What We’re Devouring: 05.05.16
Earning The Woke Badge
[New York Times]
“P.C.” is a term we’re all relatively familiar with, one that’s often used as a taunt from the right. We can think about “woke” as the inverse — a sort of back-pat from the left that’s a trendy badge for slactivists. Historically, though, woke had much deeper meaning. Woke meant you understood and empathized with real struggle, particularly that of African Americans in the US, and acted as a true ally in the movement. But with the term’s reappropriation, woke is as empty as the slacktivists that wear it: a term for those who claim to be culturally aware but ultimately lack self-awareness. Earning a true “woke badge” isn’t as simple as posting a selfie of yourself reading Ta-Nehisi Coates in bed, it’s about understanding, advocating, and standing as one.
The Best VR Experience At Tribeca Film Festival Was All About Sound
[Motherboard]
Virtual reality technology has given us the ability to see into worlds that we otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to experience. The conversation has always been about what VR allows us to see, but what if it was more about what we couldn’t see? At the recent Tribeca Film Festival, Notes on Blindness: Into Darkness, a companion VR experience piece to the documentary written by John Hull, depicted what it’s like to be blind. The VR film featured the brilliant use of 3D sound to reveal the depth and locations of different objects, putting you in the shoes of someone who is blind. This film not only showed the powerful capabilities of VR storytelling, but it showed that it could be more than just what viewers see, but rather what they don’t see.
Meet The First Superstars Of The Beyonce Generation
[The Cut]
From YouTube fame to cameo appearances in Beyonce’s newest visual album, these two teenagers are a force to be reckoned with. At ages 16 and 17, Chloe and Halle are two up and coming singer-songwriters that are lucky enough to call Queen Bey their mentor and close friend while proudly crowning Malia, Sasha, and Michelle Obama their biggest fans. As part of the first wave of young women raised in an age of #BlackGirlMagic with a “believe-in-yourself-and -make-it-happen” attitude, these two write their own songs, produce their own music, create their own beats, and even run their own meetings. With the ability to grasp musical concepts that even adults find difficult, it just goes to show that these two girls — and perhaps Generation Z at large — are way beyond their years.
The Mad Dash To Get Injured Superathletes Back On The Court
[Wired]
When professional athletes — like Warriors superstar Steph Curry — fall powerless to injuries, their fans aren’t the only one’s that go crazy. In a mad rush to get these superathletes back on the court shooting threes, team doctors go into overdrive. Utilizing newer and generally rarer therapy methods, these doctors turn to therapies like platelet-rich plasma injections or stem cell injections to save a couple days of rest. While these methods haven’t really shown evidence of being harmful, pushing the envelope like this can be a very complex decision. While it’s important that the Warriors continue their record breaking season, it’s the physician’s job to always be focused on the best interest of the player.
How Gaming Is Shaping The Future Of Work
[Harvard Business Review]
The very video games that are changing the way gamers interact with gaming environment are also changing the workforce of tomorrow. With virtual reality, advanced video resolution, and psychological research into user engagement, corporate America is beginning to take cues from the gaming world. In the not too distant future, companies will begin to hold meetings in virtual, 3-D conference rooms rather than physical ones, equipping employees with motion sensors, gloves, and mics that capture and render both physical movements and audio engagement. Training programs will take notes from the same psychology that keeps the parents of game addicted kids up at night. are more than just a game, they are implications for the future of work.
Will.i.am’s Back With A New A.I. That Lives On Your Wrist — Or In Your Clothes
[Wired]
Introducing AneedA, the artificial intelligence created by Will.i.am’s consumer technology brand i.am+ that not only lives on your wrist, but in your clothes as well. Acting like a virtual assistant, AneedA will ultimately live in a bangle-like wearable and, but more recently made its debut in the tuxedo that Will.i.am sported at the 2016 Met Gala. Working purely as a voice-based operating system, the wearable — known as Dial — and AneedA will offer users functions they can’t get on their smartphone. AneedA will do just about everything for her users, remembering previous questions and conversations and evolving with every request they make. With Will.i.am’s futuristic aspirations, the plans for AneedA will extend beyond the screen and into everything that you wear.
Unbundled
[Medium]
In Silicon Valley, the term “unbundling” is used to describe the behavior of mobile apps breaking apart into many separate apps, seeking to provide single purpose features. While the term sounds like it could only apply to the techy world of app development, Chris Saad argues that unbundling is happening outside the smartphone screen and across all aspects of life. In this case, unbundling is an output of our need for deeper personalization and individual freedom in modern society. It’s what causes radical political and professional shifts and it’s what empowers people to remix their favorite things. With everything from on-demand music and virtual reality, the unbundling phenomenon is breaking apart the traditional and changing the future as we know it.
The Case Against Reality
[The Atlantic]
We tend to automatically presume that whatever we perceive is always an accurate portrayal of the world around us. We rely on things like sight, sound, texture, and taste to enable us to experience what we think is the real world. However, Donald Hoffman, a professor at the University of California Irvine, argues that the world presented to us by our perceptions is nothing like reality. Sounds crazy, right? Many scientists have scratched their head over the theory that evolution has shaped us with a set of perceptions that allow us to survive. Over time, our perception of the world has adapted away from true reality and towards a world where we are inherently hidden from the things we don’t need to know. Who knows? Maybe we’re living in one big illusion.
