Thank you again to my friend, Kathy Rutz, for suggesting these beads to me while we were at the Foundation for knitting the other day. She thought that I could use them on my cards, and she was right. I think they are very cute.
Not much else today. Although I listened to a very informative YouTube video today with two of my favorite thinkers, Russell Brand and Yuval Noah Harari. Harari addresses a group of college kids discussing the future of technology and the hacking of the human mind.
Technology and social medial are not going away, but we can be very conscious of how we use them and not let them use us. This will take a very heightened level of self-awareness.
Here is a shocking bit of information: The Internet will know a kid’s sexual orientation even before they do, based on how their eye movements respond to the screen. I’ve said it many times, I am so happy I don’t have kids. Such a huge job.
Beautiful. I love the beads.
Me too. I have some pink ones to use. I need to get pink paper. Can’t believe my time is almost up here.
Thanks for the video. It reminds me of a quote I copied down when I was reading “Cloud Atlas.”
Had to share an excerpt from a book I’m reading (Cloud Atlas)
“The corporations have money, power, and influence. Our sole weapon is public outrage. Outrage blocked the Yuccan Dam, ousted Nixon, and in part terminated the monstrosities in Vietnam. But outrage is unwieldy to manufacture and handle. First, you need scrutiny; second, widespread awareness; only when this reaches a critical mass does public outrage explode into being. Any stage may be sabotaged. The world’s Alberto Grimaldis can fight scrutiny by burying truth in committees, dullness, and misinformation, or by intimidating the scrutinizers. They can extinguish awareness by dumbing down education, owning TV stations, paying ‘guest fees’ to leader writers, or just buying the media up. The media — and not just The Washington Post — is where democracies conduct their civil wars.”
This is my favorite part of that quote: First, you need scrutiny; second, widespread awareness; only when this reaches a critical mass does public outrage explode into being.
It’s all about the algorithms. As we saw in the movies/documentaries, Social Media and Mind Hack, the human mind is easily manipulated by the media. And it’s not going to get any better…unless…as your quote suggests…we become AWARE. Once we are aware of what is happening, we can do what we can to have social media SERVE us rather than USE us. This technology can be a beautiful thing if we use it properly. I know from personal experience, I live the life I do because I have the services of technology.
Yes. And another important documentary on the topic is “Coded Bias” on Netflix.