Smartphones (15)
Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.
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- 13 min
- Kinolab
- 2013
In this episode, Victoria wakes up with no memory of who she is in a post-apocalyptic scenario. She is chased and hunted by weapon-toting masked people, and gets no help from the bystanders who record her horrific struggle for survival on their smartphones. Eventually, it is revealed that this scenario is an engineered reality. While the digital technologies present here are limited, this narrative stands as an effective metaphor to study the phenomenon of “cancel culture” and other ways in which digital technologies alienate the humanity of others.
- Kinolab
- 2013
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- 13 min
- Kinolab
- 2013
Fascination and Desensitization through Digital Technologies
In this episode, Victoria wakes up with no memory of who she is in a post-apocalyptic scenario. She is chased and hunted by weapon-toting masked people, and gets no help from the bystanders who record her horrific struggle for survival on their smartphones. Eventually, it is revealed that this scenario is an engineered reality. While the digital technologies present here are limited, this narrative stands as an effective metaphor to study the phenomenon of “cancel culture” and other ways in which digital technologies alienate the humanity of others.
Do smartphones and their recording capabilities make people less sensitive to events or phenomena which they capture? How do digital news channels or platforms sensationalize bad people, especially criminals or other wrong-doers, and inspire collective hatred? How can digital technologies be designed to be more empathetic? Why is it so easy to criticize others over digital channels?
Black Mirror: Victoria Wakes Up-
- 6 min
- Kinolab
- 2019
Chris is a driver at an Uber-esque company with a great amount of anxiety and disdain for the widespread addiction to smartphones. He inexplicably waits outside the same building every day to pick up clients. One day, he finally proceeds with a dastardly plan.
- Kinolab
- 2019
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- 6 min
- Kinolab
- 2019
Ride-Hailing Hazards
Chris is a driver at an Uber-esque company with a great amount of anxiety and disdain for the widespread addiction to smartphones. He inexplicably waits outside the same building every day to pick up clients. One day, he finally proceeds with a dastardly plan.
How has digital addiction made the expectation for convenience so normalized that people are willing to put themselves into dangerous situations, as the passenger Jaden does here? What kinds of safety features have companies like Uber or Lyft built into their platforms so far, and how could they do even better?
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- 8 min
- Kinolab
- 2019
Chris, a ride-share driver who took passenger Jaden hostage in order to leverage a conversation with social media CEO Billy Bauer, tells the story of how his distracted driving (through looking at a notification from social media on his smartphone) ultimately killed his wife and other drivers. As the hostage situation comes to an end, the world watches over social networks before looking up from their phones and returning to their lives.
- Kinolab
- 2019
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- 8 min
- Kinolab
- 2019
Consistent Digital Distraction
Chris, a ride-share driver who took passenger Jaden hostage in order to leverage a conversation with social media CEO Billy Bauer, tells the story of how his distracted driving (through looking at a notification from social media on his smartphone) ultimately killed his wife and other drivers. As the hostage situation comes to an end, the world watches over social networks before looking up from their phones and returning to their lives.
Does the speed and volume of sensational events which users can access through digital channels ultimately de-sensitize users to the real world? Do social media companies have culpability in ensuring that their products are not over-addictive, or does responsibility ultimately fall solely on users to make the right choices? Are current protections against distracted driving aggressive enough? In a meta-commentary sense, do you believe this narrative adds anything new to the digital addiction/distracted driving conversation, or is it the same warning that has been given over and over again to no avail?
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- 14 min
- Kinolab
- 2014
Brandy and Tim are two teens who attempt to live normal lives through interacting with their peers through social media platforms. For Brandy, this means using a secret Tumblr account to express herself, since her mother has passwords to all her other accounts and is able to constantly collect data from her daughter’s devices. Tim finds similar comfort in chatting with anonymous friends in an online game chat room. Tim and Brandy’s developing relationship is threatened once both of their parents overstep and violate their children’s privacy and trust.
- Kinolab
- 2014
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- 14 min
- Kinolab
- 2014
Interaction Records and Privacy from Parents
Brandy and Tim are two teens who attempt to live normal lives through interacting with their peers through social media platforms. For Brandy, this means using a secret Tumblr account to express herself, since her mother has passwords to all her other accounts and is able to constantly collect data from her daughter’s devices. Tim finds similar comfort in chatting with anonymous friends in an online game chat room. Tim and Brandy’s developing relationship is threatened once both of their parents overstep and violate their children’s privacy and trust.
Since social media and smartphones can contain complete records of interactions between people, how can parents intervene in their children’s social lives more thoroughly in the digital age? Is letting teenagers have complete control over their social media use and privacy part of letting them be children in the digital age? How do digital chat rooms make it difficult to verify the true identity of those with whom people interact? How does this anonymity allow people to act differently than they might in real life? Is digital addiction a true problem, or is this simply the truth of social life in the digital age?
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- 5 min
- Wired
- 2020
As means of preserving deceased loved ones digitally become more and more likely, it is critical to consider the implications of technologies which aim to replicate and capture the personality and traits of those who have passed. Not only might this change the natural process of grieving and healing, it may also have alarming consequences for the agency of the dead. For the corresponding Black Mirror episode discussed in the article, see the narratives “Martha and Ash Parts I and II.”
- Wired
- 2020
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- 5 min
- Wired
- 2020
The Ethics of Rebooting the Dead
As means of preserving deceased loved ones digitally become more and more likely, it is critical to consider the implications of technologies which aim to replicate and capture the personality and traits of those who have passed. Not only might this change the natural process of grieving and healing, it may also have alarming consequences for the agency of the dead. For the corresponding Black Mirror episode discussed in the article, see the narratives “Martha and Ash Parts I and II.”
Should anyone be allowed to use digital resurrection technologies if they feel it may better help them cope? With all the data points that exist for internet users in this day and age, is it easier to create versions of deceased people which are uncannily similar to their real identities? What would be missing from this abstraction? How is a person’s identity kept uniform or recognizable if they are digitally resurrected?
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- 7 min
- MIT Technology Review
- 2020
This article details a new approach emerging in AI science; instead of using 16 bits to represent pieces of data which train an algorithm, a logarithmic scale can be used to reduce this number to four, which is more efficient in terms of time and energy. This may allow machine learning algorithms to be trained on smartphones, enhancing user privacy. Otherwise, this may not change much in the AI landscape, especially in terms of helping machine learning reach new horizons.
- MIT Technology Review
- 2020
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- 7 min
- MIT Technology Review
- 2020
Tiny four-bit computers are now all you need to train AI
This article details a new approach emerging in AI science; instead of using 16 bits to represent pieces of data which train an algorithm, a logarithmic scale can be used to reduce this number to four, which is more efficient in terms of time and energy. This may allow machine learning algorithms to be trained on smartphones, enhancing user privacy. Otherwise, this may not change much in the AI landscape, especially in terms of helping machine learning reach new horizons.
Does more efficiency mean more data would be wanted or needed? Would that be a good thing, a bad thing, or potentially both?