Here’s a fascinating look at the toolkit of modern-day protestors, including lasers to block China’s totalitarian regime from exploiting facial recognition. Now dress this up in a sprawling, urban environment with symbolic umbrellas. This is the state of Hong Kong.
Probably the most riveting picture tonight, the kind you can only take in #HongKong: an odd mash-up of skyscrapers, smoke, trees, barricades, umbrellas, laser, and masked protesters in the backdrop. This is revolution in our 21st-century postmodern metropolis ššØš²š§āļøš¦š„š„š„š„ pic.twitter.com/a7SL0m4Mtu
— Jeffrey Ngo ęåč» š·āāļøš„½šš (@jeffreychngo) August 31, 2019
This picture of a protestor using a tennis racket to deflect tear gas is also top-notch.
Following in the footsteps of Charles and Ray Eames fascinating look at the future at the 1964 Worldās Fair, cartoonist Rube Goldberg further envisioned the prospect of screen culture years later in 1967.
What he didnāt foresee was that all of these individual devices (TV, phone, radio, camera, etc.) would converge into a single device: the smartphone.
Twitterās removal of millions of fake accounts reminds us that not everything is what it seems. The internet is full of bots, replicating humans, even programmed to act more human than the humans themselves.
We too are conscious automata, no more authentic than the droids themselves. People are just savvy editors. We present our best selvesonline to increase our self-worth and to make otherā¦
We photograph everything and observe nothing. We consume the Instagram feed, and then feel inadequate for doing so.
Human behavior is predictable, robotic. Acknowledging peak screen further cements a broken will ā even the most mindful urge wonāt let us put our devices down.
Weāve officially extended digital into our cells, with the reality forthcoming. From the iWatch to iSkin, the futureā¦
Technology intends to make the mind sharper by acting as our second brain ā it intends to provide all the answers while preventing cognitive overload.
Instead, what technology and more specifically, artificial intelligence does, is make us lazier.
Having all the answers to your next playlist, destination, and text means that you donāt really need to think it all. All of your tastes, road routes,ā¦
Digital technologies allow us to catch everything we hear in class. Whether through type or record, itās easy to play stenographer in the iPhone era.
The problem is that apps arenāt the best thinking tools. Because using pen and paper to write is slower, it forces your brain to think about whatās keeping and what to exclude.
RenĆ© Magritteās āāLe Blanc Seingā (1965) Ā© National Gallery of Art, Washington
