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Dr. Diane Tober

@dianetober.bsky.social

3.3K followers 1.5K following 160 posts

Anthropologist, Professor, author, filmmaker, examining reproductive technologies and body commodification. Author of Eggonomics: The Global Market in Human Eggs and the Donors Who Supply Them.

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Dr. Diane Tober @dianetober.bsky.social · Nov 9

How does donating eggs impact donors' lives? Eggonomics: based on a 10 year study with egg donors.
www.amazon.com/Eggonomics-S...

Eggonomics: The Global Market in Human Eggs and the Donors Who Supply Them (Social Science Perspectives on Childbirth and Reproduction): 9781032549910: Medicine & Health Science Books @ Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

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Reposted by Dr. Diane Tober

Emma Wilson 🎃 @emmawilson.bsky.social · 8d

This piece by @olivia.science et al is a fantastic read for anyone navigating AI in academia — I’ve included it in the reading for the lecture I’m giving to MSc students later this week

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · Sep 6

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
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Abstract: Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or
even imposed on users — in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in
the 21st with social media. For these collective blunders, we now regret our involvement or
apathy as scientists, and society struggles to put the genie back in the bottle. Currently, we
are similarly entangled with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For example, software updates are rolled out seamlessly and non-consensually, Microsoft Office is bundled with chatbots, and we, our students, and our employers have had no say, as it is not
considered a valid position to reject AI technologies in our teaching and research. This
is why in June 2025, we co-authored an Open Letter calling on our employers to reverse
and rethink their stance on uncritically adopting AI technologies. In this position piece,
we expound on why universities must take their role seriously toa) counter the technology
industry’s marketing, hype, and harm; and to b) safeguard higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, and scientific integrity. We include pointers to
relevant work to further inform our colleagues.

Figure 1. A cartoon set theoretic view on various terms (see Table 1) used when discussing the superset AI
(black outline, hatched background): LLMs are in orange; ANNs are in magenta; generative models are
in blue; and finally, chatbots are in green. Where these intersect, the colours reflect that, e.g. generative adversarial network (GAN) and Boltzmann machine (BM) models are in the purple subset because they are
both generative and ANNs. In the case of proprietary closed source models, e.g. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and
Apple’s Siri, we cannot verify their implementation and so academics can only make educated guesses (cf.
Dingemanse 2025). Undefined terms used above: BERT (Devlin et al. 2019); AlexNet (Krizhevsky et al.
2017); A.L.I.C.E. (Wallace 2009); ELIZA (Weizenbaum 1966); Jabberwacky (Twist 2003); linear discriminant analysis (LDA); quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA).

Table 1. Below some of the typical terminological disarray is untangled. Importantly, none of these terms
are orthogonal nor do they exclusively pick out the types of products we may wish to critique or proscribe.

Protecting the Ecosystem of Human Knowledge: Five Principles

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Reposted by Dr. Diane Tober

Carlos Noreña @carlosfnorena.bsky.social · 25d

A few new details have come to light, most of them noted in this essay by Judith Butler.

My dismay has only deepened. It is a shocking violation of institutional trust—and I write as an undergraduate alumnus and 20-year faculty member of a place that has meant so much to me. Devastating.

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Reposted by Dr. Diane Tober

Society for Cultural Anthropology @culanth.bsky.social · Aug 9

Over the last eight years, I have crisscrossed the United States as an anthropologist, trying to make sense of why the rifts in our national culture run so deep.
@culanth.bsky.social president @anandian.bsky.social in The Guardian

Title of the article in black with author name in orange. To the left a small orange, black and beige drawing of a large house behind three gates.

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Reposted by Dr. Diane Tober

Society for Cultural Anthropology @culanth.bsky.social · Aug 9

www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

I crisscrossed America to talk to people whose views I disagreed with. I now have one certainty

I’ve spoken to white nationalists in Tennessee and Black activists in Texas – and learned about what it takes to connect across difference

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Dr. Diane Tober

Kim Krawiec @kimkrawiec.bsky.social · Aug 7

Opinion | Silicon Valley Wants to Optimize Your Children’s Genes

www.nytimes.com

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Dr. Diane Tober @dianetober.bsky.social · Aug 3

Dreadful!

Reposted by Dr. Diane Tober

Iris van Rooij 💭 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social · Jul 26

Uncritical adoption of AI “undermines our basic pedagogical values and principles of scientific integrity. It prevents us from maintaining our standards of independence & transparency. And most concerning, AI use … hinder[s] learning and deskill critical thought.” openletter.earth/open-letter-...

Open Letter: Stop the Uncritical Adoption of AI Technologies in Academia

openletter.earth

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Reposted by Dr. Diane Tober

Josh Shepperd @joshshepperd.bsky.social · Jul 1

One of best public universities on one of the five most beautiful campuses in the country. Decimated.

Indiana University Bloomington to Eliminate or Suspend Over 100 Academic Programs in Sweeping Restructuring - The Bloomingtonian

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana University Bloomington is suspending or eliminating more than 100 academic programs across a wide range of disciplines ahead of the 2026-27 academic year. The programs are ...

bloomingtonian.com

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Reposted by Dr. Diane Tober

Critically Speaking with Therese Markow @criticallyspeaking.bsky.social · Jun 21

Ever wondered who benefits most in the egg donation industry?
Explore the financial and ethical complexities with us on Critically Speaking, featuring "Eggonomics" author, @dianetober.bsky.social
LISTEN: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/critically-speaking/id1463016517

#Eggonomics #EggDonors

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Reposted by Dr. Diane Tober

Critically Speaking with Therese Markow @criticallyspeaking.bsky.social · Jun 19

LISTEN: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/critically-speaking/id1463016517
Did you know that egg donation is now a massive global industry with potential risks for donors? Dive into this week's Critically Speaking episode as we explore this w/ @dianetober.bsky.social

#EggDonors

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Dr. Diane Tober @dianetober.bsky.social · Jun 18

I completely agree! So dammed cumbersome. Now even my email has this "copilot" that i can't turn off. I can't turn off grammar check or spell check and 9xoutof10 the "corrections" are wrong!

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Dr. Diane Tober @dianetober.bsky.social · Jun 17

Thanks for having me on! It was a pleasure sharing my research with you and your audience!

Reposted by Dr. Diane Tober

Critically Speaking with Therese Markow @criticallyspeaking.bsky.social · Jun 17

How much do egg donors get paid, and what's the real cost?
🎧 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/critically-speaking/id1463016517
Uncover the truth about the egg donation industry and donor experiences in our latest podcast episode with expert @dianetober.bsky.social

#Eggonomics #EggDonors

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Reposted by Dr. Diane Tober

ACLU @aclu.org · Jun 16

BREAKING: A federal judge reversed National Institutes of Health's terminations of hundreds of critical research grants that were canceled because of their alleged connection to disfavored topics, including diversity, equity, inclusion, and gender identity.

This is a major win for public health.

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Dr. Diane Tober @dianetober.bsky.social · Jun 10

I think I'm up next! lol

Reposted by Dr. Diane Tober

Kimberly Mutcherson @professormutch.bsky.social · Jun 10

Many of us have been talking about the intersection of abortion and assisted reproduction for a couple of decades now, so I was glad to have a chance to talk about the issue on the Critically Speaking podcast!

Critically Speaking with Therese Markow @criticallyspeaking.bsky.social · Jun 10

When IVF meets law: Are frozen embryos people, property, or something in between?
LISTEN: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/critically-speaking/id1463016517
Discover the complexities with expert @professormutch.bsky.social on this week’s Critically Speaking podcast.

#frozenembryos #conception

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Dr. Diane Tober @dianetober.bsky.social · May 24

The blatant cheating is destroying the classroom. I'm considering now having baseline hand written essay quizzes in class, requiring students to meet at least 3X/semester to discuss their term paper research, and in class exams where i used to have open book take home exams. Sucks!

Dr. Diane Tober @dianetober.bsky.social · May 24

www.wsj.com/business/cha...

They Were Every Student’s Worst Nightmare. Now Blue Books Are Back.

Cheating with ChatGPT has become a huge problem for colleges. The solution is painfully old-school.

www.wsj.com

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Dr. Diane Tober @dianetober.bsky.social · May 19

You've got the dreaded comma splice in your sentence; I hope that was intentional.

Dr. Diane Tober @dianetober.bsky.social · May 15

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Sperm donor 'dad-of-180' loses parental rights court bid

Robert Albon, who uses the name Joe Donor, claims to have fathered more than 180 children worldwide.

www.bbc.com

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Dr. Diane Tober @dianetober.bsky.social · May 6

Yeah, it's so much worse than anything I'd seen before when it comes to student cheating. And it's so obvious when they do it, but they think they're getting away with something. Chatgpt has made teaching, especially in social sciences/humanities, so much harder!

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Dr. Diane Tober @dianetober.bsky.social · May 6

What I tell my students all the time and they look at me like I'm nuts.

Reposted by Dr. Diane Tober

Rajo @rajodm.bsky.social · May 6

#TidyTuesday week 18.
Data: NSF Grant Terminations Under the Trump Administration.

Code: github.com/rajodm/TidyT...

#dataviz #rstats #ggplot2

A waffle chart showing 1,041 NSF research grants terminated since April 18, 2025, where each single square represents a project. STEM Education and Social Sciences were most affected, with colors indicating remaining time before projects' expected completion date. Many long term projects were terminated with more than 2 years before the (expected) completion date.

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Reposted by Dr. Diane Tober

American Ethnological Society // American Ethnologist (journal) @amethno.bsky.social · Feb 10

📚📚📚 New Book Review! 📚📚📚

Timothy Y. Loh reviews //Disability Worlds// by Faye Ginsburg & Rayna Rapp 2024 @dukepress.bsky.social #AnthroSky

Find it here in the latest issue of AE (52.1): ⤵️ anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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Reposted by Dr. Diane Tober

Robin Marty @robinmarty.com · May 2

Also not being mentioned is what was probably the most impactful demonstration - the purposeful no shows. A LOT of rearranging occurred to make the space look full. This was the scene at 7. It was supposed to start at 6:30.

Two large sections of almost completely open seats as well as another section that is half empty.

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