It was nice to catch up in Poznan, Poland, with my fellow anthropologists. I was here for this presentation: Saka, E. (2026, July 23). Sovereign AI and the Reproduction of Algorithmic Power: Governance Frameworks in the Global South. EASA2026: Anthropology: Possibilities in a Polarised World, Panel P018: Anthropology of Artificial Intelligence and Oppression [org. Sahana … Read more
We have a fresh new handbook, and the first substantive publication in my new research field is out! 11: Localizing the AI: an ethnography of balancing acts between the stakeholders in the periphery You can buy or access the whole handbook here. It is open access. Edited by Sahana Udupa and Peter Hervik This timely … Read more
Key takeaways from the video: NVIDIA dominated AI GPUs (94% share in Q2 2025) thanks to its mature CUDA ecosystem, while AMD lagged at 6% with weaker software support. AMD invested heavily (Xilinx acquisition for $49B, Nod.AI) and released the MI300X, which outperformed NVIDIA’s H100 in memory bandwidth, latency, and cost-per-token at scale for large … Read more
Last week, I added two cities to my Google Maps history: Hamburg and Copenhagen. Ayşe and I flew to Hamburg and took a train to Copenhagen. Although we love train journeys, this route is not recommended (!) It was not a direct route; we had two transfers- one with a bus. The cities were clean, … Read more
I do not remember so much enmity among audiences against a team like Argentina in a World Cup in my lifetime. The Argentinians were aggressive, acting like bullies, and were shown favoritism throughout the game. So symbolic that Netanyahu gave them support. Last night, I was Spanish, and so were millions around the world As … Read more
Key takeaways from the video: FIFA President Gianni Infantino is accused of violating the organization’s political neutrality rules through close ties with Donald Trump (inauguration attendance, awarding him the FIFA Peace Prize). FIFA unusually commuted a red card suspension for US player Faren Balagan after Trump personally called Infantino to complain. UEFA called the … Read more
New Scientist recently ran a striking headline: the late‑June 2026 heatwave in Europe “may have killed around 20,000 people.” For anyone following climate politics and media narratives, this raises an obvious question: is this just a sensational claim, or does it rest on solid ground?[1][2] What New Scientist Actually Claims The article reports that … Read more
I do not believe NATO is doing well at all. I am not sure to what extent this summit triggered international reactions, but here in Türkiye, it was a big deal. The government used this as an occasion to show off. I have asked both ChatGPT and Perplexity to collect information about this summit. You … Read more
For more than a year now, instead of Google search, I have been using DuckDuckGo and Perplexity AI. Key takeaways from the video: DuckDuckGo origins: Founded in 2008 by Gabriel Weinberg in his living room with $10k after Google search quality declined due to spam; core promise is “we store nothing” — no IP logging, … Read more
Here are the key takeaways from the video: Meta’s open AI strategy, which looked like a competitive edge, became a liability as competitors and open models improved, and as transparency concerns around benchmarks and training data surfaced. This pushed Meta to pivot toward a more closed approach with Muse Spark. The release of Llama under … Read more
I could not write about these stories when they happened, but I still want to keep them in the EFD record. They are not necessarily connected, yet together they say something about contemporary Turkey: ritual, spectacle, medical entrepreneurship, migration, music, and earthquake anxiety all appearing in the same news cycle. On the first day of … Read more
In nine episodes (you can find them here), I have focused on some characteristics of the current academic life that is killing the university system -not any more- slowly: Nine episodes of administrative bloat, ranking obsessions, funding regimes that reward the wrong things, accreditation rituals nobody quite believes in, a journal hierarchy that has turned … Read more
It was a relatively short but beautifully written novel. Snow by John Banville. A touch of melancholy embedded. Honestly, I was more interested in the smooth flow of beautiful writing than the detective work itself. This morning, I could not stop until I finished it. A good start to my lazy Saturday. I have asked … Read more
Comedian Deniz Göktaş detained after new show goes viral today. It was an expected result. Mr. Göktaş seemed well prepared for the aftermath. If he ever performs the third act, it will center around his prison days. This time, I asked Grok to round up positive and negative critiques on X about Deniz Göktaş’s … Read more
Europe is in big trouble as Thermal cameras reveal intense heat for outdoor workers in Europe, the human toll increases, but Air conditioning creates political divide after France records hottest day and Europe is not ready for the climate crisis: Amid the heatwave, Europe needs a new urbanism Here is an in-depth report for the … Read more