“Hacking the Future” Panel
The dictionary definition of “hacking” is “using a computer to gain unauthorized access to data in a system”. However, when we think of the term “hack” today, it has a more positive connotation. It relates to the notion of gaining a leg up in a situation or finding an efficient way to complete a certain task. “Hacking the future” implies how we can improve upon humanity as time progress. Specifically, it is useful when thinking about technology and our future because it brings to attention the boundaries and limits that can be extended or broken through advancement in technology. The Internet is such a new phenomenon when in comparison to the advancement of technology throughout the last centuries, so we are still trying to understand what policies must be necessary in order to “hack” without infringing upon anyone’s rights and privacy.
The three panelists were Joana Moll, Ben Grosser, and Lauren McCarthy. Moll spoke about the “cloud” and exposed what it really means. In society, we refer to all of our data being in this mysterious “cloud”, but Moll clarified how our data is stored in data centers and brought to attention how we don’t see the machinery behind this idea and therefore it is an “invisible infrastructure”. Moll sheds light on how these data centers contribute to the increase in Carbon Dioxide emissions and brought up statistics of how Google has produces kilograms upon kilograms of CO2 emissions.
Next, Ben Grosser discussed the importance of metrics behind our social media behaviors. He showed the audience a “demetricator” Chrome extension, which hides the number of likes, comments, and shares a post has received on Facebook. He refers to content with metrics as “fluid spaces of manipulation and imitation” because people can change their perception of that post based on its metrics. Through his study, he learned how hiding these metrics actually led to less compulsive behavior when reacting to a post. He also introduces another Chrome extension, which removes images from Facebook posts in order to explore other effects of Internet content. Grosser argues that emotion-packed images were incredibly influential in the last U.S. election because they can change the behavior or increase a person’s belief in a specific idea. By removing the images, only the text content is received which eliminates some of the charged language and imagery of the picture.
Lastly, Lauren McCarthy spoke about how network culture affects our social relationships. She introduced a dating experiment she conducted where she used Amazon Mechanical Turk who would guide her behavior on the date. From this study, she questioned the concept of self-identity and how we perceive ourselves after following the actions of someone else. These concepts tied into her overall point of how the future of technology increasing exponentially and we will have to really sit back and think about the way it is progressing and be aware that we are constantly changing in response.
Overall, this panel reminded me of concepts in the article by Lisa Nakamura called “Glitch Racism”. She explains the GIFT theory, which argues that online racism is caused by the Internet’s abilities in creating anonymity and removing a person from their online identity. Similarly, Grosser argued how metrics and visuals can dramatically affect one’s behavior and reaction to Internet content. These concepts are intertwined because it is the Internet that allows for this shift in behavior.
