EOTO: Class Observations and Notes (2)

        In the second round of the EOTO presentations, I learned about the history of propaganda. For example, I did not know that it was originally created and pushed by the pope in the 1600s. Propaganda, as I assumed, is usually in a negative context. During war, propaganda can be used as a positive form of control to boost up morale about the war effort. The presentation presented another option I had not thought about much, non-war propaganda in the form of Smokey the Bear.

        Additionally, I learned about the ‘False Flag’. It is, in theory, a false action that incites another person or group to act upon it, therefore making them responsible for wherever the case is. I also learned the origin for this one, as pirates would wave literal false flags to bring in ships to then plunder. This reminded me of how many United States citizens now attribute the Vietnam War to this idea, and a more modern example would be the Iraq War. Another case were the mysterious piles of bricks found at the Black Lives Matter and George Floyd protests, rumored to have the protestors become rioters by throwing the bricks allowing stronger police forces.

        The last presenter went over the Five Eyes, a group of governments (United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) that came together to monitor security data. They are able to collectively monitor international threats, but also infringe on privacy rights. This helps the government prevent many deadly attacks, and is one of the leading systems to collect this kind of data. The Snowden leaks of 2013 showed the world how much the government really spies on their population. 

Diffusion Theory: Virtual Production Studio

        

        Virtual reality technology has been around since the late 60’s, but has only really found early commercial footing in the late 90’s. Everything changed around 2016 and 2017 when the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive were released, as both made virtual reality technology much more accessible to the public. 2019 was the cusp of a new age, as Disney made a new television show on their streaming platform DISNEY+. The Mandalorian was a smash hit, helping push the Star Wars franchise. What made it special is that every background used massive LED screens that connected to Unreal 4, a gaming and programming engine that designed virtual backgrounds.

        When the new version of the program, Unreal Engine 5 was first open to the public, a group of directors were hired to play with this new technology; these were the early adopters of the new age. They were able to play with the technology and realized its game-changing (no pun intended) ability. It is spreading rapidly throughout the film community because many directors realize it saves time in post-production and saves money in how they can compress work schedules. Late adopters might be avoiding the expensive initial cost to get the LED screen set, which is the main downside. The few people who never join might be either too stuck in older traditional ways or just a smaller company that cannot afford the upgrade. The upside definitely outweighs the negative, as after the initial cost is played back fast in the amount of money saved during the later production.

EOTO: Echo Chamber

        Imagine this; you are a local politician and you are invited to a conference to discuss the gun laws in the state of Texas. You believe that gun laws should be stricter, and you are here to discuss your legislation plans. The event is mostly right-leaning as most politicians going to the event are as well, and the overall opinion is to actually loosen laws around guns. When you write down a form to get tickets, they deny your entry because of your political views. You go and talk to other party members left and right, and realize anyone who agrees with you -and therefore against the other- is denied access. The environment created inside the event is what we call an echo chamber.

        An echo chamber is an environment in which thoughts and opinions are killed off before new ones can form because of circulating ideas. Through this process, ideas cannot evolve or grow. This means that the central point rarely branches off and ideas go stagnant; effectively “beating a dead horse. Without thinking about it, we use cognitive bias to make decisions. Cognitive bias is the predetermined ideas and beliefs that we hold, influencing the decisions made about anything we do or think about. An echo chamber allows cognitive bias to happen unchecked, and people will then make irrational decisions because there is no other voice to think about possible other options.

        Technology has changed the way that echo chambers exist. Before the likes of Instagram, Facebook, and even MySpace and AOL, boardrooms and businesses could be run with an ‘echo chamber’ like mentality focused solely on themselves and money. Now, technology can have these opinions and their influence spread throughout the internet, reaching many more people. Youtube, for example, wants only certain content to be pushed, and anything they disagree with or something they do not want to be discussed on their platform will be removed. Through catered algorithms, they can cancel out opinions they dislike. This ends up with a platform that ‘supports’ ideas and creativity, but only pushes a certain type. They will also purposely push ideas based on views and likes, which helps, but then ignores their rules when certain news articles or Late night show clips are made. Even news cites have been retrofitted into this narrative.

        A great example of an echo chamber online is the one and only Flat Earth Society Twitter account (@FlatEarthOrg). They believe that the earth is actually a flat plane, with a spherical sun and moon orbiting the top creating night and day. This also means that every space organization, government and flight-based and sea-based companies are lying about the “real world”. They are an echo chamber, as whenever someone disagrees, they tend to block, delete, ignore, or bombard with facts and claim victors. There will never be a scenario where someone in the community will admit defeat because that breaks the seal on the echo chamber. You cannot argue a round earth to someone who does not agree in gravity, and shuts you out when you bring anything opposing to the table.

Technology and Privacy

    Technology, specifically the computer and its connection to the internet, are fantastic inventions that have changed everything about me, my friends’, and family’s lives. However, the issues discovered on various Ted Talk videos made me reconsider my relationship with this technology. Juan Enriquez spoke about how you have a technological footprint, and it is “as permanent as a tattoo”. This means any and everything that has been said across the internet can and may be exposed in the future. Many people post embarrassing things that are soon deleted, or text each other crude jokes. These things may be from many, many years ago where people have changed since then, but can still be socially punished for; i.e. James Gunn.

        The government and large monopoly like organizations are actually (directly or indirectly) responsible for a lot of these breaches. For example, your emails are not well protected, and can be accessed by said sources above. If collected, they can create a biography on you about your likes, daily schedules, who you contact- and therefore work with- most, and other tidbits about yourself. The government might even use this technology to categorize people to see if they would be a threat to the United States of America. The government can do two things to combat this; they must regulate organizations and themselves from stealing data. This is difficult to manage, as it presumes that they will keep the best interests at heart and not continue to stalk for their parasitic need.

EOTO: Class Observations and Notes (1)

        

        During my classmates' EOTO's I learned a lot about the history of video games. For example, I knew that the first video game was based on radio waves, but did not know that it was called “Tennis for Two”. I also learned that it was similar in play style to Pong, which has been incorrectly credited as the first video game. It is played by getting two large bars at the end of the screen which are controlled by two players who try to hit a ball into each other’s side. I also didn’t realize how much of a reach video games really had, with over 100 billion dollars in revenue for the industry. I know that I play video games quite often, and having access to them changes the way I spend my time. Additionally, I am planning on learning a gaming software Unreal Engine 5 for programming 3D spaces. This technology can be paired with real cameras and will be used to change the way that cinematography will be done forever.

        I also learned how important the carrier pigeons were to communication in society. Firstly, their history goes back into ancient times before printing was even a concept. Secondly, they used carrier pigeons for a long time, even into the first World War. I imagine it was interesting typing something out on a typewriter, and then rolling up and attaching it to the leg of a bird and just sending it off; an interesting clash of technology. Knowing this, how messy it was to clean up, feed, and organize all the hundreds of pigeons that a single garrison would even have, It is also interesting to think of how communication would be now if we still had to communicate through small birds.

Media On War

        The reason why I believe many of the anti-war websites are difficult to find is two-fold. Firstly, these websites are- or have links- to right-leaning websites. Mainstream media, on the other hand, mostly leans to the left. This means that much of this information will be censored or simply not pushed into the limelight because the mainstream media does not want to affiliate with right-leaning companies. The problem with this is that antiwar.com, for example, has a mix of articles from websites beyond the two-party system and is more of a hub of information, but their affiliation causes them to be ignored.

  

     

        Secondly, anti-war websites can be anti-government. For example, the website American Conservative has multiple articles against the Biden administration and particularly how it is treating the conflict arising between Ukraine and Russia. Because the government can benefit from war (i.e. conflicts in South America, Bush administration in the Middle East), anti-war publicans can make the public go against them, and the last thing the government wants is another Vietnam. Secondly, the government does not want people to complain about war efforts if they are trying to push it for political reasons. Anti-war websites are “off the grid” because the government can also push its influence on other countries. They can do this physically, or in a more round about way, like an arms war of the space race that took place between The United States and the Soviet Union.

EOTO: A Brief History of the Lens

        The history of the lens has a long and complicated history, and much of the early beginnings started even before the use of glass. This area of history is highly conversed as it goes back to a time where recorded history does not exist well, and is only pieced together by artifacts. One such example of artifacts was found in Egypt and traces back to the Old Kingdom around 2500 B.C.E. A statue was found that has eyes made of polished quarts in a convex, or rounded lens. This allowed someone walking around the stature to have it continually stare at the person. We also know of early beginnings in Ibn Al-Haytham (Alhazen) who lived from 945 to 1040 during the Islamic Golden Age. He is a renowned philosopher that is credited as one of the firsts to study the reflective properties of glass through the invention of the camera obscura. This was an invention that required a small lens that would be placed inside the wall of a building, box, or tent. The sun would shine through and project a reverse image of the outside on the opposite wall or sheet.

        The lens also went through some important changes through the centuries in the West, such as in Italy during the 13th Century. Some of the first glassmakers were in Italy, and they crafted convex lenses that were fashioned into simple glasses for reading. There were also monks that used quartz lenses as crude magnifying glasses for reading. Continuing further West in the 1780’s, the Founding Father Benjamin Franklin began to get annoyed that whenever he wanted to read his written works while also seeing far away, he had to switch pairs of glasses. His solution was the bifocals, lenses that had the bottom half of his glass for reading, while the top used a different glass to see farther away. This would allow him to become much more efficient in reading and writing the documents that founded the United States of America.

    The modernization and portability of lenses (through camera technology) began with Johann Heinrich Schulze. He studied the effect of the light sensitive chemicals, and in 1727, found out that a silver-salt reacted well. Joseph Nicephore Niepce in 1827 made the first photograph in France by getting an engraved plate, adding chemicals (including asphalt), and had it react to light. This image was not permanent, and took 8 hours; not very practical. Louis Daguerre then worked with Niepce in 1829, and 10 years later, he made the daguerreotype photograph. This used mercury, silver, and iodine that produced the first permanent photo. In the early 1900’s, George Eastman popularized the use of film roll by creating the “Brownie”. The “Brownie” camera would let the photographer take their photos, send them to the company, and the company would process them. Edwin Herbert Lane created the first instant photography by using polarized lenses, a process that used light sensitive lenses to capture better photos. He released the first Polaroid camera in 1948.