my religion final is due what if i completely pivoted and wrote a paper on ai companionship from a religious studies perspective

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5 foot Home Depot skeleton @redderbeanpaste.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

People like romance because romance requires craft like every other form of writing

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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

ARTISTS! I need your help! In collab. w/the Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology, I'm organizing a group of artists to come to our Jan. meeting! We're looking for artists to create based on what they learn at the conference. $1000 stipend. Application is V short! forms.gle/ah1i8KwNJinZ...

A picture of a frog on a leaf with the SICB and Skype a Scientist logos on the bottom right with the following words on top: "Call for Artists!" Learn about the latest animal research adn create art inspired by the science at the SICB meeting in Portland, OR. Deadline to apply: dec 12, Project dates Jan 3-7, Stipend $1000"

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Miz I. @ewemiz.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

need a shirt that says “i ❤️ affect theory”

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Juliet Turner @juliet-turner.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

POV: you are a young woman celebrating a recent academic success

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Dr. Émile P. Torres @xriskology.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

In case you missed it, here's my most recent newsletter article -- on Eliezer Yudkowsky's very long history of defending incredibly dumb ideas. Why anyone takes this guy seriously will forever be mysterious to me. www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/eliezer-yu...

realtimetechpocalypse.com

Eliezer Yudkowsky's Long History of Bad Ideas

Two days ago, Truthdig published my review of Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares’ book If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies. Please read and share it, if you have the time.

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Rachel Lapidow @editrix-rachel.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

One of my favorite pieces of art in the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal. It's so appropriately autumnal and the colors of the chestnut leaves are so beautiful.

A young white woman dressed in fashions from the late 1870s walks through a forest. She is dressed in black boots, a black dress, and a black hat. The leaves of a chestnut tree are yellow. She is smiling a bit flirtatiously at the viewer.

Gallery sign for painting. I'm only including the English information and using Canadian English spelling.

James Tissot Nantes 1836--Buillon, France, 1902

October
1877
Oil on canvas

Gift of Lord Strathcona and family, inv. 1927.410

Mrs. Newton was twenty-two years old, the mother of two illegitimate children when James Tissot met her; she was also a beautiful divorcee. Theirs would have been a perfect happiness had tuberculosis not claimed the life of the painter's graceful and notorious muse, leaving him inconsolable. One of the largest works by this artist, October exemplifies the social behaviour and fleeting fashion of its time. Elegantly corseted, Mrs. Newton turns towards the viewer, a touch flirtatiously, showing a well-turned ankle in the rustle of lace petticoats, her boot treading a carpet of autumn leaves. Dressed in black in this season of decline, she shines with the glow of her last fire. Signs of Japonisme here are the verticality inspired by kakemono scrolls and the tumultuous background of chestnut trees, through whose leaves and branches can just be made out a small group of deer.

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Miz I. @ewemiz.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

i vaguely remember a similar set of questions from a survey that i did a few years back from College Pulse, so perhaps these statistics might be from there?

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REwadent Evil @ewacat.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

The Libby app is one of the miracles of modern tech tbh

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Jim Musil Painter @jimmusilpainter.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

My painting SEDONA TRAIL

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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

Restricting visas doesn’t lead to hiring non-immigrants—it leads to hiring foreigners. For every H-1B visa rejection, multinationals add ~0.4–0.9 foreign employees, especially in R&D hubs like India, China, and Canada. via @florianederer.bsky.social

How Do Restrictions on High-Skilled
Immigration Affect Offshoring?
Evidence from the H-1B Program
Britta Glennon
WORKING PAPER 27538
DOI 10.3386/w27538
ISSUE DATE July 2020
REVISION DATE February
2023
Highly-skilled workers are not only a crucial and relatively scarce inputs into firms' productive and innovative processes, but are also a critical resource determining competitive advantage. An increasingly high proportion of these workers in the US were born abroad and permitted to work on skilled worker visas. How do multinational firms respond when artificial constraints, namely policies restricting skilled immigration, are placed on their ability to hire scarce human capital? This paper combines visa microdata and comprehensive data on US multinational firm activity to demonstrate that firms respond to restrictions on H-1B immigration by increasing foreign affiliate employment at the intensive and extensive margins, particularly in China, India, and Canada. The most impacted jobs were R&D-intensive ones, but there is some evidence that non-R&D employment was also affected. The paper highlights a means by which firms can circumvent constraining policies and mitigate country-level risk, but it also suggests that, for the average MNC, this means is imperfect; for every visa rejection, they hire 0.4 employees abroad. The most globalized MNCs are the most likely to respond to these restrictions by offshoring, highlighting that firm capabilities—in the form of prior internationalization-shape the decision and ability to offshore in response to skilled immigration restrictions; indeed, these firms hire 0.9 employees abroad for every visa rejection. More broadly, the paper provides evidence of a push factor for internationalizing knowledge activity: artificial constraints on resources result in firms circumventing restrictive policies in ways that may not be anticipated by policy makers.

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Nick Miroff @nickmiroff.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

NEW: I spoke to a dozen current and formers about low morale at ICE amid the Trump admin's relentless push for more and more arrests. Officers and agents aren't complaining or looking for sympathy but they're facing public anger & political pressure from above www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

theatlantic.com

Trump loves ICE. Its Workforce Has Never Been So Miserable.

A “mission impossible” deportation campaign has left many employees burned out and morally conflicted.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 12/07/2025

Universities, whatever their faults, are one of America's most successful products. A massive exporter, they generate innovation and middle class jobs in places where people like Marc Andreessen never visit. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

washingtonpost.com

Tech billionaire Trump adviser Marc Andreesen says universities will ‘pay the price’ for DEI

Tech investor and Trump adviser Marc Andreessen in a private group chat attacked colleges for promoting diversity, saying they had discriminated against “native born kids.”

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Brian Beutler @brianbeutler.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

Let's examine the tension between a) the Democratic Party’s desire to contest elections on safe ground like health policy and b) the new consensus that reaching marginal voters requires engaging the online influencers and pop-culture figures those voters admire. www.offmessage.net/p/jeffrey-ep...

offmessage.net

Jeffrey Epstein, Trumpcare, And The Influencer Problem

What if the people Democrats want to reach aren't terribly interested in policy per se?

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