Drunk Actors, Cursed Computers and Fiberglass Graveyards
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things I found
1. Life On The Internet
There are very few things I enjoy more than listening to people of the past talking about technology (and the future). So I’ll be spending the next few days watching this: “a 13-part television series covering aspects of the Internet in 1996 to introduce to a general audience. Called ‘Life on the Internet’, the series was hosted by Scott Simon, sponsored by Sun Microsystems, and covers the state of online life at the time”.
2. The Cursed Computer Iceberg Meme
“This is not a hall of shame. the intent is to awaken you to many of the peculiarities and weirdness of computers. Hopefully, after reading these articles, you will have learned a lot and will embrace chaos.”
3. Drunk Mel Gibson Arrest Diorama
I won’t spoil anything about this. Just trust me and watch the entire thing. SOUND ON.
4. The Happiness Box theory
“The Happiness Box theory posits that sufficiently advanced civilizations don’t swarm out into the universe, they implode into virtual worlds of their own making. If you could gain the ability to upload consciousness into simulated realities that are functionally indistinguishable from physical reality, why would you bother to climb into a physical spaceship to outwardly explore?” [via]
5. VR and psychedelics
According to this research, in David Glowacki’s VR experience, Isness-D “participants can partake in an experience called energetic coalescence: they gather in the same spot in the virtual-reality landscape to overlap their diffuse bodies, making it impossible to tell where each person begins and ends. The resulting sense of deep connectedness and ego attenuation mirrors feelings commonly brought about by a psychedelic experience.” The study, involving 75 subjects, showed that Isness-D offers an experience near indistinguishable from 20 milligrams of psilocybin or 200 micrograms of LSD.
6. Fiberglass Mold Graveyard
“The Fiberglass Mold Graveyard of Sparta, Wisconsin is a zoo full of discarded animal-creature-and people-shaped molds. This field of plastic carcasses lies behind the FAST building, aka the Fiberglass Animals, Shapes, and Trademarks workshop. Both spooky and wondrous looking, this field of gigantic molds, left behind from various projects, has become an art installation in itself.” [via]
new entries on my bookshelf
Meredith Broussard, Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World, 2018
Adrienne L. Massanari, Participatory Culture, Community, and Play: Learning from Reddit, 2014
Mark Coeckelbergh, AI Ethics, 2020
Joline Blais and Jon Ippolito, At the Edge of Art, 2006
Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Updating to Remain the Same: Habitual New Media, 2016
Grafton Tanner, Babbling Corpse: Vaporwave And The Commodification Of Ghosts, 2016
things I did recently
I wrote a short essay for this wonderful publication by Futures Photography:
"HYBRIDS: Forging New Realities as Counter-Narrative aims to explore the new atmosphere of trans-disciplinary experimentation across divergent fields and sectors in the arts. We asked ourselves this: how is the act of narration evolving with the waves of counter-narratives that have flooded our knowledge systems, and what kinds of narratives might we need where we are heading? The book, edited by Salvatore Vitale and Saba Askary presents a collection of essays, interviews and visual responses to four points of departure: “The Speed of Narratives”, “An Evolution of Reality”, “Giving, Taking and Stealing the Right to Narrate” and “A Textured Future”. With texts and works by Morehshin Allahyari, Valentina Tanni, Max Pinckers, Tj Demos, Hoda Afshar, Alan Butler, Jean-Vincent Simonet and Nina Mangalanayagam among others.”
the great wall of memes updates
The Great Wall of Memes is a research project in the form of a visual archive. I started it in 2012 and it’s the place where I collect images and memes that feel relevant. Click here to see the latest uploads.
That’s all for now! Feel free to send me an email or leave a comment.
