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credit: https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/strawberry-blue-jeans-poison-dart-frog-costa-rica-oophaga-pumilio-gm504905092-83410667

Cole’s connection between photography and memorializing ruined ancient artifacts made me think of species that are going extinct. Currently, planet earth is going through its sixth major mass extinction, which is categorized by extreme loss in biodiversity. In fact, it’s estimated that 150 plant and animal species go extinct each day (this number is disputed).

This reading reminded me of nature documentaries that showcase rare moments or images of dying species with calls to action. While this is not the exact characterization Cole gives, it feels similar because we’re using photos to capture memories of a dying object or animal and trying to raise awareness perhaps. Once the animal or monument is gone, only the image remains.

The mass extinction also connects to our reading about infinite images. It’s sad to think that even if we posted an image about each dying species, it would likely get lost in a flood of content because there would be so many posts. It’s hard to keep track of endangered species and I don’t even hear about most of them. With so many photos being created, does the value of the memorializing decrease?

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Image credit: georainbolt

The image above is a screenshot from the TikTok account of georainbolt, a streamer who has gained popularity due to his incredible ability to play GeoGuessr. GeoGuessr is a game produced by Google that gives users a random location from Google Street View and users must guess where they are (it’s actually a pretty fun game!). First, let’s unpack the ethical considerations of this game. As the Salkeld reading discusses, Google Street View brings up many questions of privacy and surveillance. Every location on Earth is now photographed, documented and preserved on the internet for a long time and available to people anywhere around the world. Now, these photos are being packaged into a game, which feels like it trivializes the severity of the surveillance concerns and potentially increases the exposure of these images to the lay public. 

Georainbolt is no ordinary player of the game. He has memorized every location and can score with incredible accuracy on insane challenges such as black and white photos, pixelated, half a photo, distorted, and 0.1 seconds to view it. This is all streamed live and he says it can be done through memorizing the deck. With over 2 million TikTok followers, he is a social media sensation and has been using this to branch into more pop culture content. He takes common scenes from movies, memes, etc and finds the exact spot on Google maps. His comments often say things like “why don’t you work for the CIA or FBI”. While these videos are fun and comments are made in jest, they do hide a sinister message which is that Google maps and tracking is so advanced and has so much information that it can be hijacked for surveillance and intelligence purposes. Google maps allows individuals to have access to very detailed images of all parts of our lives, such that a video of someone singing a song can be tracked to a location based on the background scenery. That’s a scary power to have.

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The EDITH glasses are an invention in the fictional Marvel Cinematic Universe. They are an AI tool created by Tony Stark/Iron Man that he gifts to Peter Parker/Spiderman. According to the Marvel description, these glasses are an ��augmented reality security, defense and artificial tactical intelligence system… housed in a pair of sunglasses, E.D.I.T.H. gave its users access to Stark Industries' global satellite network along with an arsenal of missiles and drones.”

After reading about Google Glass and Project Aria, my mind immediately thought of these glasses because they are similar in their design and function (perhaps not weapons, but similar ideas of technological capabilities from the glasses). It’s interesting that these concepts have been explored in science fiction movies, perhaps a nod to how distant and unrealistic these technologies feel. It’s further curious to note that these technologies have been glorified by superheroes, though in this movie, the glasses do fall into the hands on a villain and those effects are also explored.

However, the dangerous effects of such technolgies are real, here, and go beyond waging drone war. For everyday people, and for AR glasses that are used as cameras more often the weapons, the issues of privacy and surveillance are front and center. Both the Google Glass and Project Aria reading reference the dangers involved in tracking and recording, especially without the consent of the individuals being recorded. This is one of the big distinctions drawn in ‘Connected by Camera’ — ultimately camgirls and camboys choose to be on camera and give permission for others to have a window into their lives. But technologies that integrate recording into glasses take away that consent and permission process from the public.

AI and AR applications will likely only grow in the future, and it’s likely that a product with extended camera and recording functionality might make its way into market. How we design and moderate such products is an unresolved and pressing issue. It only goes to show: with great power comes great responsibility.

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Image credit: https://stock.adobe.com/search?k=chess+shadow

I really like this image because it has many layers to analyze. Perhaps the first thing we notice in the center of the image is a shadow of the queen, a chess piece. The queen is the most powerful piece on the board since it can move in all directions, multiple squares at a time. However, this shadow is not being produced by a queen, but rather a circle of pawns, the least valuable chess piece. Upon closer inspection, the pawns are not even the correct position to produce this shadow — the shadow is clearly doctored, yet believable, if we tried to match up the circular heads and elongated bodies. There are multiple metaphors hidden in here. First, in chess, if a pawn advances all the way to the end rank, it can be upgraded to any piece one likes, often the queen. Perhaps, something can be said of the power of multiple pawns together — strength in numbers. The notion of a deceptive shadow resonates strongly with the central message of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and Sontag’s writing. Plato’s philosophy literally talks about shadows that are not real, but perceived to be, and how that can be deceptive. In this case, if we only looked at the shadow, we would think there is a queen, when in reality there are just pawns. Sontag applies a similar idea in her writing, arguing that photos ultimately are not a reality, but we start to treat them like one. In her case, she likens the photograph to a shadow, thus pushing for the viewer to engage with the real object. In this image, another layer that speaks to Sontag’s argument is that the shadow is not even a correct representation of the object, but a doctored image that could represent the altered and biased view of the photographer. The elongated shadow and perhaps color tone also gives a sinister look to the image, further matching the foreboding tone used by Sontag. Finally, with respect to the last reading, the pawns are placed at an intersection of the rule of thirds, but there are several other elements that make this picture appealing. The area of greatest contrast comes at the base of the pawns, which draws our attention. The shadow is placed on a diagonal that adds to the dynamic composition and serves to balance out the pawns placed at the rule of thirds.