ISSUE 1.25

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Political Pessimism

Big data psychowar hijacking elections, microcelebrity, late capitalism, cyberattack, and more.

[theguardian.com]

The great British Brexit robbery: how our democracy was hijacked

"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.

[bloomberg.com]

The Scientists Fighting to Save Us From a World Without Coffee

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.

[theoutline.com]

The insidious rise of the microcelebrity

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.

[boingboing.net]

Crashed computer at Oslo pizzeria reveals covert facial recognition scheme

Hey, man. You really gotta facial recognize me while I order a pizza?

[theguardian.com]

NHS seeks to recover from global cyber-attack as security concerns resurface

Ransomware snakes its way into hospitals, endangering huge numbers of people. Seriously, fuck these guys.

[creators.vice.com]

Moodica Is the Netflix of Zen Video Content

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.

[futurism.com]

For the First Time Ever, a Robot Performed an Operation Inside a Human Eye

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).

[youtube.com]

SKNAIL - Snail Charmers

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.