KIRK onLINE

Even though the RealTalk girls finally disbanded and all the drama that came from it, blah blah blah, whatever that’s not the important thing here, I’ve come to one grand conclusion, and that is that in today's day and age, it is so easy, TOO easy, to be fooled into believing some crazy ass stuff. Even people who are highly educated, technology and social media is just so instantaneous and can be very compelling when it needs to be that sometimes, we just can’t keep up. And that is okay!!!!! We’re humans, we make mistakes. Even though I hate to admit it, I’ve fallen for some pretty stupid shit online before, but the difference between me and other people is thAT IVE LEARNT FROM MY MISTAKES AND FACT CHECK LIKE MY LIFE DEPENDS ON IT (which is why i get so pissed off with the RealTalk girls and the massive spew of followers that they gained from saying things so insane and wholeheartedly believing in it).  Now… don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a little fun and games and love a good conspiracy theory that everyone is in on spreads around the internet like wildfire because of its absurdity. Do y'all remember the Martin Scorcese Goncharov joke/movie that spread around tumblr a while back??? Or the Birds Aren't Real conspiracy? That ones been around since like 2017 but pretty sure it gained traction on TikTok again recently a few months back. It's basically about how apparently the government exterminated all the bird in the world and replaced them with bird-like drones that spy on us and they recharge on the power lines.

See, this sort of thing is funny. It’s acknowledging that misinformation is a very real, dangerous phenomenon that has been exacerbated with the development of technology, but instead of being scared and so serious all the time, we’re laughing and turning it into a joke because god knows we deserve to laugh sometimes. The difference between these jokes/conspiracies and actual non-informed conspiracies is that as much as we play into the joke, in the depths of our hearts we know that it is NOT REAL because WE DO OUR RESEARCH PLS GOD EVEN A SIMPLE GOOGLE SEARCH IS BETTER THAN JUST BLATANTLY BELIEVING SOMETHING SO LUDICROUS!!!!! Anyways… my point is… there are two types of people out there that cause harm with the spread of conspiracies: those who straight up believe them, don’t fact check, and then spread it around making others believe it too; and those who know how easy it is to spread misinformation and conspiracies because of the lack of media literacy of this day and age (education systems get on this rn pls) and prey upon this mass weakness of the population to spread their ideologies.

Cameras are SUPER pervasive in the modern day, and we've kind of grown desensitized to how invasive the photograph truly is. What's the likelihood that you're reading this on a device with a camera? ... yeah exactly.

First of all, before we even get to my issue, I just need to make this abundantly clear: PHOTOGRAPHS ARE NOT OBJECTIVE DUH IDC WHAT YOU SAY !!! The fact that the photographer has to make the conscious decision to photograph a particular subject out of their infinite options proves this. The taste of the photographer, in making decisions like choosing the exposure of a photo, warps the perspective through which we view a subject in a so-called 'neutral' photo. I'll come back to this point next week when I discuss the craziness of the #REALTALK podcast's conspiracies, but I figured I should make this point clear from the get go.

While photography is an art, most people who utilize it from day-to-day use it more as a social tool. It is used to prove that some event or interaction occurred, and one of its most prevalent uses is by tourists. Photos document the exciting experiences of visiting a new place, and these memories can be relived by viewing them. This is undoubtedly revolutionary, but I raise issue with perverse way that the camera shapes one's interactions with their environment.

Most tourists, in "pointing and shooting" the camera, place the camera between themselves and the subject they wish to capture. To me, it seems as though this means that we are beginning to experience the world through the lens of a camera rather than our eyes. I mean, think about the phrase 'the camera eats before I do' in relation to taking pictures of food before even touching the plate. Sontag said it best - "taking photographs has set up a chronic voyeuristic relation to the world which levels the meaning of all events."

My main issue is that taking photographs has become so invasive due to the ease of accessing and using a camera basically any and anywhere. Fleeting moments now have permanence, whether we consent or not.

So yk how sometimes as news stories develop, the narrative of it can change over time as more pieces of the story come out and stuff, (which is normal duh but there are some news stations out there that… take stuff real too far in certain circumstances but I digress…) Marion was able to capture this phenomenon in real time because SHE RECORDED TELEVISION BROADCASTS 24/7 FOR LIKE 30 YEARS ISN'T THAT INSANE?????? Btw this is from 1979 till her death in like 2012. Did you guys get that?? She recorded EVERYTHING on the new 24/7 for 30 YEARS. Let's do the math shall we? So… 24 hours x 365 days  = 8760 hours… 8760 hours x 30 years = 262800 HOURS HELP!!!! This level of commitment should be applauded especially because the amount of lost media in the world is actually astounding when you think about it. Like the fact that even in today's age it might be difficult to track down a video or something, imagine what it must've been like back then? I watched a documentary about her because of a news article that was recommended to me online, which you all should check out it is SO interesting.

Anyways, some key moments that Marion was able to capture were the development of the Iran Hostage Crisis, how the story developed from its conception and how the narrative changed over the course of the events. Marion was very suspicious on how this crisis was evolving as the news continued to report on it and felt that important information was being lost as that occurred, so she started taping the news coverage… and she never stopped. Apparently, some days there were CIA agents among the hostages and other days, there weren’t. Like what either there is or isn't, I feel like I would’ve been suspicious too I get Marions rationale here. She knew that no one was going too keep this so as she kept filming, and her goal was to reveal the set of agendas being kept by the government through the news reportings. She observed how public opinion kept changing as the news coverage went on. This was a drama that had the capacity to change every day unpredictably with lots of unpredictable characters and sub events, no wonder the public was so into it.

So the Iran Crisis started in like 1979 and guess what premiered the next year in 1980? CNN!!! So Marion literally started taping at the birth of the 24 hours news cycle. Sometimes, she would have up to 8 tape recorders recording the TV. Like I said before, lost media exists and the assumption back then was that news stations kept everything, but now we know that that isn’t true. Marion understood that the way news was presented, the way you found it, and the speed that it was being presented was rapidly changing. The Iran Crisis was the catalyst for her to begin this insane journey of tape recording the news everyday, and honestly, I find it admirable. In a way, I believe that her recordings shouldn’t just be seen as an archival method, but a form of digital activism. Just like we know now that certain news stations are biased, she knew that stories could drastically change over its documentation due to potential government interference. By keeping a record of everything, she’d be able to have proof of such influences. Marion also remarked how 24 hours news coverage changed what type of news was being reported on. She was concerned of what effect it would have on the public when stories that occurred in small towns made national news, which never would’ve occurred before 24 hour news coverage.

One of the most bone chilling parts of the documentary was when they showed that Marion had tape recorded four separate live broadcasts of the morning of the September 11th attacks from CNN, Fox News, ABC, and CBS. It starts with all four screens showcasing a commercial and what not, and one by one, they begin to show and report that a plane has flown into the World Trade Center. They even include the live footage from ABC when the second plane hits the second tower. It was really chilling to see that, but what was even more so was the on screen proof that the day of the attack was just another regular morning. While one screen began to report on the attack, the other screen was showing a music video before getting note of what was happening in New York and switching to that. While I understand that the Iran Crisis was a pivotal moment in news history and the reason why Marion began her project, when I watched the 9/11 footage, I understood better her reasons for embarking on such a journey. I wasn’t alive when this accident occurred, but in terms of timeline it was a lot less long ago than the Iran Crisis. There is something just so fascinating looking at the live coverage of that day, and I believe Marion had that feeling too. If I were in Marion’s shoes, this would've been my catalyst. Truly incredible stuff.

Woah okay this got kinda serious at the end but still, it needed to be said. PLS go watch this documentary, I linked it above, it's so informative and interesting. I hope this gives the few people that actually read this yap sesh all the way through ANOTHER reason why digital archiving of your activity on the internet and the news is sooo important and beneficial, especially in today's political climate STAY VIGILANT EVERYONE.

So there I was just minding my own business and my number 1 opps besties appeared on my instagram feed with a latest clip from their newest podcast. They give me migraines and i'm already suffering enough as is but as I was about to scroll away they said something along the lines of how Instagram is being controlled by a bunch of people behind your cameras and that they hack your microphones to  listen to your conversations and that’s why you get those super specific ads for stuff you were just talking about (this is a huge simplification to what they actually said because it was a lot more messed up and crazy than my explanation)

While they followed it up with some crazy explanations and takes that hurt my head just thinking about them, which is what I wanted to avoid in the first place but here we are, it actually kind of… got me thinking. Who knew that the insane RealTalk girls would inspire a coherent train of thought hello?? So a few weeks ago a friend recommended I read this blog post written by Kate Wagner called 404 Page Not Found and it talked a lot about classism, nostalgia, the capitalization of the internet and the importance of archiving websites. I kinda got sad reading it honestly because it was basically a summary of all the things I already knew about the problems of the internet and stuff, just articulated in a much better format. She talks about how recently social media apps have really been pushing the more nostalgic elements of the internet, which is crazy to me because the reason why so many aspects of the internet are no longer relevant anymore or cease to exist is because they were deemed “unimportant” and “unable to capitalize on.” Now, the big corporations are bringing it back as an aesthetic and making you pay for it one way or another!!!

You want to play the OG Mario Kart?? Unless you have a working Wii, you have to buy a nintendo switch, buy the Mario Kart game, then pay a subscription to play the og maps… like girl bffr are you kidding me rn.

Kate makes this wonderful point that when websites or aspects of the internet, that again were so crucial in the past, like Flash, MySpace, even Blingee (my fangirls know what this is) and customizable website formats that were integral in the Web 1.0 era, go offline or are no longer supported, it's like we are experiencing a small Library of Alexandria, (hence my rant up top). And the reason why this occurred at that moment??? It's because corporations who control social media now deem personal artifacts of the internet worthless and unable to generate an income!!! I just know Karl Marx is rolling in his grave rn. Kate even included a quote from him here: “All this is solid melts into the air.” Anything that we have created online or irl is all susceptible to the ever changing nature and patterns of capitalism, which quite frankly sucks. 

The way we used to interact on the internet sounds so nice actually. People used to be hands on involved in creating their websites and stuff and while it must’ve been a learning curve I still dk how to code woops you were actually involved in the creation of your own, personalized, corner of the internet. Nowadays, the format is already created for you in a minimalist aesthetic where the institutions who developed these sites and apps can control all your data and you don’t have a single say in how you can “present” yourself on the internet. This is why archiving websites and stuff from the internet is soooo important rn more than ever (especially considering what the orange guy in the white house wants to do) Because we live in a capitalistic society, getting rid of websites, data mining and data leaks have become soooo much more feasible, so protect your stuff guys and archive your shit. Just because it's personal doesn't give the crazy government the right to scrub it off the internet because they can’t make money off of it. Even not so personal websites ig, like they make these split second decisions the moment that the “elties” feel they can't capitalize off of something, get rid of it, hear the outcry of the public, and then reintroduce it but this time, it costs even more money than it did before, if it even charged money in the first place!!!!! 

Ok I really need to get off my computer and touch grass but Kate also talks about the classist and racial undertones between MySpace and Facebook, which is crazy cuz all the younger people hate Facebook now. I’ve linked the blog post above so you can read it because even though I’d love to dissect every part of this post, ik yall don't have the attention span to read all that and my eyes hurt from staring at my screen too long lmao. 

Chat is this making sense? Am I screaming into the void here?? Just rereading my own writing here im giving a really bleh and depressive vibe here I think so im gonna switch that attitude now (I'm still in my feels about Alexandria tho)… even though i don't want to give them more views than necessary tf PLS go check out this weeks RealTalk podcast and come rant to me cuz even though im not watching it, yall can and I wanna see if I can come up with a coherent argument in 2 min that has more merit than anything they could say in their 20 min yap sesh. STAY VIGILANT EVERYONE AND ARCHIVE YOUR STUFFFFFF kirk out

So, I caught wind that my nemesis the RealTalk podcast began to talk about… feminism (tweak) (that's me tweaking fyi) I shant say no more unless you want a 25 page essay single spaced on all the things I would say to these girls if they agreed to a fight to meet up and have a civil conversation. Anyways!!! I thought for today, it would be a perfect opportunity to remind you that even though many may want you to think that reposting something on your Instagram stories on an issue that you firmly believe in does shit, I’m here to tell you (obviously depending on the circumstances and what kind of person you are but only you will be able to answer that) that it helps, every little bit of awareness helps actually. In a world where we are surrounded by social media and technology, sometimes that is the only option one has to showcase their support. And that is okay!!! Sometimes, meaningless posts or hashtags end up creating movements that rewrite history. Remember the #MeToo movement, need I say more? There is this case that I want to bring up in relation to this dilemma: is digital advocacy a waste of time? Is it a waste of time? I believe it is not. Let’s analyze this through a feminist lens (shout out to my RealTalk girls, do some research for once in your lives and stop being miserable!!!!)

In 2016, a woman was murdered in a bathroom in South Korea by a man who said that she just ignored him…!!!! How amazing is it that women are living in a world where this is a real fear (watch Adolescence on Netflix btw) Obviously, people were outraged, especially women. When trying to gather attention and raise awareness of this situation, a new form of activism arose called sticky activism. Now what is this?? Remember the club/bar example I gave up top?? Basically people began to leave a gazillion physical sticky notes at the scene of the crime, like isn't that genius? You don’t tend to see sticky notes just scattered on the floor and this leads to you wanting to see what's written on them. On the sticky notes, women expressed their anger and sadness that this crime had occurred and that the media was trying to frame it as a “random killing by a mentally ill man” rather than what it actually was: an act of femicide. The use of sticky notes and the continued outrage of women online was enough to get national attention. This enabled conversations to be had on how to better protect women from everyday discrimination practices and how to challenge the blatant misogyny affecting South Korea. A month after the murder, the South Korean government actually announced that they were taking measures that were specifically designed to address crimes against women. Sticky notes can even be seen as more heartfelt and human since they’re typically handwritten and can help a reader of its message engage in the same practice and also spread the word about this activity online, so now they would be spreading awareness both irl and online.

So, let's reanswer my question from before: is digital activism and advocacy a waste of time? NO!! Especially when it is as persistent as this, when it is fuelled by women who are tired of being treated unequally and who are scared to even interact with the rest of society out of fear of what could happen to them. The internet and social media, despite its many MANY problems that we’ve discussed on here before, has the power to bring us together and can spark global solidarity and policy change, and not just for issues affecting women. Also, without the internet and social media, I wouldn’t be able to help debunk the insane conspiracies that the RealTalk girls just keep spewing out (pls god make them stop) and I wouldn’t have built this platform with all of you guys. 

BTW this is not me saying that there are some people that just repost stuff to do the bare minimum and use social issues to showcase their stance to "fit in" because people like that absolutely exist. I'm just saying that many of us are not in a position to help make direct, instantaneous change or can go to peaceful protests, so the next best thing that they CAN do is raise awareness on the internet. This is another issue entirely that is not the main focus of this post but lmk if you want me to explore that topic question mark?

I’ve linked the paper up top so y’all can read more about sticky activism and how it helped introduce a new alternative feminist media practice. A really interesting read, totally recommend it so check it out folks. ANYWHO remember the RealTalk podcast sucks, double check your sources, and keep finding ways to spread awareness on the issues you care about cuz at least you’re making more of a difference than some people who are too selfish or delusional to gaf so yeah. We're all just trying out best. STAY VIGILANT PLS

First, let me tell you about how I tripped and fell into this rabbit hole Alice in Wonderland style. I took a look at Elon’s Twitter page and found this old tweet:

Remember when he used to be a woke leftist ???? Back in the good ole days when he dated environmentalist GRIMES. I rolled my eyes and was going to move on until something caught my attention. Musk’s tweet about Wikipedia?

Y’all know me I live online, but I hadn’t heard about these statements from Musk. On my train of research, I found this article from Arno Rosenfeld, which went into the how The Heritage Foundation wants to find Wikipedia editors they believe are spreading anti-sematic rhetoric and claims. Now after reading the article and doing some digging, I feel it’s not my place to make a stance on whether what these Wikipedia editors were writing about was right or wrong, but I will say that DOXING THEM is not the way to deal with people you disagree with. Especially, due to the privacy and safety concerns of outing potentially marginalized individuals. There again, I don’t expect any less from an extreme right-wing entity; I’m sure the REALTALK girls love the Heritage Foundation. There is; however, something that stood out to me in this issue, the idea that advocacy can change from platform to platform and be manipulated in digital spaces.

I wanted to see how advocacy had integrated itself into the 2020s fake news, hate filled, brain rotted digital sphere. I found this short chapter by Amy Ge, who wrote about Skawennati, an Indigenous artist who creates films through the usage of video games. Specifically, they were talking about Skawennati’s retelling of the Creation story. Kinda meta, and y’all know how I feel about the metaverse, but I have to say that I its refreshing to see the usage of tech to tell stories that are often unheard or suppressed.

The beauty of digital advocacy is that it is an extension of the way people advocate in the physical realm. This study found that tweets associated with the #MeTooMovement convey individuality through digital expressions. Things like memes, hashtags, and emojis help to create voices of advocacy, illustrating the power of digital media in shaping social movements. And hey I’m an expressive online writer – SO I RELATE TO THIS 100%!

Now not to be the glass half-empty kind of a guy, but with the rise of right-wing hysteria and people like Elon Musk in charge of platforms in which digital advocacy thrives, what is the future for online expression. Will the #MeTooMovement still be allowed to exist, or will Musk have his X coding cronies wipe away the movement from Twitter history?  In an age of mass CENSORSHIP and FAKE NEWS how are people to discern what is true or fake, not to mention they’re only getting to see what the stakeholders of these platforms want them to see.

I didn’t quite get it, but I remember my friend Rebecca saying that women in CompSci always stick together. I did; however, wonder why such opinions and stereotypes emerged? So, I did some digging and was absolutely APPALLED by the stats I found on this website. Only around 23% of Tech jobs are held by WOMEN!!! One of the constantly growing industries has an extreme male bias, and I wanted to know why? I sat for a moment and thought, WELL! people like the REALTALK girls don’t help when trying to uplift women and break gender stereotypes. Stereotypes that insecure men will try to manipulate and exploit to degrade women just to try and reinforce their own toxic masculinity.

I wondered how these biases affect the way our software has come to exist (AS IT SEEMES THE MAJORITY OF PROGRAMMERS ARE MEN WHIPPING UP THEIR CODE BASED CONCOCTIONS). After an internet dive I found this TedTalk by Elise Hu, discussing a concept she calls the technological gaze. From what I understood this is the idea of how algorithms have developed notions of beauty standards, which surprise surprise adhere to unattainable beauty standards. The usage of AI photoshop isn’t easy to catch, leading women to feel it necessary to get bodily surgeries to ‘IMPROVE’ the way they look and adhere to the beauty standards of today.

No offense, but I don’t want to live in a world where everyone looks like Kylie Jenner and her duck lips. I mean part of the reason the algorithms win is because mass corporations use celebrity influencers to push products onto consumers to get them hooked on continually buying products. EVEN IF IT MEANS TELLING A 9-YEAR-OLD THAT THEY’RE LIPS ARE TOO SMALL. Like what!?!?!?!?!?!?!??! This video from Good Morning America goes into the psychological issues associated with beauty trends being push onto impressionable youth, in relation to the recent skincare fad. And don’t get me started about how when we really look into it and reflect back on the percent of women in tech, its not surprising to find out it is men writing and imputing their bias’ and preferences into the software, which are developing these beauty standards.

I strongly wonder why such misogyny entered into the world of tech? I did some more research after pondering how the world is supposed to get better when it seems everyone wants to go back to the days of Mesopotamia, where a man could punch a pregnant woman and if she died then the state wouldn’t kill the man who struck her, but rather murder his daughter. Cause the Code of Hammurabi made sense right!?!?!? I found this article, which discusses how women have been INSTRUMENTAL in the development of technology. In fact, women were the first computers during WW1. Women in computing have ensured that the design and development of software reflect a range of human experience, particularly when it comes to visual knowledge. Their contributions have helped create software that doesn’t just process data, but processes and presents it in ways that are culturally aware, user-centered, and inclusive. Yet, we are blind sided to believe that’s not how it actually is?!?!?!? FUCK THE PATRIARCHY! And you can learn more about how women today are changing the tech industry in this Forbes article.

FIRST, let me make this very clear if it wasn’t already obvious to everyone before hand. THERE ARE NO GHOSTS LIVING IN YOUR COMPUTER! The REALTALK girls never actually mention what the overarching concept all their jabberwocky from this week is encompassed by, but in short, from what I can decipher, they’re discussing the concept of digital ghosts. The concept of digital ghosts refers to the online personas left behind by those who have passed. This entails both the digital footprints of the deceased through their social media profiles and blogs, as well as the usage of digital spaces to create memorials for deceased individuals. Though the concept encompasses a variety of topics ‘virtual ghosts’ are NOT real ghosts being controlled by SATAN. Yes, Joanna Rogain I wrote the S word.

I will say that I commend the REALTALK girls on using some thought towards their ghost conspiracy. The idea that minerals are harvested from the ashes of witches and used to make up motherboards in computers, which result in how ghosts are able to enter the internet and talk to people through their screens as well as shut down ‘GODLY’ websites, is some real deep thinking - I hope my readers can catch on to the sarcasm ;) Sadly ladies it’s not the ghosts of leftists that are the reason ‘404 Page Not Found’ pops up on your screen when you try to access your old bible study website. In actuality, website pages like humans can be living or dead. ‘404 Page Not Found’ is the message that appears when a user tries to access an internet page that has a broken URL or has been deleted, or in other words is DEAD. These are the REAL ghosts of the internet, the phantom sites that once were. #RIPADOBEFLASHGAMES

Going back to the idea of virtual ghosts in relation to creating digital memorials, there is a supposed ethical issue associated with the principle, and not in the bible thumping way of the REALTALK girls. Another usage for AI has risen once again with usage of AI chatbots to help with grief. The supposed ‘ghosts’ the REALTALK girls were discussing are actually uploaded personalities of deceased individuals onto chatbots. These chatbots are then used to allow a person grieving to talk to their lost loved one. I’m no psychologist so I won’t comment too much on the matter, but I do find this a little creepy and arguably a way to exploit a grieving person if these chatbots become commercialized.

Speaking on unethical commercialization of digital memories – NFT’s. Once again, those pesky NFT’s come into play in relation to virtual ghosts. How you might ask? Well, you can blame Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse, and the creation of meta cemeteries. Marble Town is the first of these metaverse cemeteries in which users have the ability to purchase plots and headstones for deceased individuals. They can then decorate these plots with NFT’s and hold virtual memorial services. Some may call this sentimental, others on the more pessimistic train might call it a way to prey on grief-stricken individuals and steal their money. And hey, the funeral industry has already been doing that for decades, but given the dead are already taking up space in the ground, do they really need to be taking up space in the internet too (need I remind you the internet also takes up space in reality and damages our environment) all because some techy wants to make an extra buck???????

I’m gonna rapid-fire debunk some of their wild claims using this article about the history of the internet, because the claims about atlantis of all places in connection to the internet is WILD. 

To begin with, the internet often gives the illusion of being a seamless, digital space. I will applaud the REALTALK girls for recognizing the fact that the internet has a physical dimension to it. HOWEVER they seem to speak about its physicality in relation to a single geographical location (Area 51?? Atlantis ????). The fact of the matter is that the internet works through a network of physical technology - think routers, cable and telephone lines, things like that. 

These are spread across the globe, like the undersea fiber optic cables brought up in the podcast. However, these cables simply serve as a point of connection in our digital network, not a point of origin. This is a guess on my part, but I’d sooner believe that sharks sometimes attack these electrical cables because they hunt by sensing electrical currents than because these apex predators have an inherent moral compass (seriously how do they come up with this?) 

The internet is a product of global US military expansion, particularly in the light of the Cold War, not alien interference. They needed an efficient network that works from anywhere on the planet in order to effectively communicate! This started with ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency, which later became DARPA, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) in the 1960’s and 70’s, which relied on fixed, wired connections. While this ‘ARPANET’ was an improvement, it didn’t work in locations where wires weren’t already placed. So those who were deployed in faraway places, like ‘deep in enemy territory’, were kinda screwed. I’d have to guess that people in submarines just had to hope for the best lol. 

Another huge issue was that these networks spoke different ‘languages’ which hindered their ability to communicate with one another and function seamlessly. As such, there were efforts made to create a set of universal rules for networks to communicate, which led to the first successful test of ‘internetworking’ in Silicon Valley in 1976. This involved the transmission of information from a computer terminal to a radio transmitter to an antenna to a computer (the final destination). This information travelled over 3,000 miles, perfectly intact !!! This basically proves that networks with different physical infrastructure and means of transmission could be connected to communicate seamlessly. 

After much fine-tuning, this network was able to be utilized all over. While this was done with the intention of militaristic gain, the internet was made available to everyday people in by the 1990’s. People could chat online, make their own websites, have cyber sex and spread ludicrous conspiracy theories for fun !! And this eventually led to the modern day where anyone can grab a mic, pretend to be an expert and post misinformation online yay!

When looking at the facts they provided, I’m shocked to say that 90% of it was WRONG, to the point where most of it can’t even be considered misinformation, as it didn’t only lack resources but also reason. On the other hand, when looking at the work of researchers like Luke Stark, provides a clear way to explain the impact and implications of AI. You don’t even need to read 100s of books to get a clear explanation of how to think of AI.

Luke, himself describes AI in terms of animation in his paper Animation and Artificial Intelligence. This comparison allows for a broader understanding of the questions plaguing the hosts of the REALTALK podcast, in which they are talking specifically about topics such as how it works, the political and social implications of AI, and its role in our lives. These are questions that many have but with minimum research, the research reveals itself. Their main concern was seeing how AI interacts with their lives and how to navigate the discourse around AI. The first steps to this are defining and refining terms we use to talk about AI, such as specificities of what people are referring to when speaking about AI and how that differs from other models of AI. The most common AI models that we interact with are models such as ChatGPT, Meta AI, and other AI assistants found in apps that we use daily. These are called chatbots and use Large Language Models (LLM).

These LLMs are what power popular chatbots that seem to be human-like. The notion that these LLMs are getting smarter and are getting more like humans is one of the concerns brought up in the podcast episode. This phenomenon is brought up by Luke when speaking about the “grammar of action”, which is a set of rules that the LLMs follow to find words that correspond to each other to add syntax and meaning. This is why when looking things up on ChatGPT, the words make sense and sound human-like, as these sets of rules ensure that the words make sense in the order they appear in the most often. However, this set of rules isn’t only using this set of rules to adapt to the inputs on the spot but rather has been put through filters to output responses that are closer to human-like grammar. This means that when you get an answer from a chatbot, although it is read as a human response, the LLM has been filtered enough to put out the most common human-like response possible, not really a nuanced answer.

The nuanced responses that put up the face of always being right can also seem to be non-biased however this is not the case, as many factors go into the political position of AI and the governing around it. One of these as Luke mentions is how it should be treated in the similarities to any other technologies in the sense that there should be policies and safety measures that must be instilled by the governing bodies to prevent exploitation and manipulation. As these LLMs are being upgraded at an incredible speed, the laws that surround them aren’t keeping up. This creates space for copyright issues as LLMs have the range to pull from anything they can and take credit for other people’s work on the internet however current copyright laws are also trying to combat the exploitation of media on the internet. There are also the ethical questions of what the humanistic qualities of AI chatbots the implication of explicit and exploitational content that they pump out and how that interacts with community guidelines.