Social Hallucinations

The Extensions of Man

Technology empowers. Photo camera that enables people to create memories that would be lost if not for the camera. Camera that becomes the extention of the man.Well captured by Samsung.

via Scary ideas

 

Internet Memes - what, how and where?

What makes us laugh? What makes talk? What is worth sharing? The overview of internet memes.

Via: Online University

 

The Future is Anchored in the Present

Once we used to believe it will be Google and Amazon who share the power and newspapers will be dead. We had no idea about the role Facebook will play. Why? Because we are anchored in the present. We believe in linear development of media and technology. We believe that some of them will progress and evolve undisturbed, while other become extinct. Well, fortunately the universe and people are full of surprises. It is interesting though to watch this video from 2007 and see how things have already took a completely different route.

Hat tip to Helge Tennø

 

BBC Dimensions

Sometimes, it is hard imagine how powerful and big some events can be. We need to set things in perspective. This is what BBC Dimensions does. It takes important places, events and things, and overlays them onto a map of where you are.

 

 

 

 

Technology Epitaph is Useless

The latest Chris Anderson's article in Wired on the death of web was rather provoking and caused quite a stir.

What always surprise me is the easiness with which we kill things around and present them as useless. Like we discard old clothes, we try to discard the technology. We've already tried to kill radio, TV and print. All three are still living and doing quite good, but the way they are used has changed.

As history shows, technologies evolve and being shaped by people and their needs they can coexist and merge.

There is some pinch of sensationalism in the way of declaring web dead. Alexis Madrigal from Atlantic responded to Anderson's article: "What's Wrong with X is Dead".

"From the vantage point of the present, it may seem that technologies are deterministic. But this view is incorrect, no matter how plausible it may seem. Cultures select and shape technologies, not the other way around, and some societies have rejected or ignored even the gun or the wheel. For millennia, technology has been an essential part of the framework for imagining and moving into the future, but the specific technologies chosen have varied. As the variety of human cultures attests, there have always been multiple possibilities, and there seems no reason to accept a single vision of the future." (David Nye, Technology Matters)

Killing the web seems like the attempt to simplify and feel more in control over the complex and unpredictable world of people behavior and interactions - choosing a single vision for the future. It is tempting to have a single vision, because it is more manageable and controllable but world keeps on evolving into plenty of parallel and intersecting paths.

There is no need to write an epitaph when nobody died.

The Cross that Divided the Nation

Mixing politics and religion isn't the best idea. Here is the photo story of a cross honouring the victims of the plane crash that killed the late Polish president Lech Kaczynski that has provoked a divide in Polish nation. The religious symbol has become the political weapon.

My photo reportage from my trip to Warsaw: the cross that divided the nation

 

What Athlete are You?

In the constantly jogging, sweating, striving and starving to be fit world where sport achievements are highly valued, this spot from Puma is quite refreshing. It is cool you finished marathon, yes it makes you an athlete but you know what we are all athletes, after hour athletes. It makes me smile. Relax. There is no need to run so fast.

"Because we know it takes just as much effort to score a phone number as it does to score a goal."

 

Transforming the Space

Space is a precious commodity as we populate cities. The more people, the less square meters. Many people struggle today with the housing problems as their families grow. The problem seems to be very difficult to solve, unless you've met Gary Chang - the domestic transformer. He gives the real meaning to the expression "small is the new big" .

This is very inspiring video showing the process of how Gary Chang transformed his 344 sq. ft. apartment into 24 rooms residence. Such solutions will be unavoidable in the near future in majority of cities. Exploiting the space. Optimizing it and making it sustainable. After all we just don't need vast space to live in, what we need is the functionality of the domestic surroundings.

Photoshopping reality

We so used to customiztion. We can adjust so many things around us, so they fit to our needs, from mail to shoes. Things are the way we like and want. So why not take it a step harder and change the reality by using the glasses that can photoshop reality. Funny and dangerous invention. Don't try it at home ;)

 

Taming the City

The cities are growing. We get surrounded by the constructions of concrete, steal and glass. Urban landscape we learn to thrive in. Inhuman and cold. Unmoved and inflexible. Humans against concrete. The architecture is the form of culture that tames human lifestyle nominating the paths we should follow. It describes the boundaries of human movement. Pedestrian crossings, bicycle lanes, pavements, doors... The city can have a completely different meaning. Let's take freerunning - the way to tame the city. It is a take over of immovable urban space. Freerunning defines it in the new way, turning it into utility, challenging the way we move and live. 

The more focus on profit, the less good ideas

What motivates us...

Empathic Civilisation

Jeremy Rifkin investigates the evolution of empathy and the profound ways that it has shaped our development and our society. Must see...two things may surprise you: there is no empathy in heaven and Bible was right - we are descendants of Adam and Eve. 

Via Johnnie Moore

Digital Crystal Ball

The future is the remix of the present. Great example of the evolution of present into future is this service called Recorded Future, which offers unique analysis tools to aggregate and organize past and present events, and provides a comprehensive outlook of the future. You can get insights into what's going to happen for only $149 a month. Exciting idea and cheap price for taking a look into the future.

The Movie is in your Hands - Finale

 

3 years ago I wrote a post about Polish NON-COMMERCIAL artistic project called Sufferosa by Dawid Marcinkowski and yesterday I was contacted by him and he got great news - the project is finished.  So get ready for amazing experience. Sufferrosa is a non-linear, interactive web-based movie, an experimental storytelling project combining cinema and the web. Film actors includes famous legends of the Polish film industry: Beata Tyszkiewicz, Ewa Szykulska and Ryszard Ronczewski and great soundtrack with the names as Sonic Youth, Glass Candy, Tarwater, Exploding Star Orchestra and many more.

Sufferrosa is a satire of cult of beauty and youth in the present-day world and frustrated woopies (Well-Off Older People) who spend their life savings on plastic surgery. 

   

"You are never too old to become younger" (Mae West)

Sufferrosa is D. Marcinkowski's homage to Jean Luc Godard’s movie 'Alphaville' (1965), W.J.Has's cult-movie 'Manuscript found in Saragossa' (1965), American film noir and the French writer Vernon Sullivan.

I will not tell you more, just tune into Sufferosa universe and take on this interactive and amazing ride. Remember what happens in the movie depends entirely on the choices you make.

 

The World is a Global Village

Marshall McLuhan explores how electronic media are changing society moving from individuals of print culture to tribes of electronic media culture.

The old media aren't replaced by the new ones, the just change the role they play in people's lives and society along with cultural changes the new media trigger. Evolution.

It is incredible to see that 50 years old interview and experience how future proof are some McLuhan's thesis.

via Wabi-Sabi Lab