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Ekaterina (Katya) Babintseva

@babintsevak.bsky.social

Historian of the mind, computing, artificial intelligence, and labor in the Cold War Soviet Union and the US. Asst Prof at Purdue. PhD from UPenn.

24 Posts1325 Follower222 Folgt
Matthew Kirschenbaum@mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 5mo ago

GW‘s student newspaper appears to have broken the story that the institution has sold a satellite campus to Amazon to be turned into a data center, which is just about chef’s kiss for the state of American higher education rn

Screenshot of a 3hr old post from the GW Hatchet: “BREAKING: GW sold its Virginia campus to Amazon Data Services, an Amazon subsidiary that manages the company's data centers, for $427 million on Friday. The deed, obtained by The Hatchet, authorizes ADS to develop the campus into a data or information technology center. STORY TK”
Mike Bithell@mikebithell.bsky.social · last yr.

It’s kinda funny / harrowing that LLMs didn’t get smarter or less brute-force-y, we just got better graphics cards, and more comfortable with wasting obscene energy on what still remains the most overrated madlibs ever. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/how-...

We Now Know How AI ‘Thinks’—and It’s Barely Thinking at All

The vast ‘brains’ of artificial intelligence models can memorize endless lists of rules. That’s useful, but not how humans solve problems.

wsj.com

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · last yr.

“But can a human life be reduced to a dataset? Can a body be tuned up like a machine? Or is this explosion of self‑tracking simply narcissism redesigned for the age of big data, by a society that has internalised the tech industry maxim that more data is always better?”

‘The bot asked me four times a day how I was feeling’: is tracking everything actually good for us?

Gathering data used to be a fringe pursuit of Silicon Valley nerds. Now we’re all at it, recording everything from menstrual cycles and mobility to toothbrushing and time spent in daylight. Is this ju...

theguardian.com

Ekaterina (Katya) Babintseva@babintsevak.bsky.social · last yr.

A bit of a rant from my research leave bubble: I understand, AI is a research topic in vogue now, even in the humanities, but it would be nice if more people actually tried understanding the primary sourcers they use, or at least read beyond their first page.

camwing@camw.ing · 2y ago

In 2025 (less than 30 days away), PayPal will start selling your transaction history for targeted advertising. I very highly recommend logging into your account and going to Settings > Data & Privacy > Personalized Shopping. If you're reading this, turn that off RIGHT NOW before you forget.

A screenshot of PayPal's terms of service. Big wall of legalese text, which I will be pasting in below. You don't need to read it, here's the important part: "The key update to the Privacy Statement explains how we will share information with merchants to personalize your shopping experience and recommend our services to you. Personal information we disclose includes, for example, products, preferences, sizes, and styles we think you’ll like. Information gathered about you after the effective date of our updated Privacy Statement, November 27, 2024, will be shared with participating stores where you shop." Here's the whole paragraph: We are updating our Privacy Statement to explain how, starting early Summer 2025, we will share information to help improve your shopping experience and make it more personalized for you. The key update to the Privacy Statement explains how we will share information with merchants to personalize your shopping experience and recommend our services to you. Personal information we disclose includes, for example, products, preferences, sizes, and styles we think you’ll like. Information gathered about you after the effective date of our updated Privacy Statement, November 27, 2024, will be shared with participating stores where you shop, unless you live in California, North Dakota, or Vermont. For PayPal customers in California, North Dakota, or Vermont, we’ll only share your information with those merchants if you tell us to do so. No matter where you live, you’ll always be able to exercise your right to opt out of this data sharing by updating your preference settings in your account under “Data and Privacy.”
Jeffrey Yost@justcode.bsky.social · 2y ago

My just published essay on a major security and privacy conference of NSF, and the larger research program at NSF in these areas (Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace, or SaTC). #histsci z.umn.edu/NSFSaTC

Bridges Over Troubled Waters: Reflections on NSF SaTC

Introduction: This is a reflective essay and review of the September 2024 National Science Foundation (NSF) Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) PI Meeting, in Pittsburgh at the Convention Center and Carnegie Mellon ...

z.umn.edu

Godspeed You! Bluesky Emperor@andrewpaul.bsky.social · 2y ago

well there it is. Elon poisoned local waters with mercury for years and the FAA may have known the FAA said 'We will get back to you' this morning when i asked ahead of the rumored story for @popsci.bsky.social haven't heard anything since, if you can believe it! www.popsci.com/science/spac...

SpaceX accused of dumping mercury into Texas waters for years

The bombshell allegations may violate the EPA's Clean Water Act.

popsci.com

Ekaterina (Katya) Babintseva@babintsevak.bsky.social · 3y ago

What a wonderful initiative! The podcast is wonderful. So excited about the newsletter!

Drafting the Past@draftingthepast.bsky.social · 3y ago

I'm excited to launch a Drafting the Past newsletter that brings you more about the craft of writing history, from interviews w/ editors to book reviews to advice. You'll also get peeks into my own research and writing. Sign up for it here: draftingthepast.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=...