what sci-fi can teach us about the present and future of information - touch screen overlay mac

Combine growing attachment to smartphones with advances in cutting technologyedge goggles (
Google Glasses)
What did you get?
Accept augmented reality (AR)
It is supposed to be ready for last year's prime time.
With the development of the incubator and the technology of our living room, the mouthpiece of Silicon Valley is becoming more and more comfortable, and it will create an exciting new world.
They say, be prepared for "more information"
Rich, more navigable, more interesting, more fun "existence.
It is an old advertising skill to equate more with better.
This message is deeply excavated in our minds, and it does not sound like Madison Avenue, more like a call from an ancestor. Is it shallow? Yes.
Is it easy to separate in academic discussions and harsh parent lectures? Sure.
Does it exude the flavor of idealistic internet coverage that we have long been bombarded? Absolutely!
But let's face it.
If the ideal does not work, it will not stick to it.
We are big fools.
A persuasive jingle requires a satisfactory product, or at least a memorable reference.
AR will improve city exploration, museum visits, shopping, our travel and historical experience, customer service, safety and rescue operations, and home decor, according to an article.
Another suggestion is that AR can inject new vitality into reading by adding "depth and additional understanding of narrative.
AR cooking, games and cars are also the goal, and the hallmark of human uniqueness is: our minds.
With so many changes expected, Evernote CEO Phil Libin speculated that it would soon be "barbaric" to look at the world without an AR lens ".
"The experience is so powerful that you feel stupid as soon as you take off your glasses," he said . ".
While it is difficult to go beyond incomplete details and revolutionary rhetoric, authors who specialize in liberating imagination from technological myths can address this challenge.
Tim Mogan is one of them. -
His short story, limited edition, is currently shortlisted for the British science fiction award. -
Is the most suitable person to talk
Mogen and I started to exchange ideas about technology, and he commented in an article I recently wrote for Atlantic: "augmented reality racism.
In fact, although the three stories composed of Mogen's "cyberpunk" novel "paintings" solve many possibilities ---
Greedy companies publish ubiquitous virtual reality advertising, which is a big obstacle to the city landscape ("Paintwork")
Authoritarian guilds from large multiplayer online games have gained unnecessary cultural and social status
Political influence ,("Paparazzi")
And poor countries feel pressure to pursue economic development by accepting technology-driven commercialism (
"Enhanced Havana ")--
He has paid so much attention to the future of AR that it can be said to be the main character.
Evan Selinger: What prompted you to write a speculative novel about AR? Why this topic?
Why deal with it with this type?
Tim Mohan: To be honest, I'm not sure when or how I decided to write.
The first one in this group of short stories I wrote was the paparazzi, and the paparazzi actually didn't have a lot of AR except for the opening scene, mostly about the old good guys --
Virtual reality.
As a story, it's an attempt to do two things: put together some of my thoughts on the online gaming community and economics, and try the world --building.
The thing of AR came out of the latter.
The next thing I'm writing about is Havana enhancement, where AR does play a central role.
But, I wrote, when I was on vacation in Cuba, I wanted to write something about the pride, ideological and pragmatic conflict that the country is currently facing.
Painting is once again about AR, but it is actually about the public and corporate control of urban space, and the unique authenticity problems faced by artists in digital culture.
Again, with the limited edition, I have a very clear idea of writing 2011 British riots, consumerism and their descriptions on traditional and social media.
AR has just become a handy tool for exploring and visualizing these things.
What I'm trying to say is that I never sit down and "write AR ".
With all these stories, AR is just a metaphor, a literary tool that allows me to talk about current social issues and topics in a promising, very intuitive way.
But, as a writer, that's what I think about science fiction in general. -
Tools to explore and present the present rather than predict the future.
I am not interested in this or at least not doing it accurately.
In fact, sometimes, I think it may be more interesting to look at SF in the future;
This usually means that it represents a better time for it to be written.
The prediction of failure may be more indicative of the period of their imagination than the prediction of success.
Evan Selinger: Do you think my description of AR is your main character?
Most people think this is a category error. -
The dislocation of the human projection.
However, there is a rich theoretical and literary tradition in which things are represented.
The French philosopher Bruno Latur is sticking to this view like Richard Bowles, one of my favorite writers.
Simulation Technology is characteristic of his efforts in the dark.
Tim Mohan: It's an interesting shot and one that I haven't really considered before.
I think it might be true. -
But according to my previous answer, I think AR is a literary means, so maybe the main character is the subject I'm trying to explore?
I think it might be a more fair assessment.
I must admit that my understanding of contemporary science fiction is very bad.
I haven't met Powers before.
His work looks very interesting. let me see it.
Evan Selinger: I don't want the painting to sound too preaching.
This is of course a rich literary work.
Nevertheless, your handling of commercialism and advertising shines so desperately that I would love to see your story as a literary exploration of philosophical essays ---
Some believe that linking innovation with the market will eventually cloud the future.
Can you elaborate on that?
Tim Mohan: the link between innovation and the market is finally a dark cloud.
We now have access to technologies that can improve human survival, mainly the market ---
The Divine we have--
This prevents us from making full use of them.
Despair is a very strange concept and very subjective.
I was recently asked at a meeting if I felt my job was dystopian and I replied that I felt it was realistic.
At that time, I smiled and was told my tongue --in-
But I'm serious, too.
Dystopian is relative.
A person's dystopia is the reality of another person, even utopia.
It depends where you stand. -
What is your point of view, maybe what you understand.
Let me explain it with a very common example.
The Internet always makes me a little confused.
Anger at Apple's release cycle.
When people see the new iPad released last year, they are very frustrated, as if it is the most insidious and exploited thing capitalism can do.
Really not.
Even from a purely consumer perspective, it is a small matter compared to how capitalism manipulates individuals, society, politics, and democracy.
Perhaps this is a sign of cultural differences between Europe and the United States. S.
Both regions have fully embraced consumer capitalism, but it feels the same in the US. S.
The market is hardly questioned, and it seems that doing so is almost blasphemy.
Not questioning something will result in not understanding it and not getting a full picture.
If you don't have a full picture, then it may look cynical, dystopian or desperate when someone is questioning it, and in fact, it may just be observant, sensible.
I'm not saying that my job is one of them, but maybe it's because in the UK we're more open to questioning the market and what I'm talking about seems less aggressive or cynical.
Cynicism is relative, try to express it more gracefully.
It can't change anything immediately. -
If it is not a revolutionary of Marxism, you can question the nature and influence of capitalism.
Evan Selinger: the fact that you chose AR as the dominant literary device shows that you do think it's a particularly good tool to open up that we don't have enough discussion right now.
This is my goal in "augmented reality racism" where I think it's easy to get caught up in the current AR hype as it only focuses on interesting and harmless products.
Could you please elaborate on how we need more discussion, why are the standard genres that cover them not doing the job, and how can AR be a good tool for expanding discourse?
Tim Maughan: What's interesting is that you say "because it only focuses on interesting and harmless products, it's easy to get caught up with the current AR hype" because I think you're exactly right
But I will go a little deeper.
The AR hype is easy to fall for because it still looks fancy and exciting.
Technology is the most effective-
So it's probably the most disruptive because want a better word ---
When it goes through that novel stage, it becomes ordinary and ordinary.
Smartphones have fundamentally changed the way we live our daily lives, and this is perhaps a recent example.
I believe most of the people reading this remember when the first iPhone was released and how exciting and revolutionary it looks: mobile devices are always connected, monitors, touch screens, and form factors.
Now, they look very ordinary, everywhere.
They're even slow.
Almost anywhere on Earth, it is impossible to walk around without seeing dozens of densely populated areas used by a wide variety of people.
The first iPhone was released in 2007.
From revolutionary product launches to completely mundane ubiquity, this is incredible in just six years.
Few of us have time to stop and think about the impact it has on our individual or society.
What is the impact of a simple, continuous connection on our work or family life?
Coupled with the explosive growth of social media-
Another very rapid breakthrough. to-mundane cycle --
How does this affect the people around us?
Or is it far from us?
What impact does this have on how we see communication, discussion, and debate?
When it comes to the impact of judgment technology on us, there is an understandable trend that first of all, the adopters and hackers will plunge in.
I think this is in part what scholars and journalists want to be seen as "cool-
Look for the latest trends and guess what they might look like.
It's always fun, but I don't believe it.
The so-called frontier is obvious.
One of the most interesting things about the 2011 UK riots is the use of BlackBerry Messenger.
They basically flash.
Mobs organized through the BBM network proved to be very effective and well suited for this task.
While Twitter evangelists like to credit the Arab Spring uprising to them, the unrest in Britain mainly involves people who don't use social networks at all.
The use of BBM surprised reporters and experts, but it seemed obvious afterwards.
BlackBerry is very popular inside.
Due to the relatively low cost of mobile phones compared to iphone and so on, urban communities.
, BBM service allows unlimited SMS style messages to be sent in just 5 months and is able to "broadcast" messages to everyone in the contact ---
Including forwarding the information you send, which means it is very easy to spread the information.
All of this sounds like Twitter, but BBM has a lot of interesting differences.
Most importantly, it is basically a closed network or, more accurately, a real social network based on social connections.
If you don't have BlackBerries and BBM, you can't see what people are saying, and even if you do, you can only see the messages that people you really know send or broadcast to you.
It's actually a private version of Twitter.
You can't go to someone's public profile.
You can't search.
No Labels, no hot topics.
The consequence of this is that it is actually a better revolutionary tool than an open, centralized network like Twitter or Facebook.
It's hard for anyone but RIM to monitor it ---
That's why it totally captures the police, the authorities, the media and the trends --
The surprised observer.
This is a network of companies. -not some open-
SOURCE Twitter's alternative or elusive anonymous darkness-net.
This is a very common, dull-looking system that seems to be a thoughtful one.
So, how does this go to AR?
Well, I guess my point is it's hard to say at this stage.
We can all talk about the frontier possibilities of new technology, but the fact is that before it becomes universal, in the hands of a large number of people, we don't know how it will be used.
I don't want to hurt anyone's geeks. pride here (
Okay, maybe I did a little.
But being an early adopter will only make you special in a short period of time, and you will not make any paradigm changes yourself.
By definition, you need someone else to do this with you.
What discussion do I think AR can open up as a literary device?
The main difference between it and the existing Internet, communication and social networking technologies lies in its physics. -
How it takes root through display overlay and location technology in the "real world" space.
So it's a perfect idea to explore conflicts between public, private and corporate spaces-
This is what I am trying to see in painting and limited edition.
How do we define public spaces?
Who controls what we see when we are in these spaces?
Why, for example, is advertising considered acceptable in public space, but graffiti is not?
Both of these forms are in so-
It is called public space without invitation.
These are the issues that affect us today. -
I live in a big city and I can't walk out the front door without advertising bombing (
This is also a graffiti in Bristol, though much smaller)--
While it seems that the ubiquitous AR will only elaborate on this situation in the future, discussing it now is actually a good opportunity to raise some questions about the present that we don't often consider.
For example, people are very frustrated with ads on online, web pages, and social networks, and I am always fascinated.
It sometimes makes people crazy, which is totally understandable, except for the same people, who may not blink when they are surrounded by billboard ads on streets and public transport, even when they were watching TV
They don't care at all, it seems.
When the reality of these two forms of commercial advertising starts to blend, will they start to care, like AR?
How will they deal with AR, which is equivalent to graffiti, protests and social unrest?
Or this new technology. -
Like your fictional Grandma in the Atlantic story. -
Let them just tune it out?
Maybe it will let them exclude the latter, but I don't see how they can turn off the ads as easily as they used.
Or maybe you can remove the ad by paying an extra fee-
We immediately created another class system in which economic differences affect people's actual perception of the common space that is usually shared.
But we are talking about not just the future, but the present. day concerns.
Have you noticed how billboards are reduced in the leafy suburbs?
When was the last time you saw a closed community or country house surrounded by cocaCola ads?
This is a huge over-simplification, but I think it is often helpful to imagine the future as an exaggeration now.
Or, at least as I write: sometimes exaggeration and lies tell us more than just the truth.