gilescrouch.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

The online job hunting world is brutal and a dehumanizing disaster. We blame technology, but we shouldn't. In my latest article I argue it's bureaucracy & structural viplence. And how do we fix it. open.substack.com/pub/gilescro... #Technology

submitted 3 hours ago • 0 comments

In my latest article I explore data colonialism, what it is and the implications in an increasingly multipolar world as the USA steps away from being a hegemony. tarantula-dahlia-sa9a.squarespace.com/field-notes/... #politics

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

A problem with LLMs like Claude or ChaatGPT is that they strip down cultural meaning, creating a "thin description", stripping it of context and meaning. Understanding culture requires "thick description", which includes the nuances machines do not understand.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

My article that explores how online communities create their own truths and what that means to broader society. We've never been here before in our species history. gilescrouch.substack.com/p/truth-trib...

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

My netnographic research for brands and other organisations shows me that we are in a time where there is a crisis of truth. From small communities to nations, societies are re-writing truths. Humanity has never been here before at such speed.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Much has been made of algorithms changing and shaping humanity. I think this is a misunderstanding of how algorithms and human culture work. And that humanity will dominate. Here's why: open.substack.com/pub/gilescro... #Technology

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

When the telephone was first introduced to businesses, the one phone was placed at the front of the room on a desk. One person was assigned to answer it. All the other clerks would watch that person answer it. Talk about awkweird. #Technology

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

Is social media playing a role in the current trade wars? While we cannot yet know for sure, I argue that it is and that the effects could be quite profound in my latest article. www.gilescrouch.com/field-notes/... #tariffs #TradeWars

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

Studies suggest that knowing information is available on our devices actually changes how we encode memories. We often remember where to find information rather than the information itself (the Google Effect). #Technology

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

We tend to think that with new technologies, we are forming new habits and doing new things socially. Except we aren't. Our patterns of behaviour with new technologies follow very ancient patterns. #Technology

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

Delighted to be speaking on the topic of trust building in podcasting from my perspective as a digital anthropologist this June in #Halifax and I think it will be recorded. Lots of time for Q&A afterwards too. #podcast

submitted 34 days ago • 0 comments

Musk repeatedly claims he's never hurt anyone and is peaceful. What he's done via DOGE is what anthropologist David Graeber termed "structural violence", using bureaucracy to cause direct harm. It's a form of violence. People losing their income, homes etc, is violence.

submitted 40 days ago • 0 comments

The internet might be 55 years old, but far from having a mid-life crisis it's more like a teenager, which is great and rough. Will it ever grow up? open.substack.com/pub/gilescro...

submitted 42 days ago • 0 comments

An excellent way to use an LLM, especially Claude, is to challenge your biases (if you're aware of them), especially your cherished ideas. Get it to play devil's advocate. It can spark the brain. Since it doesn't care what you feel. That's good.

submitted 45 days ago • 0 comments

What do algorithms have to do with tariffs, trade wars and national sovereignty? A lot more than you would think and in ways good and bad. Here's how and why: open.substack.com/pub/gilescro... #tariffs #geopolitics

submitted 46 days ago • 0 comments

For most folks, thinking about the geopolitics of data is either boring or just not that important. But it's often these sort of boring things that play a big role behind the scenes. I take a look at why. www.gilescrouch.com/field-notes/... #Politics

submitted 48 days ago • 0 comments

Productivity apps and tools often leave us with "productivity debt" making things worse. I look at the issues of productivity tools and how we might reimagine time: open.substack.com/pub/gilescro... #Productivity

submitted 54 days ago • 0 comments

Productivity systems like Getting Things Done (GTD) encourage "mind like water" states while simultaneously filling that mind with complex capture systems. Bit of a paradox.

submitted 55 days ago • 0 comments

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead, Anthropologist

submitted 56 days ago • 0 comments

In a few of my recent netnographic research projects for brands, there's a notable shift in political language from saying "left/right" to "authoritarian/democracy". Interesting realignment of language.

submitted 59 days ago • 0 comments

Had enough of the AI hype? Many of us have. But if we look at the centuries old hyping of technologies, we find that it may be more of a feature than a bug. I take a look at why: gilescrouch.substack.com/p/tech-hypes... #Technology #ArtificialIntelligence

submitted 62 days ago • 0 comments

As we enter a new age of geopolitical dynamics, social media platforms and how we use it, are likely to change as well. So I take a look at how this might unfold: open.substack.com/pub/gilescro... #socialmedia

submitted 64 days ago • 0 comments

My article that looks at how much the tech industry resembles, often unconsciously, religious structures and narratives. This can help us understand how to make technologies more human in the Digital Age: open.substack.com/pub/gilescro...

submitted 67 days ago • 0 comments

Many technologists will say they explicitly reject religion, yet unconsciously recreate religious structures and narratives. Which also explains why tech hype cycles are remarkably resistant to to evidence that may be contrary. #Technology

submitted 67 days ago • 0 comments

The problem with most predictions about AGI is that they’re largely based on Western capitalist assumptions. That’s a bad assumption and rather narrow.

submitted 69 days ago • 0 comments

Doing some research into my theory that women/females invented technology first, or perhaps it was co-invention of different technologies for different reasons? I'm still placing my bets on females first. Starting with Neanderthals. Not us Homo sapiens.

submitted 71 days ago • 0 comments

As the world goes through significant geopolitical changes and power dynamic shifts, I look at the ways the internet might change in this new global world order: www.gilescrouch.com/field-notes/...

submitted 71 days ago • 0 comments

There are some remarkable similarities between our ancient ancestors and today's social media influencers. But today's influencers may be lost to time. An exploration: open.substack.com/pub/gilescro... #Technology

submitted 71 days ago • 0 comments

Traditional propaganda relied on message consistency, centralized control, and limited channels. It operated through information scarcity and gatekeeping, with clear institutional origins. The propaganda model assumed passive audiences receiving information through controlled channels.

submitted 72 days ago • 0 comments

The ultimate arbiter of all technologies is culture. Always has been. It’s kinda like humanity’s operating system.

submitted 74 days ago • 0 comments

I’ve often thought these could be useful getting to remote arctic communities in Canada.

submitted 78 days ago • 0 comments