Our Scans · (ZY.4.26) Sociology · Weekly Summary

• [New] Not because programs such as OpenAI's GPT-3 language program are human-like, but because the low bar to interacting on social media has redefined what we might accept as human behavior. ZDNet
• Over a century of enormously destructive religious wars in Europe convinced everyone that social theory could not be built on religious foundations. Real-World Economics Review Blog
• Five major shifts in human behavior will shape the world coming into the new year. BusinessWorld Online
• In a few years, IoB will become an ecosystem that will define human behavior in the digital world. Techvice
• 2021 will almost certainly be a big reset for human behavior across advanced economies. PR Daily
• The challenge in risk forecasting, and indeed the key geopolitical threat the world is facing in 2020, is the unpredictability of both black swan events and human behavior. Luminae Group
• Consumer marketing and social-media entities (e.g., Google, Facebook, Netflix) are forced to use ML/AI models to predict human behavior because there is no mechanistic modeling alternative. JPT
• California wildfires will only intensify absent dramatic shifts in policy and human behavior at a global scale. Direct Relief
• By 2023, up to 40% of the global population's activities will be traced digitally to influence human behavior. cryptovot.com
• With rising global temperatures, and record-breaking heat waves baking parts of the world, the effects of extreme heat on human behavior could pose a growing problem. Science News
• The overt positivism is at odds with downgrades by most international institutions: the World Bank's 2021-22 GDP growth rate estimate for India is 8.3% and the Asian Development Bank's is 7.5%. Mint
• A lot of people who research human behavior have likewise talked about the ways that we have reached familiarity with e-commerce, remote work, telemedicine and online socializing that might not have happened until 2025 or later absent a pandemic. The New York Times
• Two million adults did not eat for a whole day in the past month due to tight finances, and the National Institute for Economic & Social Research has warned that an additional 250,000 households face destitution in 2023. / UK The Guardian
• The National Institute of Economic and Social Research forecast gross domestic product will fall by 0.2% in the third quarter and 0.4% in the last three months of the year. / UK Reuters
• Enterprises like Infosys will employ more people with expertise in liberal arts, humanities, sociology, and anthropology. Forbes
• By 2025, Gen Alpha will be the largest generation, totalling more than 2 billion people globally, Australian social research firm McCrindle Research predicted in its 2020 report, Understanding Generation Alpha. South China Morning Post
• In 2025, the focus on advanced sociology in education is expected to reach new heights in India, as educators, researchers, and policymakers come together to explore new trends, methodologies, and solutions. Conference Alerts Blog
• In a generational analysis by McCrindle, a social research agency that tracks and researches generational trends, Generation Beta will be a technologically integrated generation, covering up 16% of the global population. Philstar Life
• Further studies of illicit cigarette trafficking from Ukraine to the EU might benefit from a multidisciplinary approach that incorporates insights from economics, sociology, criminology, and other fields. Journal of Illicit Economies and Development
• Teesside University will use the OfS funding to deliver a string of new Professional Apprenticeships in Science Industry Process and Plant Engineering, Accounting Finance Management, Creative Digital Design, Social Research and Therapeutic Radiography. News Powered by Cision

Last updated: 12 September 2025