1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:14,860 *34C3 preroll music* 2 00:00:14,860 --> 00:00:18,680 Herald: And yeah, please give a warm welcome to Sebastian! 3 00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:24,790 *applause* 4 00:00:24,790 --> 00:00:28,240 Sebastian: Hi, and thank you for the introduction. Thank you all so much for 5 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:32,209 having me. So, what am I gonna talk about tonight? I will 6 00:00:32,209 --> 00:00:36,140 of course, being an artist, talk a bit about some art projects but mostly 7 00:00:36,140 --> 00:00:41,550 I will speak about the research I do as part of my practice, specifically 8 00:00:41,550 --> 00:00:47,219 about humans as software extensions. And towards the end I will 9 00:00:47,219 --> 00:00:51,629 share some thoughts on why being a human software extension could actually be 10 00:00:51,629 --> 00:00:56,809 something maybe not positive but brings some new possibilities. So I will try to 11 00:00:56,809 --> 00:01:05,590 end the talk on a positive note. In 2008, the science fiction movie "Sleep Dealer" 12 00:01:05,590 --> 00:01:10,789 speculated about a future which couldn't be more timely. The border between Mexico 13 00:01:10,789 --> 00:01:15,909 and the US has been closed. Therefore, immigrant workers in the US have been 14 00:01:15,909 --> 00:01:21,581 replaced by robots. However, the robots are remotely controlled by people in 15 00:01:21,581 --> 00:01:28,700 Mexico who have their bodies plugged directly into the network. Then, 2 years 16 00:01:28,700 --> 00:01:35,210 later, in 2010, the CEO of CrowdFlower, which is a crowdsourcing and cloud work 17 00:01:35,210 --> 00:01:41,270 platform, Lukas Biewald speaks of a similar situation: "Before the Internet, 18 00:01:41,270 --> 00:01:46,100 it would be really difficult to find someone, sit them down for 10 minutes and 19 00:01:46,100 --> 00:01:51,180 get them to work for you, and then fire them after those 10 minutes. But with 20 00:01:51,180 --> 00:01:55,659 technology, you can actually find them, pay them the tiny amount of money, and 21 00:01:55,659 --> 00:02:01,270 then get rid of them when you don't need them anymore." Biewald's remarks, however, 22 00:02:01,270 --> 00:02:07,630 are not Science Fiction. Instead, they describe a contemporary condition. So, 23 00:02:07,630 --> 00:02:13,660 humans as software extensions: What is this condition? I would summarize it as 24 00:02:13,660 --> 00:02:19,110 people extending computational systems by offering their bodies, their senses and 25 00:02:19,110 --> 00:02:24,940 their cognition. And specifically bodies and minds that can be easily plugged in 26 00:02:24,940 --> 00:02:30,390 and later easily be discarded, so bodies and minds algorithmically managed and 27 00:02:30,390 --> 00:02:36,390 under the permanent pressure of constant availability efficiency and perpetual self 28 00:02:36,390 --> 00:02:43,370 optimization. So, as such, humans as software extensions are both, the 29 00:02:43,370 --> 00:02:49,210 foundation and the result, of a mega structure which Benjamin Breton calls "The 30 00:02:49,210 --> 00:02:55,110 Stack". It's a computational totality of planetary scale so somehow we can imagine 31 00:02:55,110 --> 00:03:01,200 it as a planetary scale computer consisting of a stack of layers from rare 32 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:07,840 earth minerals to data centers to bots and people which in this model are exactly the 33 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:14,230 same. So, in this computational totality, even the smallest nodes can be addressed 34 00:03:14,230 --> 00:03:21,430 and can be programmed. What The Stack also describes is a new geography so Google 35 00:03:21,430 --> 00:03:28,230 Maps defining borders or, as just seen in Sleep Dealer, the US building a wall while 36 00:03:28,230 --> 00:03:35,210 still being able to plug right into the bodies of Mexican workers. But to be 37 00:03:35,210 --> 00:03:42,480 clear, from my point of view, the model of planetary scale computation as a totality 38 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:48,660 is as much a reality as it is also a gigantic fantasy and ideology of power, 39 00:03:48,660 --> 00:03:53,420 optimization and efficiency. So this is the state of self-driving cars right now, 40 00:03:53,420 --> 00:04:00,890 at least from the perspective of a Ford. So I would now like to give some examples 41 00:04:00,890 --> 00:04:05,610 about what I mean by humans as software extensions and what effects these, like, 42 00:04:05,610 --> 00:04:13,040 this way of managing digital labor has. 3 years ago, I worked on a piece in which I 43 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:18,480 explored digital colonialism and, among other things, I explored Google's and 44 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:24,460 Facebook's attempts to integrate into their services those 2/3 of the world 45 00:04:24,460 --> 00:04:31,070 population who are not online, yet. As you all know, Google wants to use balloons, 46 00:04:31,070 --> 00:04:37,060 Facebook wants to use drones and they want them to circle above these areas that do 47 00:04:37,060 --> 00:04:42,900 not have any internet connection basically sucking that which is below up into the 48 00:04:42,900 --> 00:04:48,190 network. So the piece of which you see a little bit here is called "How to Appear 49 00:04:48,190 --> 00:04:54,430 Offline Forever" and it consists of a mix of found material like videos, images, and 50 00:04:54,430 --> 00:04:59,440 questions and there's also a layer of stories written by people from Silicon 51 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:07,530 Valley, Sri Lanka and Zambia which are all locations of importance to this piece. And 52 00:05:07,530 --> 00:05:12,920 so in order to get in contact with people in Sri Lanka, I ended up using the 53 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:18,440 outsourcing platform Upwork which offers a highly efficient interface for hiring 54 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:24,310 freelancers from all around the world. On that platform, you can sort freelancers by 55 00:05:24,310 --> 00:05:31,470 price, skills, rating and then you can pick whoever you think fits the job best. 56 00:05:31,470 --> 00:05:35,930 And their user experience of hire and fire is well crafted. So it's software 57 00:05:35,930 --> 00:05:40,210 extensions that can be plugged in and removed again easily. It doesn't matter 58 00:05:40,210 --> 00:05:53,560 where they are, who they are as long as they get it done. So once the freelancers 59 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:59,710 in Sri Lanka got to work I noticed that it was not only able but also encouraged to 60 00:05:59,710 --> 00:06:05,870 spy on them. Upwork records every keystroke and regularly takes screenshots 61 00:06:05,870 --> 00:06:11,950 while freelancers work, building a growing diary of their activity. So I found myself 62 00:06:11,950 --> 00:06:17,030 in a situation in which I wasn't only being surveilled by corporations or 63 00:06:17,030 --> 00:06:23,660 states, I was also doing the same myself, managing my extensions spying on them in 64 00:06:23,660 --> 00:06:29,240 order to monitor their performance. So this is not them, like corporations or 65 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:35,910 states, spying on us, us protecting ourselves against them through encryption. 66 00:06:35,910 --> 00:06:40,990 This is all of us fighting for our place in the network trying to be valuable 67 00:06:40,990 --> 00:06:46,090 nodes. So this is me and one of the freelancers which is a very lovely lady I 68 00:06:46,090 --> 00:06:51,550 got to meet in Sri Lanka later. So if you look at this historically and if you go 69 00:06:51,550 --> 00:06:57,520 back just 15, maybe 20 years, outsourcing via the internet was a practice that could 70 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:04,150 only be employed by big IT companies, mostly from the US, India. Today it is 71 00:07:04,150 --> 00:07:11,330 cheap and easy and it can be done by anybody. A new service by Amazon called 72 00:07:11,330 --> 00:07:17,980 Amazon Key illustrates this rather new situation perfectly. With Amazon Key, you 73 00:07:17,980 --> 00:07:24,010 can remotely grant access to an apartment while you're not at home using the Amazon 74 00:07:24,010 --> 00:07:31,199 Key camera, lock and app, you can spy on the otherwise completely invisible workers 75 00:07:31,199 --> 00:07:41,400 from your smartphone. So this is the lock remotely unlocked. So here outsourcing 76 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:49,130 doesn't generate free time. Instead, it is born out of necessity. It is marketed as 77 00:07:49,130 --> 00:07:54,950 making possible the transformation and a liberation from being managed to also 78 00:07:54,950 --> 00:08:01,310 being able to manage others and, in this case, you're able to deal with them like 79 00:08:01,310 --> 00:08:07,729 without ever having to meet them in person. So now everybody, not only can but 80 00:08:07,729 --> 00:08:13,070 has to, and actually, of course, wants to, we all want to use people as software 81 00:08:13,070 --> 00:08:18,650 extensions and with that comes also that we have to remotely track and rate their 82 00:08:18,650 --> 00:08:27,600 performance. So let's recap: Factory workers are extending machines with their 83 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:32,869 bodies. Freelancers have escaped the factory but have to offer themselves as 84 00:08:32,869 --> 00:08:37,540 flexible extensions to the modern media assembly line, for example like which I 85 00:08:37,540 --> 00:08:45,160 saw on Upwork. So now micro-entrepreneurs have to invent their own shops, offering 86 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:52,199 their creativity in the form of little packages that are called gigs. You can buy 87 00:08:52,199 --> 00:08:59,729 such gigs at a fixed price on platforms like Fiverr. For those who do not know 88 00:08:59,729 --> 00:09:06,859 Fiverr: Initially each each gig on Fiverr was priced at exactly $5 of which the 89 00:09:06,859 --> 00:09:14,319 platform kept $1. So some months ago, I found a way to directly access all videos 90 00:09:14,319 --> 00:09:19,390 uploaded to the platform in real time, including every single video that people 91 00:09:19,390 --> 00:09:25,350 on Fiverr are producing for their clients. So through this crack in the surface, or 92 00:09:25,350 --> 00:09:31,990 you could also call it a security problem or a privacy issue they have, I could look 93 00:09:31,990 --> 00:09:36,949 at the leaked stream of videos and I did this for days and weeks and months and I 94 00:09:36,949 --> 00:09:42,749 downloaded videos worth of like more than 100 GB and I was looking for some patterns 95 00:09:42,749 --> 00:09:51,230 to understand this marketplace. So to give you some ideas about what I saw there: On 96 00:09:51,230 --> 00:09:57,800 the platform it is dog-eat-dog. Be the best the cheapest, the most creative, the 97 00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:03,170 most efficient, be just like a proper software extension. Never sleep, work all 98 00:10:03,170 --> 00:10:09,339 the time. At the same time, everybody is also fighting against the platform's 99 00:10:09,339 --> 00:10:16,879 algorithms and clean interfaces that hide most gig workers on page 2, 3, 4 and so 100 00:10:16,879 --> 00:10:27,860 on. As many gigs offer unrealistically short delivery times for creative work, it 101 00:10:27,860 --> 00:10:34,319 becomes clear that they themselves use bots, generators and templates, simulating 102 00:10:34,319 --> 00:10:41,129 creative work and creating yet another layer of man-machine complexity. So using 103 00:10:41,129 --> 00:10:47,010 automation in order to not be replaced by automation. Their biggest selling point 104 00:10:47,010 --> 00:10:55,280 seems to be their low cost coupled with a truly natural interface: a human being. In 105 00:10:55,280 --> 00:11:01,040 contrast, there is another group of people consciously offering their bodies often as 106 00:11:01,040 --> 00:11:06,660 carriers of messages like screens. So here, the fantasy of the universal 107 00:11:06,660 --> 00:11:12,410 addressability and availability of all nodes manifests itself in the distant and 108 00:11:12,410 --> 00:11:23,339 often exotic body that acts as a screen. This goes hand in hand with gigs offering 109 00:11:23,339 --> 00:11:38,350 personal porn or erotic videos and fetish videos. So here, I would summarize: Being 110 00:11:38,350 --> 00:11:43,889 a software extension on a hyper- competitive platform fosters and demands 111 00:11:43,889 --> 00:11:49,269 something that I would call survival creativity, that means coming up with 112 00:11:49,269 --> 00:11:55,539 whatever it takes to survive in a competitive environment. And as I 113 00:11:55,539 --> 00:12:00,910 reminder, Fiverr might be an extreme example but it exemplifies a development 114 00:12:00,910 --> 00:12:08,399 that has become a reality for many already and it's not like it's them and us, we are 115 00:12:08,399 --> 00:12:17,729 all human software extensions. So far I've managed to talk about software without 116 00:12:17,729 --> 00:12:22,899 mentioning artificial intelligence even once, that's nice I think. Instead I've 117 00:12:22,899 --> 00:12:28,769 drawn this a bleak picture of a quasi totality of work and exploitation. 118 00:12:28,769 --> 00:12:34,829 However, automation and artificial intelligence supposedly imply a future 119 00:12:34,829 --> 00:12:43,079 without work, right? So in the previous examples, platforms, software, artificial 120 00:12:43,079 --> 00:12:48,309 intelligence acted as scientific management. The Taylorist boss 121 00:12:48,309 --> 00:12:53,189 algorithmically distributing and modulating human workers as software 122 00:12:53,189 --> 00:13:01,360 extensions. Now, one great post work ideas is to not only automate the management of 123 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:09,019 working bodies and minds, but instead to completely replace all human nodes with AI 124 00:13:09,019 --> 00:13:14,559 as well. While I think this is an excellent foundation for discussing our 125 00:13:14,559 --> 00:13:21,670 society's obsession with work, I would also argue this hypothesis is as appealing 126 00:13:21,670 --> 00:13:29,769 as it is flawed, unfortunately. So my observation is this: AI, artificial 127 00:13:29,769 --> 00:13:35,379 intelligence, is an appropriation and a possible extrapolation of existing 128 00:13:35,379 --> 00:13:41,819 knowledge and skills, yes. And as such it might as well do our jobs but it is first 129 00:13:41,819 --> 00:13:49,069 and foremost used as a scheme to fragment work into tasks that can be done anywhere 130 00:13:49,069 --> 00:13:55,720 24/7 and to make this labor invisible. What we see here is a piece called 131 00:13:55,720 --> 00:14:01,980 "Segmentation Network" which I made last year it plays back over 600,000 132 00:14:01,980 --> 00:14:07,870 segmentations manually created by mechanical crowd workers, Mechanical Turk 133 00:14:07,870 --> 00:14:14,380 crowd workers, for Microsoft's cocoa image recognition data set. These so-called 134 00:14:14,380 --> 00:14:19,249 segmentations are based on photos we have uploaded to Flickr and they are used in 135 00:14:19,249 --> 00:14:26,269 machine learning, training AI what it can see and what not. So you can automate as 136 00:14:26,269 --> 00:14:32,579 much as you want but at some point you will have to train and especially maintain 137 00:14:32,579 --> 00:14:39,999 the machines and the software. So I would say AI creates yet another layer of badly 138 00:14:39,999 --> 00:14:48,679 or unpaid care and maintenance work which is often invisible on purpose. So I would 139 00:14:48,679 --> 00:14:53,679 say this needs to change. And I think Feminist theory and practices have to lot 140 00:14:53,679 --> 00:14:58,110 have a lot to say about this issue but that's another talk and I would like to 141 00:14:58,110 --> 00:15:07,759 hear it. So here is a point in case and maybe a solution: At the end of 2011, 142 00:15:07,759 --> 00:15:12,779 while still being students and sharing a studio Silvia Larusso, a friend and 143 00:15:12,779 --> 00:15:18,339 artist, and me we started to take a screenshot of every single captcha that we 144 00:15:18,339 --> 00:15:25,139 had to solve while navigating the web. So over the years, proving that we are human 145 00:15:25,139 --> 00:15:34,029 time and time again, we captured hundreds of captchas. This year, we thought about 146 00:15:34,029 --> 00:15:38,790 how to make this little thing or these like little things, the collection of 147 00:15:38,790 --> 00:15:42,910 these things, into something which is as valuable and as expensive as possible and 148 00:15:42,910 --> 00:15:48,589 so we published the complete collection as a series of five handmade Leporello books. 149 00:15:48,589 --> 00:15:55,939 So each of these books is one year. And if you if you expand all these Leporello, 150 00:15:55,939 --> 00:16:02,399 they have a total length of 90 meters chronicling five years of micro labor as 151 00:16:02,399 --> 00:16:07,660 well as the history of captures. So if you look at it, captures started as a 152 00:16:07,660 --> 00:16:15,209 technique to merely prevent spam and then they kind of morphed into a method for 153 00:16:15,209 --> 00:16:22,609 deciphering house numbers and transcribing books. And then lately it's become a means 154 00:16:22,609 --> 00:16:30,970 of teaching image recognition to AI software. While we were collecting these 155 00:16:30,970 --> 00:16:37,990 captures, Gabriela Rojas Lozano in 2015 filed a class action lawsuit against 156 00:16:37,990 --> 00:16:43,250 Google and she claimed that Google operates a highly profitable transcription 157 00:16:43,250 --> 00:16:49,179 business built upon free labor which it deceptively and unfairly obtains from 158 00:16:49,179 --> 00:16:56,529 unwitting website users. Unfortunately, her claims were rejected. So here the 159 00:16:56,529 --> 00:17:01,379 judge states that it's like you spent only a few seconds on this it cannot be 160 00:17:01,379 --> 00:17:07,579 expected to pay for such a small job. So, however, her attempt to sue Google was 161 00:17:07,579 --> 00:17:13,500 still a success I would say because it led to the proof that Google has perfected a 162 00:17:13,500 --> 00:17:19,910 magical process in which work is transformed into literally nothing. So 163 00:17:19,910 --> 00:17:26,949 welcome post-work society! How does this magical trick work? It's rather simple. 164 00:17:26,949 --> 00:17:30,550 You take a job, let's say transcribing books, and you fragment it and you 165 00:17:30,550 --> 00:17:36,250 fragment it more and more and more until suddenly the job is magically done without 166 00:17:36,250 --> 00:17:42,430 anyone having ever worked on it. Because, if nobody has to get paid, nobody had to 167 00:17:42,430 --> 00:17:47,370 work either, right? Hence, the judge's statement is proof that this magic 168 00:17:47,370 --> 00:17:52,220 actually works. It gets better. In the end Google still ends up being paid even 169 00:17:52,220 --> 00:17:57,920 though they have just made the job disappear magically. So what I want to 170 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:04,750 suggest now is to seize the means of magic. What about this: Fragmenting those 171 00:18:04,750 --> 00:18:11,309 platforms that algorithmically manage us to such a great degree they simply do not 172 00:18:11,309 --> 00:18:17,870 exist anymore? Magically, their job will still be done and in the end we get the 173 00:18:17,870 --> 00:18:23,799 money. I guess in like a less magical version we could call this platform co- 174 00:18:23,799 --> 00:18:30,159 operativism. If you do not believe in magic then I have two more suggestions 175 00:18:30,159 --> 00:18:38,380 about what we, as a software extensions, can do. So I will show you two clips from 176 00:18:38,380 --> 00:18:43,350 my latest video piece which is called "I Will Say Whatever You Want in Front of a 177 00:18:43,350 --> 00:18:48,570 Pizza". You can see the full version online on this website, all that's gonna 178 00:18:48,570 --> 00:18:52,520 be, I think there's going to be a screening somewhere here in the in the 179 00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:57,470 video lounge. Anyway, I will show you two bits even though it's a 12-minute video 180 00:18:57,470 --> 00:19:03,130 and just looking at two bits doesn't make too much sense still I think they show a 181 00:19:03,130 --> 00:19:08,130 point I wanted to make pretty nicely. So the video is narrated from the perspective 182 00:19:08,130 --> 00:19:14,520 of a cloud worker and this is the protagonist: 183 00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:23,080 Protagonist: [unintelligeable speech from video] Instead, I was working for a pizza 184 00:19:23,080 --> 00:19:29,680 delivery company. Brian, your next automated pizza delivery is scheduled for 185 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:36,500 Saturday February the 25th at 12:00 p.m.. To confirm, text yes. To decline, text no. 186 00:19:36,500 --> 00:19:39,360 Text help for help. Other voice: Thank you, Papa John, you 187 00:19:39,360 --> 00:19:43,032 handsomeman. I shall call you the Carbs Vixen. 188 00:19:43,032 --> 00:19:46,600 Protagonist: We're sorry, we didn't understand. Please confirm or decline. 189 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:51,190 Other voice: When I make love I imagine you tossing some dough shirtless 190 00:19:51,190 --> 00:19:54,660 Protagonist: Dude, our automated system isn't set up yet. This is a real person 191 00:19:54,660 --> 00:20:00,000 texting you. I make minimum wage, please just tell me if you want the pizza 192 00:20:06,470 --> 00:20:13,429 S: So, that's a protagonist. To give you some background: In 2016, Donald Trump's 193 00:20:13,429 --> 00:20:18,350 team hired a Singaporean teenager through Fiverr which is the platform I talked 194 00:20:18,350 --> 00:20:24,149 about before, and they hired her to convert a PowerPoint into a Prezi which is 195 00:20:24,149 --> 00:20:29,300 the software I'm using for the video, basically outsourcing the Make America 196 00:20:29,300 --> 00:20:34,389 Great Again campaign, which is it's a true story. *laughter in background* So at some 197 00:20:34,389 --> 00:20:38,769 point in the video, the protagonist who is now working and only as a pizza delivery 198 00:20:38,769 --> 00:20:44,690 bot but also as a cloud work on Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform, preparing data 199 00:20:44,690 --> 00:20:50,240 sets for AI, at some point he gets to know the Singaporean teenager as a fellow 200 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:57,519 worker. And she has got an idea. Protagonist: One day, I found a thread 201 00:20:57,519 --> 00:21:04,850 started by her. She talked about the political implications of what we did and 202 00:21:04,850 --> 00:21:17,600 what kind of things we could do. Of course, we on Mechanical Turk had created 203 00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:23,669 the data set. It was sad to see how depressed many of us actually were. 204 00:21:23,669 --> 00:21:27,611 Other voice: Researchers asked 500 workers to complete a survey which contained a 205 00:21:27,611 --> 00:21:32,100 standard clinical depression survey. 170 workers agreed to share their Instagram 206 00:21:32,100 --> 00:21:40,020 post for the study. Out of those 170 workers, 70 were clinically depressed. By 207 00:21:40,020 --> 00:21:45,291 the way, the depression filter is Inkwell. It turns photos to black and white and 208 00:21:45,291 --> 00:21:51,671 adds high contrast. Better not to use it. Protagonist: But she pointed to something 209 00:21:51,671 --> 00:21:58,290 else. It was in our power to manipulate or even to change the very core of such 210 00:21:58,290 --> 00:22:13,520 mechanisms: our data sets, machines, society, you, the future. We started to 211 00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:20,849 discuss, to organize and to experiment. Of course, we didn't always agree. Was this 212 00:22:20,849 --> 00:22:28,679 just for fun, like Easter eggs? Did we share a political agenda? In any case, 213 00:22:28,679 --> 00:22:42,380 things had to happen secretly. Otherwise, it wouldn't work. Teaching Google to 214 00:22:42,380 --> 00:22:48,220 identify a photo of an eggplant as British singer Chris Meloni served as a proof of 215 00:22:48,220 --> 00:22:53,755 concept. S: Okay, so the ideas is this: When we are 216 00:22:53,755 --> 00:22:58,889 extending software with our bodies and minds, we are also extending our reach 217 00:22:58,889 --> 00:23:04,520 into the software, and reaching into the software, being part of the software, we 218 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:09,200 can start to manipulate these systems that govern us and that we have to use to 219 00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:15,470 govern others. And once we are plugged, in we can manipulate data, we can create new 220 00:23:15,470 --> 00:23:21,149 and weird and slow and inefficient software from within. So it can be fun, 221 00:23:21,149 --> 00:23:26,570 like leaving easter eggs for others to find realizing yes, there are actual 222 00:23:26,570 --> 00:23:36,360 people inside these systems. Which brings me to my third and last thought: Why being 223 00:23:36,360 --> 00:23:43,500 a software extension also has some chances or possibilities. I will end the talk by 224 00:23:43,500 --> 00:23:48,899 talking about Mark Zuckerberg which will make me look like a fool anyway. Being a 225 00:23:48,899 --> 00:23:53,151 software extension can also offer a new aesthetic and a new way of being and I 226 00:23:53,151 --> 00:23:58,830 think this video which could be called the father of all stupid demos illustrates 227 00:23:58,830 --> 00:24:04,699 this in a rather interesting way. Here, for whatever reason Zuckerberg is 228 00:24:04,699 --> 00:24:09,919 demonstrating Facebook's virtual reality by visiting Puerto Rico in the wake of 229 00:24:09,919 --> 00:24:17,340 Hurricane Maria. So why do I show this video? Contrary to what he had intended, 230 00:24:17,340 --> 00:24:22,639 Zuckerberg as a crudely abstracted version of himself turned into a software 231 00:24:22,639 --> 00:24:28,770 extension, detaches and dissociates himself from the real world. This is what 232 00:24:28,770 --> 00:24:36,519 I like. Because I think and you will agree with me: Software is not perfect. It's 233 00:24:36,519 --> 00:24:41,880 full of bugs, it often behaves in unexpected and weird and glitchy ways, 234 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:50,759 doing stupid things often and like often over and over again, in an infinite loop. 235 00:24:50,759 --> 00:24:57,110 Therefore, embracing the weird and abstract asthetic of a of a human as a 236 00:24:57,110 --> 00:25:02,779 software extension could actually allow us to detach ourselves from circumstances and 237 00:25:02,779 --> 00:25:10,120 which we are required to be our best working selves all the time. So being like 238 00:25:10,120 --> 00:25:15,470 available all the time, addressable, programmable, to update ourselves all the 239 00:25:15,470 --> 00:25:21,180 time. We could like use being a software extension, the aesthetic of being a 240 00:25:21,180 --> 00:25:28,120 software extension, as a mask behind which we can hide, pretending to be a bot. 241 00:25:28,120 --> 00:25:30,720 That's the idea. Thank you. 242 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:41,080 *applause* 243 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:45,520 Herald: Thank you, Sebastian, indeed, for making a bleak future look a little bit 244 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:50,270 more bright. I think we have about five minutes for very short Q&A, otherwise, he 245 00:25:50,270 --> 00:25:56,029 said you have a Twitter account and you can also meet Sebastian next to the stage. 246 00:25:56,029 --> 00:26:02,070 So are there questions, maybe from the Signal Angel? None? Okay, then just 247 00:26:02,070 --> 00:26:05,380 another round of applause for Sebastian! Sebastian: Thank you. 248 00:26:05,380 --> 00:26:08,279 *applause* 249 00:26:08,279 --> 00:26:15,492 *postroll music* 250 00:26:15,492 --> 00:26:29,240 *subtitles created by c3subtitles.de in the year 2018*