I’ve talked about gender defaults and what they do with our perception of gender before.
"Have you ever noticed that computers that talk typically have a female voice?
… The most common theory why this is the case is that females are considered less threatening, and the “service” role of an assistant is more in line with typical female gender-stereotypes."
If cited a UN-report that urged vendors to make digital assistants more neutral. And while vendors ignored that call, a collaboration between multiple organisations created Q, the first genderless voice.
Have a look (or better: listen in), it really works!
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There’s been a very particular itch I feel that led to the creation of this journal; The itch that the Internet is changing, and not necessarily for the better.
Back in 2017, I wrote in the preface to Let’s be Fwends:
"I grew up on an internet where we would dream about an egalitarian info-scape (yes, we were using such words, back then) where everyone could be - should be - would be - a publisher.
Be it through their homepages (that’s what we called it), mailing lists (you probably don’t know what that is), discussion groups or some fancy new thing called „blog“ (although we weren’t sure what the difference between a blog and a homepage was - exactly).
Technology you controlled. Connections between people that are owned and controlled by those very people. Without the need to „boost“ your posts to reach your friends.
Maybe it’s nostalgia. But I want this time back.”
And apparently, I’m not alone in this longing for something that realises the promises interconnected technology once made.
The creator of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, and the Web Foundation, wrote the “Contract for the Web” for governments, companies and individuals to sign and live by.
It has nine principles, three for each type of signatory. I can stand behind all of them, so I signed up. And I will work hard to reflect these values and principles in the work of Fwends.
But honestly, when I see Google, Facebook and Twitter in the list of supporters, I don’t know what to make of it. Or rather, I doubt their self-awareness.
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Watch Nixon reading a Speech about something that never happened.
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And Nixon of course never read a speech about something that never happend.
Then-President of the US Richard Nixon famously prepared a ‘contingency speech’ to hold on Live-Television in case the Apollo 11 mission (the first landing on the moon) was struck by disaster.
Of course, Nixon never had to hold the speech. Apollo 11 was a success, completing all its mission objectives and bringing home its members safely.
But thanks to a team at MIT, you can now watch a deepfake of Nixon holding the speech that never was.
This is a strong reminder of what technology can do, and how timelines can be twisted.
If you’re interested what Nixon would have had to say about the disaster, and the dead astronauts, this post contains the speech in full.
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The Power of modern consumer-grade Software
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Speaking of the power of software, watching someone sequencing Guns n’Roses Sweet Child of Mine on GarageBand, a free software available on every IPhone makes you realise how powerful consumer-grade software is nowadays.
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It’s an old video, but the “Absolute Zero” show by Anthony James featured so many interesting objects it’s worth a post. I’m particularly fascinated by the Portal Icosahedron, an object consisting of lights and mirrors that only reflect the object itself, and not the outside world. It is completely self-contained.
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Where does electrical Power come from?
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You know of course where electrical power comes from (the outlet, doh). But what type of power plant is producing how much energy? Is coal as big as no-one wants to talk about? How much power does a nuclear plant produce compared to a wind farm?
Information Is Beautiful did the research, and have a bunch of really interesting bar charts for you.
And: Damn, Hydropower is huuuuuge! (I know, bad pun. Sorry, not sorry.)
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Why do we say things we later regret?
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Screen Grab from the runners video.
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Sometimes we say things we shouldn’t say, and maybe even don’t want to. Why is that?
Researchers at the University of Melbourne looked into it, and found that "Experiments show that when we are stressed, exercising or otherwise aroused, we are more prone to say things we shouldn’t".
It’s because the brain is so occupied with being alert, it completely forgets that it also has to control what comes out of our mouths. And if our mouths are free to do whatever they want … well, you get the picture.
And funnily enough, this works also after very short bouts of physical activity:
"We had 169 participants jog on the spot for 60 seconds. We found that these participants were more likely to share embarrassing stories – or open up to others – after physical exercise.”
I found a really heart-warming video some time ago where runners where interviewed while actually running.
At the time, I attributed this openness to the connection between mind and body that is created by being active, that leads to a certain kind of calmness.
But apparently it’s more about our brains being unable to do more than one thing at a time.
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That’s it for this edition of Let’s be Fwends, I would go and do physical exercises with you anytime, even if it means spilling the beans and telling you my most embarrassing stories! 🤸♀️
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