Big data psychowar hijacking elections, microcelebrity, late capitalism, cyberattack, and more.
"This is not just a story about social psychology and data analytica. It has to be understood in terms of a military contractor using military strategies on a civilian population." An amazing and frightening read about the origins of Cambridge Analytics, the "psychological warfare" firm that played a large part in Trump's win in the US, and Brexit's success in the UK.
I'm not all that into "OMG I NEED MY COFFEE" as a meme (even though I do), but can you imagine a world where people who have previously had coffee suddenly did not have coffee? I also read somewhere that coffee was crucial in the industrial revolution, which is a neato idea. Anyways, this article is about how climate change is going to screw over coffee and how Big Coffee's scientists are genetically engineering coffee plants that can withstand a climate changed future.
Also synonymous with "cyberpunk". Have you checked out /r/LateStageCapitalism yet?
A tiny little thinkpiece on minicelebrity, which, let's face it, is better than nocelebrity. I'm being painfully tongue-in-cheek here, as I'm violently aware of my simultaneous disgust for and desire of celebrity. Still, at least with a hundred thousand followers at least a couple people are gonna buy your book.
Hey, man. You really gotta facial recognize me while I order a pizza?
Ransomware snakes its way into hospitals, endangering huge numbers of people. Seriously, fuck these guys.
OK, now that you've been thoroughly stressed out by all of this bad news, here's something nice: a site where you can just watch really chill videos. BTW, I am not sponsored by Moodica, but maybe I should be--getting you really stressed out and then plugging the potential emotional solution is some devious marketing, [wo]man. Oops, I hope I didn't stress you out again. Anyways - some very chill GIFs inside.
On the topic of watching things - sweet. Both in that this is about working with your eyes, and also in that there's a neat promotional video inside (but gross warning: inside of bodies and stuff).
Take a load-off with this cool, jazzy, glitch video created by SKNAIL. It's from their new "IDM jazz album", which is about as cool of a three words as I've heard today. On top of that, the video is created by the inimitable Uğur Engin Deniz, who is one of my favorite glitch artists. Thanks to M. Reinhardt for forwarding this one along.