Dr. S.A. Applin

I'm here. I've been publishing and researching this space and I seek work.

Meta acquires AI agent social network Moltbook Co-founders of Moltbook, a platform for artificial intelligence agents, will join tech giant’s AI research unit

Or...
Shot:
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Chaser:
www.technologyreview.com/2026/03/05/1...

Meta acquires AI agent social network Moltbook Co-founders of Moltbook, a platform for artificial intelligence agents, will join tech giant’s AI research unit

Well, here's a quiet little headline that should terrify us:
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

A conceptual, performance art, and music group from 1970 onwards.

Of course with the caveat that we can't "devolve," we just evolve in new ways.

There is a great DEVO documentary on Netflix and everyone needs to go watch it immediately.

Also, it's wrong.

Beyond the boy's club: The women at the frontier of adventure From ice swimming to desert crossings, these explorers are redefining what modern adventure – and modern adventurers – look like.

www.bbc.com/travel/artic...

They NEVER think their tech will impact them.

ELIZA's creator was so alarmed by the fact that people mistook the chatbot for a sentient being that he wrote an entire book about why this implementation of computer technology was a huge problem and it is a staggering achievement

Would you count the Internet Archive in that, even though it does not use that data (as far as we know)?

Back in the day, they called it 'crawling.'

Most of the talk about OpenAI, Anthropic and “mass surveillance” neglected to mention that widespread scraping of the web is in itself mass surveillance.

Digital surveys may have hit the AI point of no return A new study shows bots can be indistinguishable from humans in survey responses.

By me www.fastcompany.com/91467125/dig...

Deus in machina: Swiss church installs AI-powered Jesus Peter’s chapel in Lucerne swaps out its priest to set up a computer and cables in confessional booth

So much intersectional faith brand co-ops: 🎵I don't care if it rains or freezes, long as I got my
#AI Jesus....🎵
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Horses were "free" to become glue.

Wow!

I’m very taken with this beautiful blue glass cup with white speckles found in Pompeii, 1st century © Parco Archeologico di Pompeii
www.alaintruong.com/archives/201...

Uploading Pirated Books via BitTorrent Qualifies as Fair Use, Meta Argues * TorrentFreak In an ongoing lawsuit, Meta now argues that uploading pirated books to strangers via BitTorrent qualifies as fair use.

In 2013 Aaron Swartz committed suicide for facing 35 years in prison for mass downloading scientific articles.

13 years later, Meta is almost getting away with an infraction orders of magnitude larger.

The law didn't change.

torrentfreak.com/uploading-pi...

Put another way: we are a group/community oriented species. Without community, we literally will die. We need each other.

Evidence Grows That Google's AI Overviews Have Eviscerated the Media Industry Google's AI overviews have eviscerated the media landscape, with some top publications losing up to 97 percent of their web traffic.

Welp. The internet had a nice run.

Some outlets have lost over 90% of their traffic since the "AI" summaries rolled out.

"...the four worst-hit publications [now] get less monthly web traffic combined than the r/ChatGPT subreddit gets on its own."

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDsw... -Blur

The Statues Were Mostly Men or Nude Women. So These Knitters Got to Work.

Heck yeah! Gift link
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/a...

Delivery Robots Will Rely on Human Kindness and Labor If robots are going to invade public spaces, they will be subject to vandalism and pranking.

See my Motherboard piece on this very topic from 2018:
www.vice.com/en/article/d...

Hey folks, Applin and Fischer told you why #AVs wouldn't work 14 years ago. And again 11 years ago (twice!) and yet, here we are.
posr.org/w/images/a/a...

Hey folks, Applin and Fischer told you why #AVs wouldn't work 14 years ago. And again 11 years ago (twice!) and yet, here we are.
posr.org/w/images/a/a...

Do not buy creeptech, do not wear creeptech, and do not tolerate the creeps who do.

Meta sued over AI smart glasses' privacy concerns, after workers reviewed nudity, sex, and other footage | TechCrunch Lawyers say Meta's marketing materials promised privacy and user control over sharing footage. But an investigation found that subcontractors are reviewing footage from customers' glasses.

That escalated quickly.

"Your tires are leaking more than air" was *right* _there_.

Meta Ray-Bans are a Cybertruck you wear on your face.
www.garbageday.email/p/meta-ray-b...