In "The Last Human Job", sociologist Allison Pugh identifies the work of connecting with other people, helping them feel seen, and argues that this vital work is under threat by various attempts to make it more efficient and automate it.
💙📚 #bookreview #sociology @allisonpugh.bsky.social
On the unSILOed podcast, we examine how efficiency tools can backfire—sometimes leaving workers with even more tasks, including verifying the accuracy of AI outputs in their workflows. Full episode available at buff.ly/03DRfHb!
Paperback cover of The Last Human Job: Seeing Each Other in an Age of Automation by Allison Pugh
@allisonpugh.bsky.social's The Last Human Job is a compelling argument for us to recognize, value, and protect humane work in an increasingly automated and disconnected world.
Now in #paperback!
Read a free preview: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
#AI #Sociology #Labor
So, what have we learnt from this paper:
First, that this "AI stethoscope" offers no apparent benefit in practice.
Second, that you still can't trust a per-protocol analysis presented in a general medical journal.
Third, as with anything AI, you have to look beyond the hyped headline.
🧵 16/
In other words, doctors selectively used the AI stethoscope on dramatically older, sicker patients. Presumably when they had good reason to suspect a heart problem. It is no surprise then that more heart problems are found in these patients!
🧵 12/
This recent RCT of an "AI stethoscope" claims the technology "shows promise" for diagnosing cardiovascular conditions.
It does not.
It is a textbook example of the risks of conducting unprincipled 'per protocol analyses'. Once again, peer review at a major medical journal has failed.
🧵 1/
Thank you! Such a generous offer
Minneapolis resident here! Happy to help with sharing tactics and resources with anyone who wants to replicate our ways of doing things / adapt them to your local contexts. Every neighborhood can do this!
A wonderful, sustaining, inspiring piece. Now is the time to ask yourself what you would have done. I hope all of our neighborhoods are as ready as Minneapolis
www.theringer.com/2026/02/19/n...
Even if AI does make us more productive, there's no evidence that these gains will be shared with workers. Robert Reich says the quiet part out loud here:
The bogus four-day workweek that AI supposedly ‘frees up’
www.theguardian.com/technology/n...
I thought of the below from @allisonpugh.bsky.social as I read about the AI robot with "heart" and "soul" here [gift link]:
nytimes.com/2026/02/12/us/elliq-ai-robot-senior-companion.html?unlocked_article_code=1.NFA.GVj4.WXh61XTTxyKI&smid=url-share
Looking back today at another highly cited JMF article — 2020's "Families Across the Income Spectrum: A Decade in Review": tinyurl.com/4ksyw3r7 by @mariannecooper.bsky.social & @allisonpugh.bsky.social
#ThrowbackThursday #TBT #FamilyScience #SocialScience #SocialScienceResearch #FamilyEconomics
Aw thank you so much! Grateful for the generous reader!
I don't know if I have adequately fangirled on here about @allisonpugh.bsky.social's book, THE LAST HUMAN JOB.
It documents in exquisite detail how AI and technology are making daily life miserable.
It is so smart and also so beautifully written.
www.allisonpugh.com/the-last-hum...
Amen EMB
It's publication day! A different cover, a (slightly) different title, a brand new preface! Happy (second) birthday to The Last Human Job
Worth noting that one reason you’re benefitting so fully from the Star-Tribune’s timely, extensive coverage of unfolding events is that it’s a metro newspaper that hasn’t been systematically starved to further enrich shareholders and executives.
So glad to see @fastcompany.com focusing on connection! "Pugh’s research underscores this point: These relational dimensions are the very aspects of work that machines cannot automate. “The irreplaceable human contribution,” she writes, “is connection itself.”
www.fastcompany.com/91475008/sto...
With #TheLastHumanJob coming out in paperback January 27, I'm excited to share some upcoming appearances - it's going to be a busy spring! Come join the conversation about the value of human connection. For more info see allisonpugh.com or press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
A terrific piece about a vital issue. "Children need our human attention — especially in this age of social isolation and political trauma.". And not just children! #TheLastHumanJob
Revisiting this now that I have a moment to reflect, and I'm so pleased with how this article turned out, esp the ways we were able to connect w/ work by @allisonpugh.bsky.social @jessicacalarco.com @dmgreene.bsky.social & so many other scholars who've had such a profound influence on my research.
Saving the best for last! "The A.I. industry claims it wants to democratize creativity, but the real goal is dominance. It can seem inevitable that A.I. will rewrite the future of the arts...But the impacts of technological change are always shaped by human action." www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/o...
"Seven News reported the bystander was a 43-year-old fruit shop owner from the Sutherland Shire named Ahmed. ... the father of two had been admitted after being shot twice."
"Remember that an AI girlfriend responding to your loneliness might just be a man in a Nairobi slum, wondering if he'll ever feel real love again"
An important report here
data-workers.org/wp-content/u...
I agree, we are in a Sad Age, as technologists fend off alienation by producing our own
So many connective labor-related (from
@allisonpugh.bsky.social) use cases for AI make me so sad, and for so many reasons. This one makes me think of Enobarbus describing Cleopatra -- "she makes hungry / Where most she satisfies" -- which is the most hungry ghost description of desire I know.
Important thread worth reading
Are human beings becoming invisible?
The Unseen
(Allison J Pugh • Aeon)
Our crisis of work and technology is one in which too many people feel that nobody sees them as a fellow human being.
aeon.co/essays/our-c...
Best of all, she gets it: "We need to protect humane work in an increasingly automated and disconnected world." Yes please! and thank you!
