As much as we like to believe, reality is not the default
The propagation of fake news over the past few years has created wide reaching problems, elevated tension, and tearing at the fabric of a globalized society. The control of information has always been a critical tool throughout social development. One of the most widespread original uses of the printing press was to disseminate religious text. Within the realm of warfare, the gathering of intelligence is necessary to make informed decisions and strategies. Throughout the political sphere, the use of propaganda and its modern cousins, attack ads, are powerful tools to shape electoral outcomes.
This ability to manipulate information serves as…
To cross a divide, the gap has to be understood.
Everything we do is about building bridges, making connections that weren’t previously there. These bridges allow people to cross over to places that would have been nearly impossible otherwise. It allows people to explore new territory, expand their views, and let separate worlds meet. There are bridges we build every day in small and large ways. Like when we say hi to a stranger, or ask our friends how they’re doing. Or when we go to work to keep the machinery of the world running. …
It is time for the law to protect its digital citizens.
The crackdown against hate speech and hate groups have finally begun, including silencing the former president himself. The amount of fury built up over the last few years culminated in revolt against the very ideals the United States stands for. It required literal destruction and death at the doorstep of their own federal government for the big tech to finally respond in kind. Yet, even then, their motivations seem less about altruism — to reign in the unsettling chaos — and more about self-preservation. The reason that bans have finally been implemented, accounts lifted, databases withdrawn is because it is…
The posts, the stories, the lies, the memories will live on
It is part of the human condition to fret over and regret things we have done. Our minds often seem like it is tormenting us with memories from a past long ago, as if it’s reminding us that there is no escape. This is who you are. These are the mistakes you’ve made. These are the consequences. These are your failures. And often the events we would most like to forget, the ones that caused the greatest amount of pain, are the ones that hang on the longest — a quiet alarm in the underpinnings of our conscious selves trying…
Every algorithm has a final destination, and it was never taken into account. Maybe it should be.
As 2020 draws to an end, there is mounting evidence and pressure on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit to face the rise of fake news, hate speech, and conspiracy, amplifying the divide between online communities. The propagation of individualized content in feeds and advertisements fuels the continual fragmentation of information on the web. Aside from the massive amounts of users numbering in the billions and the amount of political and commercial power that entails, these tech companies hold within them the power to shape the subjective realities of entire civilizations. Their detailed profiling and predictive algorithms have been…
A colourful cast, unbridled passion, and levelling up
The realm of anime was first introduced to me through the humble video rental store. Back then, my dad would take us to rent stuff every Tuesday when they had specials. I remember being able to grab four tapes for just a couple of bucks, as long as it wasn’t in the new releases. I went through a few different phases. Sci-fi. Horror. Academy award winners. Then there was the anime phase.
During the 90s, anime didn’t really have the same massive outreach it does now. A bunch of the boys at school were hardcore fans of Dragon Ball Z…
The built-in philosophies in the games of chess and go
Two of the crowning achievements in artificial intelligence’s rise to world dominance involved the elegant games of chess and go. The first step in the ladder was IBM’s Deep Blue victory over the legendary chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov in 1997. The next moment of triumph didn’t come for nearly another 10 years, when Google’s AlphaGo dominated over the world champion, Lee Sedol, 4 to 1.
Both of these games have somehow become a valuable marker of human capability, while simultaneously seen as a fringe marker of human awkwardness. Obsessing over little black and white pieces on a square board is…
What is felt can be heard if we learned how to really listen
Music is one of those things that has universal appeal, yet can create controversy when it comes to taste. Like wine, many enjoy it and few are obsessed. Fanatics of either realm propose that there is a hidden kind of depth that only the experienced can grasp. A vintage wine has an exquisite quality just like a vintage album played on vinyl. But the palette has to be trained in order to fully appreciate it. Sounds like a lot of snobby junk, but there’s something to it. At least that’s what I’ve learned from teaching myself music production.
I started…
And he probably still knows
I had always been kind of a smart kid. I usually did pretty well at school without trying too hard. A solid 85% student. I also was good at teaching myself things like drawing, photography, and the guitar. My parents never needed to help me much with things. I would just figure it out.
I was also a stubborn kid. It was hard for me to back down when confronted, and even harder to change my mind. When I was locked down on an idea, I was chained to it with a one-tonne shackle.
As I grew up, my family…
Transitioning into work in the strangest of times showed me the ups and downs of tech
As the end of 2020 approaches, it feels like an entire lifetime has passed by. So much has happened over the past months, that it’s hard to believe I had only started my current co-op position back in January. Since then, I also wrapped up my undergrad research and picked up my computer science degree in a pizza box (seriously). And like the rest of the world, I made the full transition to remote work. I’ll probably never forget the day we got the announcement at the office.
It was my first company wide release planning session. The cafeteria was…
Jacky Tang
A software designer-developer figuring out how the brain bits work and sharing the findings along the way
