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zeynep tufekci
@zeynep
Complex systems, wicked problems. Society, technology, science and more. @Princeton professor. @NYTimes columnist. My newsletter @insight theinsight.org
floating in a most peculiar way
theinsight.org
Joined August 2009
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    zeynep tufekci
    @zeynep
    Feb 24
    My Princeton AI and society team is at the @IASEAIorg AI summit in Paris. My Neurips keynote for our approach: slideslive.com/39055698/are-w… Our paper: ai.sociology.princeton.edu Say hi especially if you are *utterly* unimpressed by the current doom or hype models. Wrong nightmares!
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    slideslive.com
    Zeynep Tufekci · Are We Having the Wrong Nightmares About AI?
    Though seemingly opposite, doom and optimism regarding generative AI's spectacular rise both center on AGI or even superintelligence as a pivotal moment. But generative AI operates in a distinct...
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    zeynep tufekci
    @zeynep
    Jun 20, 2020
    Wow. A nursing home in Baltimore, oldest African-American one, did not lose *a single person* to COVID because as soon as they heard Trump say cases would soon go to zero, they realized it was going to be a catastrophe, stopped visits and masked up. baltimoresun.com/opinion/column…
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    zeynep tufekci
    @zeynep
    Dec 5, 2017
    I wrote a piece for a mainstream outlet (not the NYT), mentioning the sexual assault allegations against Roy Moore. Some nervous lawyer edited it to "sexual misconduct." I said, okay, pull my piece. They reverted back to "sexual assault." Writers, don't let them lawyer you down.
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    zeynep tufekci
    @zeynep
    Mar 11, 2021
    Stop me if you heard this one. Dr. Wu realized that the pneumonic plague was airborne and could spread person-to-person and said people should wear masks. French doctor mocked this, insinuated Asian doctors couldn't be right, refused to wear a mask—and got infected and died.
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    ray 鄺羡華
    @raykwong
    Mar 10, 2021
    Today’s Google doodle celebrates Wu Lien-teh, an epidemiologist who pioneered the use of face masks to control an epidemic over a century before the advent of COVID-19.
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    zeynep tufekci
    @zeynep
    Apr 5, 2021
    More good news. Pfizer has the six month update. *Zero* hospitalizations among the vaccinated vs. 32 among the placebo group (n=46,307). Also real life data from South Africa, where B.1.351 is dominant: zero cases of COVID among the vaccinated vs. nine in the placebo (n=800).
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    zeynep tufekci
    @zeynep
    Dec 3, 2020
    A study from Korea showing why indoor dining is unsafe and why airborne transmission matters. Case B infected case A from 6.5m (~21 feet!) away in *just five minutes*, and case C from 4.8m (15 feet!). Footage shows no interaction—and only those in line of air flow got infected.
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    zeynep tufekci
    @zeynep
    May 12, 2020
    They found six new cases in Wuhan so they’re planning to test eleven million people over the next ten days. Neither number is a typo. reuters.com/article/us-hea…
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    zeynep tufekci
    @zeynep
    Feb 15, 2017
    Can't put my finger on what makes this "Tennessee man" a non-terrorist despite planning mass killings of people based on their religion.🤔
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    New York Daily News
    @NYDailyNews
    Feb 14, 2017
    Tennessee man who plotted New York mosque attack won’t face terrorism charges, statutes focus on foreign extremists nydn.us/2l48LZW
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    zeynep tufekci
    @zeynep
    Jan 27, 2022
    I post this regularly, and many express surprise. This is the current childhood immunization schedule. Many childhood vaccines are three+ doses, sometimes a booster. This is one reason why, unlike earlier centuries, we don't have cemeteries full of children. We've forgotten.
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    zeynep tufekci
    @zeynep
    Jul 1, 2020
    Good morning in sad, jealous tweets. All schools in Taiwan have been open since February. They did not listen to China or WHO in January and immediately masked up and shut down travel. They also traced the hell out of their outbreaks. They were practically done by February.
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    zeynep tufekci
    @zeynep
    May 22, 2017
    Don't share gory pics. People have loved ones watching. Don't put panicked people on endless loop on TV. That's literally goal of terrorism.
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    zeynep tufekci
    @zeynep
    Apr 11, 2021
    CNN article on how to safely fly claims that 90% vaccine efficacy means that🙄 for every million who fly, we could have 100,000 infections. NO NO NO. That’s not what that number means. Also, this didn’t even happen when millions flew unvaccinated. So how could it make sense now?
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    zeynep tufekci
    @zeynep
    May 26, 2020
    Facebook's own researchers found that “64% of all extremist group joins are due to our recommendation tools" and that “our recommendation systems grow the problem.” Facebook VP for policy Joel Kaplan (known for throwing a party for Kavanaugh after confirmation) nixed any action.
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    Deepa Seetharaman
    @dseetharaman
    May 26, 2020
    New from @JeffHorwitz & me: Facebook spent years studying the its role in polarization, according to sources and internal documents. One internal slide laid out the issue like so. ”Our algorithms exploit the human brain's attraction to divisiveness.” wsj.com/articles/faceb…
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    zeynep tufekci
    @zeynep
    Sep 28, 2020
    I don’t understand the “this will not matter” talk among the chattering classes. Nobody has a crystal ball. Who knows? But one way of ensuring nothing matters is giving up having values to defend. Cynicism isn’t a sign of depth or savvy, it’s resignation masquerading as politics.