š¤„āØThe Nexialist #0013
Magic | Scientists Going Into Your Dreams? | Selfies of the Future | DALLĀ·E: Creating Images from Text | Naked Truth | Nakedness | Montero | Be Your Own Dentist | How to Spot Fake News
Welcome to APRIL FOOLS Nexialist, where Iām only allowed to lie today.
I love April Fools. Since I was a little kid, it was something that we ācelebratedā in my house. Every year my mom would say sheās pregnant and my dad would pretend he fell for it. I remember making an effort to imagine what lie I would tell days before, like telling my mom I broke something or that I got in trouble in school. So Iāll leave you with a pic of my 8-year old mischievous self hoping you forgive me for the āprankā - if you can call it that.
I always thought April Fools was a worldwide date. In Brazil, we call it Dia da Mentira (Lieās Day), in the US I learned it was April Fools, and I just learned itās Poisson d'avril in France. Itās the day when you are allowed to prank, and in Brazil, more specifically, you do that by telling lies. So, with that in mind, hereās some content that April Fools sparked in my brain.
šŖMagic
āAny sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.ā - Arthur C. Clark
Sometimes Iām still impressed at how wireless earphones work so seamlessly. Or how airplanes fly. So for today, I decided to pick some new technologies that feel like magic tricks.
Read: Was Arthur C. Clarke right? An exploration of the magical nature of technology
šScientists Going Into Your Dreams?
In the movieĀ Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio enters into other peopleās dreams to interact with them and steal secrets from their subconscious. Now, it seems this science fiction plot is one baby step closer to reality. For the first time, researchers have had āconversationsā involving novel questions and math problems with lucid dreamersāpeople who are aware that they are dreaming. The findings, from four labs and 36 participants, suggest people can receive and process complex external information while sleeping.
I learned this from Envisioningās Slack (a great place to find and discuss emerging technologies). Of course, it could be used for different kinds of therapy, but I canāt help but think of Neuralink and our dreams being the next frontier for consumption. Imagine being able to choose or buy dreams? Or only being able to dream if you pay for it? Or adblocks for your dreams? Or work/study during your dream to get ahead? Very much in line with Jonathan Craryās 24/7, Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep.
š¤³Selfies of the Future
This is impressive. Not only what it does, but also how quickly Machine Learning is evolving. I see NeRFs (Neural Radiance Fields) making things easier for heritage digitalization, as well as gaming, virtual workplaces, architecture, city planning. It is quite something.
Also, take a look and subscribe to Two Minute Papers, itās a way to have some easy contact with recent interesting research papers. I wish there were more channels like this.
āDALLĀ·E: Creating Images from Text
Weāve trained a neural network called DALLĀ·E that creates images from text captions for a wide range of concepts expressible in naturalĀ language.
Seriously? Can anyone use this to make a music video? I already thought of a video for Ćguas de MarƧo. Or a new version of the Dove Sketches Ad?
šNaked Truth
I had seen this painting before but I never quite understood it (not done by a neural network, I assume). This is Jean-LĆ©on GĆ©rĆ“meās Truth Coming Out Of Her Well To Shame Mankind (1896). Thereās a little parable (that I was not able to fact-check, but it serves its purpose for now) and it goes like this:
One day, Truth and Lie meet. Lie tells Truth: āToday is a wonderful day!ā Truth looks up at the sky and sighs, because the day really was beautiful. They spent a lot of time together, finally reaching the side of a well. Lie says to Truth: "The water is very good, are we going to take a bath together?" Truth, once again suspicious, tests the water and finds out that it really felt good. They undressed and started bathing. Suddenly, Lie comes out of the water, puts on the clothes of Truth and runs away. Truth, furious, comes out of the well and runs to find Lie and get her clothes back. The world, seeing the naked Truth, looks away, with contempt and anger. Poor Truth returns to the well and disappears forever, hiding its shame in it. Since then, Lie travels around the world, dressed as the Truth, satisfying the needs of society, because, in this case, the World has no desire to find the naked Truth.ā
While I was writing, I also came across another quote from him that feels like a more simple time when photography was a way to bring truth.
āPhotography is an art. It forces artists to discard their old routines and forget their old formulas. It has opened our eyes and forced us to see that which previously we have not seen; a great and inexpressible service for Art. It is thanks to photographyĀ that Truth has finally come out of her well. She will never go back.ā
Jean-LĆ©on GĆ©rĆ“me, preface forĀ Ćmile BayardāsĀ Le Nu EsthĆ©tique, 1902.
Little did he know we would have deep fakes fooling our senses and his work would make even more sense than before.
šNakedness
Iām fascinated by how, in general, nudity is put in a place of immorality and shame in many cultures (in the Americas, for instance). I keep wondering how is it possible that some cultures convinced us to feel like our own natural nude bodies are immoral somehow, and how that deeply affects us as individuals and as societies. (Colonialism is one of the factors, for sure.) If you know me, you know how much I love this subject, so expect some more content like this from the Nexialist. In fact, I might be nude as I type (and I hope you are as you read) š [This video I just chose because it lives rent-free in my mind, embrace the blissful discomfort.]
For now, Iāll leave you with a playlist I made that shows some kind of nudity and a quote from Caroline Caldwell that brought me a lot of answers.
šTHIS
I wish it were a lie that people are so outraged with Lil Nas Xās new video. So Iāll also use the Nexialist to endorse it. Probably not intentionally, but a great answer to the catholic church revoking its same-sex union blessings.
š¦·Be Your Own Dentist
Letās take a moment to appreciate the birth of a new type of ASMR: random, disturbing, funny, creepy ārelaxationā moment. I still struggle to believe that this video exists. Thank you, Katya.
š„øHow to Spot Fake News
Before we close this chapter, I want to give you a simple tool: a good new infographic from the Visual Capitalist. Itās actually a great mental checklist to have when going through the content and before sharing it. Save to read later if you canāt do it now and do share it in the family group.
ā¤ļøIf anything made your brain tingle, click like and don't hesitate to share it with the world. It helps The Nexialist to reach more curious minds. See you next week!š¦¦
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