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In the future, you will be on camera even more

face_recognition

Attended Wired’s Nextfest yesterday. It harkens back to the General Motors Futurama exhibits from the 1939 and 1964 World’s Fairs.

Of interest to me:
– It was a total mob scene. I think its appeal far exceeded Wired’s expectations. I wonder what it is about this that taps into something zeitgeist-y.
– Cameras everywhere. Resistance is useless; you will be recorded.
– Robots. It’s funny. “Robots” seems such an antiquated notion of The Future, but they were in full force at the show.
– Cities. Were totally ignored. And I wonder why. Usually discussions of the future revolves around how it effects cities. I mean, both of the Futurama exhibits envisioned cities of the future. Maybe because Nextfest was so object-fetishist. It definitely missed out on an opportunity of putting all the things on display in any real context.