[Ads-l] WOTY watch: "meat proxy"

Wed Aug 26 17:11:46 UTC 2026

It also reminded me of meat puppet, but also of useful idiot, but maybe a
non-useful idiot, non-helpful idiot, unless if for "you" "who" are
"reading" this from an AI "point of view."

Stephen

On Wed, Aug 26, 2026 at 8:49 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <
00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> Wonderful entry for "meat puppet", Jesse. Excellent citations, Jesse,
> Bill, Ben, Emily, and Dave.
>
> The "meat proxy" behavior under examination was described with more
> conventional phrases in 2025:
>
> "just a human proxy for AI"
> "acting as a pass through AI proxy"
>
> [Begin x-twitter information]
> https://x.com/WilsonCusack/status/1940762117046730782
> wilson.base.eth @WilsonCusack
> Sadly, I expect the advent of coding agents will make remote software
> engineers more like factory workers with highly measured output. The
> risk that someone is just a human proxy for AI is too high, and
> companies will want precise ROI on their human vs AI workforce.
> 9:18 AM, Jul 3, 2025
> [End x-twitter information]
>
> [Begin x-twitter information]
> https://x.com/andrewlamb1111/status/1982792293603033381
> Andrew Lamb @andrewlamb1111
> @ApacheDataFusio 's policy for AI assisted contribution:
> AI is great, but not AI dumps: maintainers could finish the task
> faster by using AI directly, and the submitters gain little knowledge
> when acting as a pass through AI proxy.
>
> https://datafusion.apache.org/contributor-guide/index.html#ai-assisted-contributions
> 8:51 AM, Oct 27, 2025
> [End x-twitter information]
>
> In 2023 Mark Zuckerberg was labeled an "AI human proxy".
> [Begin x-twitter information]
> https://x.com/BostonSister/status/1725318064936292716
> Christin @BostonSister
> Alternate headline: "AI human proxy is now pretending to be different."
> 8:00 PM, Nov 16, 2023
> [End x-twitter information]
>
> Garson
>
> On Wed, Aug 26, 2026 at 7:37 AM Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:
> >
> > I'm surprised that no one has mentioned perhaps the most famous and
> influential example of _meat_ in this context, which is William Gibson's
> use of _meat puppet_ 'a human' in _Neuromancer_ (1984); Gibson later said
> that he came up with this use after seeing a (written) reference to the
> rock band Meat Puppets.
> >
> > Vastly earlier, there is this remarkable use of _meat person_ 'a human'
> in L. Frank Baum's 1918 _Tin Woodman of Oz_ (this example was suggested to
> me by Bill Mullins):
> >
> > 1918 L. F. Baum _Tin Woodman of Oz_ iii. 43
> > ‘Were the Scarecrow and I alone,’ said the Tin Woodman, ‘we would travel
> by night as well as by day; but with a meat person in our party, we must
> halt at night to permit him to rest.’
> >
> > See https://sfdictionary.com/view/2269/meat-puppet for various examples
> (including the Baum and Weizenbaum ones, in brackets).
> >
> > HDSF also has _meatspace_ (which Emily mentioned) and _meat world_, both
> from the early 1990s.
> >
> > Jesse Sheidlower
> >
> > On Wed, Aug 26, 2026 at 01:26:45AM -0400, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:
> > > Interesting references, Emily and Ben. I received a request to explore
> > > the following elaborate statement:
> > >
> > > Quote Origin: You’re a Ghost Driving a Meat Coated Skeleton Made from
> Stardust
> > > https://quoteinvestigator.com/2022/10/13/ghost-stardust/
> > >
> > > Here is a sampling of precursor phrases with dates from twitter:
> > >
> > > 2011 Apr 28: I just feel like I’m a ghost in a heavy meat suit
> > > 2012 Jan 29: im just a brain driving a meat suit around life
> > > 2012 Jul 30: skeleton wearing a meat-suit
> > > 2012 Aug 05: people are still basically just skeletons coated in
> filthy meat
> > > 2012 Oct 29: Ain’t nothin’ but a ghost driving a meat suit
> > > 2013 Jan 31: You’re a ghost driving a meat coated skeleton made from
> > > stardust, what do you have to be scared of?
> > >
> > > Also, there is a famous short story by Terry Bisson titled "They're
> > > Made Out of Meat" published in OMNI magazine in April 1991."They"
> > > referred to humans.
> > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They%27re_Made_Out_of_Meat
> > >
> > > For people who hesitate to follow links: Computer scientist Joseph
> > > Weizenbaum employed the phrase "the brain is merely a meat machine" in
> > > a May 12, 1972, article in the journal Science. Weizenbaum attributed
> > > the phrase to "one of my esteemed colleagues." Weizenbaum revealed in
> > > 2008 that the colleague was Marvin Minsky.
> > >
> > > Garson
> > >
> > > On Wed, Aug 26, 2026 at 12:40 AM Ben Zimmer
> > > <00001aae0710f4b7-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > I also thought of "meatspace" as well as a couple of other "meat"
> terms
> > > > that have come up here:
> > > >
> > > > "meatbag" (robot's epithet for a human on "Futurama")
> > > >
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2009-August/092085.html
> > > > "meatmobile" (retronym for a human-driven car)
> > > >
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2016-August/143702.html
> > > >
> > > > On Wed, Aug 26, 2026 at 12:35 AM Emily Gordon <
> > > > 0000205244c4ee9d-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > And a “meat suit” is a human body in early internet (perhaps
> earlier?)
> > > > > parlance; “meatspace” is messy real life in a meatsuit in 3D, as
> opposed to
> > > > > cyberspace.
> > > > >
> > > > > On Tue, Aug 25, 2026 at 9:24 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
> > > > > 00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > This use of "meat" was probably influenced by a phrase
> attributed to
> > > > > > AI pioneer Marvin Minsky:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Quote Origin: The Brain Is Merely a Meat Machine
> > > > > > https://quoteinvestigator.com/2020/05/06/machines/
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Garson
> > > > > >
> > > > > > On Tue, Aug 25, 2026 at 11:26 PM Ben Zimmer
> > > > > > <00001aae0710f4b7-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Via "sf-isms: the lexicon of San Francisco tech slang":
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > ---
> > > > > > > https://sfisms.org/meat-proxy
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Meat proxy
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > A person who forwards AI-generated text, code, or other output
> without
> > > > > > > reading, understanding, or validating it. The person acts only
> as a
> > > > > relay
> > > > > > > between the AI system and the intended recipient.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > "Please summarize what Claude found instead of making me
> review a wall
> > > > > of
> > > > > > > text from a meat proxy."
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Origin
> > > > > > > The earliest matching use located was an anonymous March 31,
> 2026 blog
> > > > > > post
> > > > > > > titled "meat-based llm proxies." It described people who feed
> messages
> > > > > to
> > > > > > > an LLM and copy its responses back to others, saying that the
> recipient
> > > > > > was
> > > > > > > effectively communicating with the model "via a meat proxy."
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Niklas Gruhn popularized the shorter label with his August 3,
> 2026
> > > > > essay
> > > > > > > "Don't be a meat proxy," focused on unread Claude output in
> Slack, pull
> > > > > > > requests, and group chats. Simon Willison amplified it the
> same day,
> > > > > and
> > > > > > > Gruhn's post subsequently reached the Hacker News front page
> with more
> > > > > > than
> > > > > > > 1,800 points and 700 comments. The phrase then spread widely
> on X,
> > > > > > > including a viral post by Josh tried coding that received
> roughly 4,000
> > > > > > > likes and 490,000 views.
> > > > > > > ---
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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