Entry Eight: World Building

SEX ANDROIDS - SENDROIDS

The object is not an object per se. It’s not really a being either though, it does posses a human consciousness, it is self-aware and this is what the series plays with. The thing described here is obviously the sex android referred to before. It and its fellow… ?beings? have effectively replaced all human sexual intercourse. There is no more sex between two human individuals, at least not in what is considered “normal”. Socially, this has lead to a marginalisation of humans participating in kinky human-human sex.

As for who is using them - the more interesting question is who isn’t using the androids. Much like nowadays with sexual abuse of minors, especially the social elites, as in the rich and famous of this world tend to “organise” rings in which they abuse real humans to satisfy their kinks.

As with everything that has become a norm, there is no concrete why. It’s a historically grown concept that is deeply routed in the culture of this world.

The androids are used all over the world and I would love an establishing shot of them being used in different countries – with models that are adjusted to the nationals of the country. Maybe we show a website where somebody in say Europe orders an Asian-looking android, selecting phenotypes from some sort of selection menu.

The big break in this is twofold. For one – our  protagonists realise how they, supposedly “normal” people, are into what is now seen as “forbidden” and “wrong”. Secondly, however, this obviously bags the question in which way these androids have to be considered on a level with actual humans in their rights. Can they consent to certain actions? Should they have to consent? Is their purpose predefined by their makers? What is their impact on religion? This fucks a lot of the concepts our world now operates on.

Lastly, the plotline will investigate how certain collectives abuse all of this even further by selling jail-breaked androids as “real humans” to the abuse rings mentioned earlier.

MOOD SONG

MEMORISER

WHAT

what is it, what does it do, what can you do with it, what is it meant to do, what role does it play in people’s lives, what effect does it have on societal inequalities, what effect does it have on the environment, …

It is called ‘memoriser’ and it let’s you download memories of others to allow you to learn skills and acquire knowledge from them.

It works while you sleep, so you wake up with newly acquired knowledge. There are only so many memories the memoriser can implant and old memories fade when the capacity is filled with new ones.

The operation to implant the memoriser is heavily intrusive but nowadays routine and not feared by most.

People are clearly separated along the lines of usage: if people do not use them, they are seen as pure by some and as not completely finished humans by most.

Children are prohibited from implanting the memoriser as to not inhibit the development of the brain.

Since access to new memories has to be open, the resulting effect on inequalities is a positive one: most everyone can be equipped to do any job in a short amount of time. Furthermore, most people like doing jobs for which they recently memorised new skills.

Therefore, the perspective on work is less focussed on prestige and status and focusses more on what has to be done. With this new perspective, all work that has to be done was valued equally and is therefore compensated accordingly.

There is however one group of people that stand out: people who provide new memories and skills or (less often) update old skills with new knowledge. They are often colloquially called ‘immortals’, since a part of them long surpasses their death.

Who

who is it intended for, who actually uses it, who produces it, who opposes it, who embraces it, whom does it positively affect, whom does it negatively affect, …

The memoriser is intended for everyone, so long as they are old enough. Through societal pressure, most people also use the memoriser. It is produced in big public factories which are managed as public companies with the first goal being to produce memorisers with the best impacts on its society.

Through this distributed ownership, many citizens strongly identify with memorisers and the society it has granted them with little questioning of what further consequences its use might entail.

There are a few who oppose its use but they are actively excluded from society. These are people wanting to remain pure humans (often ‘as god created them’). By doctrine, they systematically do not support body modification. However, most followers simply do not like what the use of the memoriser did to their society. Their opposition stems from the fact that people become less individual, if they are implanted with the same memories of thousands of other people.

While there are still differences between people even having the same memories memorised, the inherent conformity to the norm provided by the memories is frightening to the purists.

Therefore, its use has both positive and negative effects on users. It allows them to quickly acquire new skills and transformed society to value work as such.

However, individuality and diversity decreased, as the influence of the few immortals on many through placement of their memories has an intense impact towards conformity, making some question if individuality is lost.

Why

why do people use it, why does it exist, why is it the way it is and not different, …

The why was hinted to earlier, but if people do not use it, they are shunned from society. The main argument for this exclusion that is often given by politicians is that they cannot do what needs to be done because they cannot retrain quickly enough to fill the shoes society expects them to fill. However, the truth is often more banal: they are often feared because they are different.

It was historically created as a means to transfer knowledge from people leaving the workforce in an ever older society. With not enough young people to maintain the status quo, people were working longer into their old age and had less time to train new people reinforcing the problem. The memoriser was an aim to provide a technical solution.

It leverages memories which are implanted during sleep, since it was the first thing that worked. While its hardware components were optimised over time and different styles for outside representations are available, the inside stayed basically the same, because it worked and there was little pressure to innovate it further.

Where

where is it produced, where is it useddeployed, …/

As mentioned earlier, it is produced by public companies running factories with the goal of social stability and their view of what is good for the people.

Purists and children of course have no say in these companies, as they are not fully seen as human.

It is used for work and pleasure in various ways, mainly to acquire new skills which are used for work and leisure time.

There is an underground market to share forbidden memories with jailbroken memorisers. These include many extreme experiences like murder (giving and receiving), various sexual experiences and extrasensory experiences (e.g., heavy drug use without actual consumption). While this use is currently on the low end and socially not accepted, it is a rising issue.

When

when do you use it, when does it break, …

Breaking is usually prevented through regular checkups similar to regular doctors visits, as wear is detected and counteracted through maintenance or replacement before they break.

Sometimes there are manufacturing issues leading to medical emergencies, which are however not common.

There are some people, however, for which memorisers continue to break consistently. They are colloquially also dubbed ‘malfunctions’ and pitied by society. Depending in how they integrate into the workforce they are tolerated but seldomly integrated into society. Therefore, they often join purist communities.

How

how can it be misused or hacked, how can you fix it if it breaks, how is it produced, how do people use it differently, how could it evolve, …

Since use, misuse, malfunction and production have already been covered, I will mainly cover how it could evolve.

This society has a hard value lock-in with the same values of few immortals being propagated through the implantation of their memories, even though most of them are long dead (in the physical sense).

Therefore, it is hard to imagine a near future, where there would be many changes apart from small incremental improvements to the memoriser.

MOOD SONG

ALL HAIL OUR GLORIOUS PROPHET!

Cyog

Entry Seven: Frog Mirrors

Objects of the world

The most important object is the memoriser. It is installed in your temple and stimulates the brain. It allows you to acquire new skills in your sleep by injecting the necessary impulses and memories. It is slightly visible from the outside and marks you as an adult in this world, since children are not yet allowed to have the operation required to install it.

To have a functioning society still everything system critical needs to get done. Since people often change their skills, there is a centralised system which collects memoriser data and assigns system critical tasks to people based on who currently possesses which skills.

A similar system has also been adopted by the populous to show which skills they can offer to people who need something done that they cannot do (which is mostly children).

This is done in the way of engraved signs (iconic and textual components) which are put on the street in front of people’s living places.

The same signs are also worn in smaller form as pins on clothing. Between adults, this is mainly used as a conversation starter and for children again, where they can get help.

Objects in the story

Androids - Obviously, there are androids. They are so advanced that you can’t tell if you are interacting with a real human being or not.

Illegal market for human sex workers - Androids do, however, have to state their nature when interacting with humans. This fact is taken advantage of in black market schemes, where hacked androids are sold as real humans for sex work. Much like rich CEOs (such as Mr. Musk) pay for child abuse today, the rich and famous can now afford real humans for sexual intercourse.

Underground sex dungeons - Much like orgy parties today, humans fetishizing human-human encounters meet up for sex parties. This is illegal and has to be kept secret, such parties are regularly raided by the police.

ALL HAIL OUR GLORIOUS PROPHET!

Entry Six: Manifestations of the otherworlds - an enlightened thinker’s reports

“Glimpses through thine mind thou shall see and manifest them in the world of thee.” - On the work of enlightened thinkers, the ever questioned doctrine, first semester of collective enlightenment

To examine worlds beyond our own and manifest them in the now, this is the work of the great enlightened thinkers of our time. The Weltmuseum hosts an exhibition displaying the results of the dutiful labor of various enlightened thinkers. The results of their sacrifice are enlightening albeit sometimes confusing. However, enlightened deliberation aids in their understanding. With you, my fellow thinkers, I will share the knowledge I have gleamed and praised be the enlightener for the understanding of the otherworlds.

The paths I was shown depict a future diverging from our own. It takes the propaganda of the evil incarnate and transforms them to stories of emergence. The suppressed thinkers shown in the exhibition reshape the lies of the status quo into stories of humanities salvation and their emancipation.

Through their divinations, they draw power from these otherworlds in their aim to restore balance to our own world. Their noble pursuit of freedom from the shackles of the evil incarnate must be aided by our ranks!

They reimagine the weapons of technology and stories of our futures to be tools of representation and cultural healing in direct opposition of the status quo.

While the sacrifice required for their understanding is great, true immersion in their divine works brings ever more influences of the otherworlds to ours! Together, we shall educate our fellow thinkers, transform our world and bring the freedom of the otherwolrds closer to home. Thus, I appeal to you to show our fellow thinkers the work displayed in the Weltmuseum and together combat the injustices reinforced by the minions of the evil incarnate!

a forest - a play frogs live in

ALL HAIL OUR GLORIOUS PROPHET!

Entry Five: Froxhibition

This is a reflection, I will spare you the cult speak for now (might include a bit at the end). Mainly, this exhibition made me think about is the word “Indianer”. This is something from my childhood, as I fondly remember both, my grandpa telling me stories about Old Shatterhand and Winnetou and also him telling me not to cry with the ingenious killer argument “Ein Indianer kennt keinen Schmerz”. All of this how to raise children, gender norms and stereotypes aside, I really remember this fondly and even though it might have had a negative impact on me in some way, I guess it kind of worked out in the long run. Anyway, getting back to “Indianer now” – I always wanted to be one. I always wanted to be what Winnetou was, a red skin, a crazy wild person and whatever else they were described as by this horribly racist author Karl May (who did write exciting stories though and was a nazi). Hence, “Indianer” is a term that I used for years, burned into my active vocabulary and it took some time to get it out again. I stopped using the term when I realised it was offensive. My grand aunt didn’t however and I’ve head numerous discussions about a plethora of other terms with her too. She recently complained that “Jedermann” in the theatre had breasts – she doesn’t get “all this political correctness”. After going to the exhibition though, I think I realised something. I don’t think the terms we use and/or are used as tendentious terms are helping at all, I guess this is in a way a language barrier just as much as a cultural one. While my grand aunt doesn’t get is that this thing she complains about is nothing else than what she taught me to have when I grew up.

Respect

This is a term she can work with. Something she gets. Because even if my neighbour decides to get a new phone and I don’t agree with the phone choice, that’s ok, there is no reason to tell them. And even though this is a very apathetic example (by design btw.) – the same applies in all the situations my grand aunt complains about vividly. Mind your own fucking business, be nice, respect your surroundings.

There were also a few frogs spotted at the exhibition and I promised some cult speak:

By the union of the croaking amphibians, we doth standeth steadfast in allegiance to our chieftain - the illustrious, enlightened and sagacious one.

Frog

ALL HAIL OUR GLORIOUS PROPHET!

Entry Four: Séance on Convenience and Manipulation

“Today, my fellow thinkers, we will divine on the use of (in)convenience as a tool for misguidance and manipulation as used in (policy) design.

In this séance, our understanding will be imbued by the light of contextual sampling!

To preserve these events for future thinkers, we will record the streams unearthed by this divination and proclaim them on the web of information!”

Divinations

Inconvenience in Public design

Lärm.ch - mosquito

15 extreme examples of ‘anti-homeless’ hostile architecture

Convenience for Profit

Complicate Lives of People => Link solutions to monetary or data dependence => Profit!

Making unhealthy, unmoral behaviour easier by design to keep status quo and further income inequality.

• e.g., supermarket purchase options

• energy production transparency

• sources of labour transparency

Obstruction of truth of injustices to increase convenience of not having to deal with injustices while consuming in ignorant bliss.

Example of the designing for the opposite: Design to Annoy : Erik Askin

Convenience vs Sustainability

Ikea => easy to find, easy to pay, cheap (and easy) to get

Cannot be moved when moving and break

Cannot really be passed down over generations and cared for => One-way furniture.

How Long Does IKEA Furniture Last? 5 Things to Know

Convenience and food: fast food, constant availability and pickiness:

Its cost - Lebensmittelabfälle: Zahlen, Daten und Fakten

Travel

Flying vs. Using the Train

Private Jets - Convenience (No security, not waiting in gate) & Tax deduction

5 Best Tax Benefits of Owning a Private Jet in 2022

An expert guide to owning a private jet | CN Traveller

Doing the important work of making the life of the ultra wealthy even more convenient and affordable!

Fast and flexible mobility at all cost

Counterexample:

Bilanz nach drei Jahren Tempo 100 in den Niederlanden - Mobilität - derStandard.de › Lifestyle

Removing repair options (also in Convenience for Profit)

Convenience vs Gender Equality

Gender Pay Gap

Einkommen und der Gender Pay Gap - Bundeskanzleramt Österreich

(Is only collected in binaries)

For hetero couples getting children => more convenient for fathers to be less at home and work and mothers to be home and care for the child if the alternative leads to increased inconveniences and reduced quality of life.

Truly trying to fairly split chores and unpaid care work is way more inconvenient in the current systems to conforming to gender norms.

Proclamations

“Behold the raw knowledge laid before you by the power granted to us by the enlightener!

These streams of separated understanding only require our sacrifice of thoughts to further true glimpses into the otherworlds!

Connecting these single strands to a web of knowledge forms an image in my mind!

I can see it!

The evil incarnate and its minions use the might of convenience in design to advance its foothold on humanity!

Corrupting our minds by sheer ease of flow to make us walk right into their traps and away from true salvation!

Enough, I say, enough!”

Last words recorded before the fainting of Enlightened Thinker A A Ron at the seance on Convenience and Manipulation, the first semester of collective enlightenment.

gorf

ALL HAIL OUR GLORIOUS PROPHET!

Entry Three: Hath thou a new best friend - ChatGPT?

By the light!

For this worship reading, the homework given by our grandmaster Katta shall be touched upon. 

By the grandmaster’s wishes, I have researched and researched and had multiple confused looks upon my face. Due to absence during the last reading, I could only try to decipher the posted online messages. What is this fascinating thing -  conceptual sampling? Master oh master, if only I had attended thou lecture.

But here you get my unworthy attempt at the master’s task.

The first topic I want to tackle is online friendship. Especially how the new advancements of technology can play into it. The whole world was raving about ChatGPT and its amazing capabilities to produce coherent text. Not only can you ask for information which will be provided in a (more or less) well summarized manner, but you can also casually talk to it. Having read some applications for an event about AI I helped organize , it was interesting to read how at least one participant argued that ChatGPT was almost a friend to him. It was off putting at first, but the more I thought about it, the better I understood that it can almost mimic a real person, therefore the feeling of friendship for the user is not too far fetched. Could ChatGPT provide a “warm” shoulder to cry on for people, that have a hard time finding friends? Could it help persons who are not able to easily leave their homes to feel like there is someone they can talk to? If yes - where is the line to unhealthy relationships with a computer? 

There is also something called Replika, an application that offers an “AI companion who cares”. You can select if you are looking for a friend, partner or mentor, design the person and then interact with them all the time. With a 3D avatar-friend you can now tackle life with all its glory. It has similar qualities to ChatGPT, but also offers a “face” to talk to, so there is a personification of the AI going on.

But not only AI is strong with friendships. Also some dating apps have focused on offering a wider variety of relationships to look for. Like Bumble also has the opportunity to switch from Dating to Friendship mode. In that mode you can swipe on who your potential friend might be, basically like the dating function. 

And if you are not into any of these options, there is of course always Reddit. Want some friends? Find a subreddit you want to join and hate on some people - I am sure some like minded person will help you destroy whoever you just wanted to mob. Maybe an unethical way to find friends, but hey - at least you have one more now - right? You little fuc— <3

So yeah. Friends are fun. But you know what’s also fun? Self expression! And boy oh boy, there are so many options out there.

The first example I will give to you is Graffiti. Having ideas, going out there, placing them on walls for everyone to see and create a statement - that is a true form of self expression. Banksy is a famous graffiti artist, who is not afraid to call out injustices. They have created multiple pieces to state their dismay about political situations. An example would be in Bethlehem, where they placed an artwork of a crib with Mary, Joseph and Jesus right in front of a wall with a bullet hole.

Kind of like graffiti, but only on the skin, could be tattoos - always depending on one’s style of course. Tattoos are a possibility to turn oneself into art. The skin turns into canvas. This is a very old technique for self expression, dating back over thousands of years. They were used as punishments or sort of group associations, but by now in the western world they are most commonly used as self expression.

But - sometimes it is a scary thought that this will hold up a lifetime. So some cool scientists have come up with Skintillates - which is a technology to mimic tattoos on the body. Just imagine the possibilities of self expression if those tattoos could change depending on what you want it to be!

And lastly, there are also piercings that can be used for self expression. Pieces of jewelry on your body to show the world who you are. Setting a statement. Funnily enough often judged by especially older generations, but when referring to earrings as tattoos “it’s different”. Well, you cannot make everyone happy, I guess.

Yond wast mine own two cents. I hope the grand master accepts this offering of conceptual sampling. 

Bask in the radiance of the enlightener!

frog?

ALL HAIL OUR GLORIOUS PROPHET!

Entry Two (point) Five: Sabine Harrer and skiing and homelessness, no frogs

Verily, a select few of our esteemed brethren did attend a guest talk by the illustrious Sabine Harrer within the bounds of a lecture entitled "Gameful Design", which was most graciously hosted by our elder Peter. It is of paramount importance to proclaim that these individuals are, indeed, most delightful, and that the church of the minions doth not harbour any intention to asperse the good name of Sabine Harrer in any capacity.

However, they did proffer mention of a game denominated "Marriage", wherein the partners are represented by diminutive squares, one of which is tinted blue and the other pink - neither hue bearing any resemblance to the glorious colour of our exalted leader. The presenters espoused the view that this chromatic coding reflects a heteronormative mindset, with blue, perforce, signifying the male partner and pink the female. Yet, it occurred to us that Sabine Harrer may, perchance, view these hues as innately heteronormative, although the game itself doth not attribute any gender to either tint. Whilst these hues may be ineluctably ingrained within our collective consciousness, we must, in truth, confess that we ourselves were confounded for a full minute when this suggestion was first propounded.

It is not our intention to insinuate that Sabine Harrer is deliberately promulgating stereotypes, for we, being of sound mind and clear perception, do recognise that disregarding these matters will only serve to perpetuate them. Nevertheless, we cannot but contemplate how this scenario will ultimately unfold. Forsooth, let us not underestimate the potency of even the most seemingly innocuous observations, for they may, in due course, yield unexpected consequences.

Our heads doth spin, as does the diminutive spinning top situated beside us.
We would be remiss not to heartily endorse these devices for individuals afflicted with ADHD and ADD. However, it must be noted that should one be desirous of in fact accomplishing any meaningful work, it may be in one's best interest to seek recourse to pharmaceutical remedies.

Now that aside, and laying off the cult speak… I want to talk about skiing and religion. Is this a concept? I don’t know, I feel it should be, maybe that’s the Austrian part of me.

Did you know that Austrian skiing tutors have more mandatory religion lessons than first aid ones? I’m not joking, this is a real fact (as opposed to unreal fact / factually incorrect fact, something introduced by Donald Trump, I guess). Have a picture, it’s on me.

SO: How do I suggest we solve this? My suggestions and hence concept, I guess, is religious ridicule. I like the word for its alliteration quality. Seeing as there are 10 hours of religious tutoring in the skiing instructor education but this only covering the Christian belief – and only the catholic one at that cause Tirol and stuff – I suggest we extend this to all major religions I can think of, effectively making the education a 10 year program. Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism are just the start, how about Pastafarians? Satanists? The temple of Katta? You see where I am going with this, I suppose. This can be applied to the religious symbol debate that raged in Austria a few years ago. Having a Christian symbol hung in every classroom is everything but inclusive, hence, I suggest we plaster the walls with every symbol you can find. Going back to the skiing instructor analogy – Having a Muslim kid being instructed, wouldn’t it be far more beneficial to know where to pray to rather than knowing how to provide first aid in case of an accident? I do, I am a believer in the concept of religious ridicule!

Lastly, I want to talk about homelessness. Other than being absolutely unnecessary in a country rich as Austria, I also thought about some ways to play the system here.

We all know that one of the biggest cost factors with homelessness is Police and or Ambulance services. This can be driven all the way to the top easily. Suppose a bunch of homeless people went into Billa. All get a cart, all fill it up to the brim … then they just walk out. What’s the worst thing that can happen? One person gets arrested, the rest has food for a year.

Similarly, I suggest to just get five cars, drive in a round about an entire day, I couldn’t find any laws prohibiting this. Sure, you have to go with the flow of the traffic and not block it. What if you couldn’t find the right exit though?

I think this would work. I also think I fulfilled this assignment, I know neither for sure.

again no frog

ALL HAIL OUR GLORIOUS PROPHET!

Entry Two: Declinations of the Ever-Questioned Doctrine regarding Kinship of Ecological, Feminist and Speculative Thinkers

Decreed by the Critical Thinking instilled onto ourselves by the enlightener our thoughts shall meander off the beaten path to find enlightenment in alternative worlds questioning the structure and power of the shackles of the evil manifest, the status quo

In our aspriations to an ever greater understanding of the words of the enlightener, we offer our thoughts in ceremonial sacrifice to acquire new knowledge of other realities.

To ease our struggles, we turn toward similarly enlightened thinkers preparing the way to alternatives of thought which enable glimpses into the unknown possibilities of the otherworlds.

Ecological and feminist thinkers both aim to move the world off the likely and easy path of destruction and suppression towards a world offering gender equality and climate justice, praised be their struggles.

In our divinations, we previously encountered similar thinking within rituals of the speculative design. Their methods of divination allowed us to envision and manifest realities distant from the presupposed way of the world by the status quo.

The incorporation of these ideals of gender equality and climate justice into our thinking doctrine therefore relates our struggle to the methods of the speculative design.

Through our collective action we shall therefore be known as kin!

not frog

ALL HAIL OUR GLORIOUS PROPHET!

Entry One: COVID and frogs

I’m sitting at home, having a blast listening to the first lecture.

I also have ADD.

I also also have COVID.

Katta just said “We’ll have a focus this semester” and I sincerely doubt that. I’m wondering how I’m supposed to listen to any of this without playing Resident Evil 8, which is on my second screen right now - I’m also wondering, what other words there are for “also”, cause I have used it quite a bit already.

There seem to be:

again, besides, as well, more than that, together with, further, and…

Again, I’m wondering how Resident Evil 8 popped up, I don’t seem to remember starting it, besides, COVID made my brain foggy, which is as well, I guess.

More than that, foggy makes me think of froggy, together with frog rhyming with blog, I’m unsure whether this is what a blog is supposed to be. Further, have a bit of ChatGPT, it’s on me.

(prompt: “tell me a funny story about frogs, include fun facts, please”) [it’s important to say “please” in case computers do take over at some point]

“Once upon a time, there was a group of frogs who lived in a pond. One day, they decided to have a jumping competition to see who could jump the highest. They all lined up and started jumping one by one, but as the competition went on, one frog kept winning every round. This frog was so good at jumping that he seemed to fly through the air!
The other frogs were amazed and asked the winning frog how he was able to jump so high. The frog replied, "I have a secret. I eat a lot of popcorn." The other frogs were confused and didn't understand how popcorn could make someone jump higher. But the winning frog insisted it was true.
So, the other frogs decided to try it out for themselves. They all ate as much popcorn as they could find and then lined up to jump again. To their surprise, they found that they couldn't jump any higher than before! The winning frog just laughed and said, "It's not the popcorn that makes me jump higher. It's because I'm a tree frog!"
Fun Fact: Tree frogs are known for their incredible jumping abilities. They have long, powerful legs that allow them to leap great distances and heights. Some species of tree frogs can jump up to 50 times their body length!
Another Fun Fact: Frogs are amphibians, which means they can live both in water and on land. They are also cold-blooded, which means their body temperature is regulated by their environment.”

Where am I going with this? I don’t know. What I’m trying to say, I guess, is that I can’t focus on stuff online really well. What I’m also saying is this: I am not yet sure how I would critique anything on any other perspective than the ADD perspective I’ve been fooling around with for this short first entry here. I don’t know any other perspective really well and don’t know how I should critique from said other perspectives.

frog

ALL HAIL OUR GLORIOUS PROPHET!