After a long time, I am in Brussels, attending my first FWO meeting. A full day of reviewing scientific research applications. I don’t have much time or desire to look around. Still stopped by the Musical Instrument Museum. If I can make it, I will see Atomium, and I am after three newspapers in German … Read more
The efficiency question Three episodes into the affirmative turn, the argument has a shape. In Episode 10 I defended slow time. In Episode 11, the encounter with what has not yet been written down. In Episode 12, the campus as the infrastructure that physically underwrites both. Each of these is something the university does that … Read more
Two related appointments occurred in the last couple of weeks. I was first recommended to join the UNESCO Türkiye National Commission Communication Experts Panel (UTMK). Then my esteemed colleague Serhan Ada decided to retire, though he will still teach a few classes in our doctoral program. Serhan Ada is a prominent Turkish poet, writer, and … Read more
Here are more thoughts on academic life! Episode 12 is at your service: What the university has that cannot be delivered Two episodes ago I argued that the university’s peculiar gift is slow time — the licence to sit with a question for fifteen years. In the last one I argued that its other gift … Read more
I have revised my syllabus and replaced some readings with more recent ones. I like to update my readings frequently so I can stay current with the latest research. I may have missed some topics, but I am satisfied with what I have. There has been a rising- and unsurprising- interest in AI in recent … Read more
I am so fed up with doomy statements from the AI leaders. I may have lost my patience with it. The latest instance is the BBC’s report that Evan Hubinger, who leads alignment science at Anthropic, believes there is a “greater than 10% chance” that AI could “kill all humans” within the next decade. The occasion … Read more
One of the most exciting developments in my life is becoming a coordinator of a newly emerging center: Hekimbaşı Advanced Studies Center. We have a fantastic list of on-site seminars starting with Salvatore Maria Aglioti! Body, Brain, and Society: A Psychological and Neuroscientific Journey Salvatore Maria Aglioti Sapienza Università di Roma DATES 18–20 September 2026 … Read more
You haven’t asked, but I was traveling for a week and am back to book editing camp in İstanbul! I will post about this after driving around for a week. One stop was in Urla, İzmir: Mrs. and Mr. Kesal established a fantastic cultural center near the city center. An old animal farm now serves … Read more
Ethnography, more important than ever The generative systems that have arrived in the last few years are extraordinarily good at a particular kind of intellectual work. Ask one of them what a body of literature says, and it will -mostly properly- summarize, cross-reference, and organize the written record with a facility no human scholar can … Read more
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
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
I am writing to you from Yüksekova, Hakkari. As a news junkie, I was always curious about Yüksekova because it was one of the most tense places during the PKK’s heyday. I am here for a training by the Journalists’ Union for the local journalists. Before Hakkari, I was in Ankara for a session … Read more
After Ljubljana, I returned to İstanbul to celebrate my parents’ Eid, then flew to Bucharest for another COST project: RELINK². I am actively involved in this project, like the other one, GRADE. Its outputs will include an edited volume, an online glossary, and a research methods toolkit. This was my third visit to the city. … Read more
I have been in Ljubljana to attend the COST GRADE project meeting. This project is one of the most focused and well-managed COST projects I have participated in. You can find the program at the link above. One of the project’s outputs is an exhibition at the Museum of Computer History here in Ljubljana, Slovenia. … Read more