[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #582: Ominous shadows: signs of the Infocalypse

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OPLIN 4Cast #582: Ominous shadows: signs of the Infocalypse
February 21st, 2018

[image: Dystopian view of a community] Lately, I've started using those
one-touch responses my phone suggests for replies in text messages. Some of
my friends do too, and when we notice each other doing it, we keep at it,
seeing how long the conversation can go before devolving into the surreal
and silly. Sometimes that takes a surprisingly long time. I'm not (yet)
worried that the apps will take over, perfectly impersonating me for their
own inscrutable purposes, but the potential for AI-assisted fraud is
nevertheless alarming, and some observers think the near future looks very
bleak indeed. This week, I ran across the term *infocalypse --*
pronounced (according
to its creator <https://twitter.com/metaviv/status/963669469473202179>) "
*in*-*fok*-*uh*-lips" -- and the emergence of "reality apathy." These
concepts have cast ominous shadows over several stories that have crossed
my feeds recently.

   -
   - He Predicted The 2016 Fake News Crisis. Now He's Worried About An
   Information Apocalypse
   <https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/the-terrifying-future-of-fake-news?utm_term=.claZPAodq#.skdM45mbW>
   [BuzzFeed News | Charlie Warzel] "And much in the way that
   foreign-sponsored, targeted misinformation campaigns didn't feel like a
   plausible near-term threat until we realized that it was already happening,
   Ovadya cautions that fast-developing tools powered by artificial
   intelligence, machine learning, and augmented reality tech could be
   hijacked and used by bad actors to imitate humans and wage an information
   war."
   - Tired of texting? Google tests robot to chat with friends for you
   <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/feb/14/google-tests-robot-chat-reply-friends>
   [The Guardian] "The system can apparently work out what people are saying
   to you and suggest one-tap answers, but Google says it will go further,
   taking your location, your calendar and other bits of information into
   account. One example was using your location to send and instant response
   to 'when can you be home?' using your preferred method of transport and the
   time it’ll take to wherever your home is."
   - Feints of heart: Lies, fraud and the fight against romance scams
   <http://ici.radio-canada.ca/special/arnaques-amoureuses-femmes-victimes-vol-web-facebook/en/>
   [The Verge | Adi Robertson] "The subreddit for FakeApp, a program that
   allows anyone to swap faces in videos, is still online. So is
   r/SFWdeepfakes, which is devoted to non-pornographic use of the technology
   — like putting Nicolas Cage in every movie."
   - Welcome to the Post-Text Future
   <https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/09/technology/the-rise-of-a-visual-internet.html>
   [New York Times | Farhad Manjoo] "An information system dominated by
   pictures and sounds prizes emotion over rationality. It’s a world where
   slogans and memes have more sticking power than arguments."

*From the Ohio Web Library <http://ohioweblibrary.org>:*

   - Sherisse, Pham. "Reddit Bans Fake Porn That Uses Other People's Faces
   <http://oh0065.oplin.org:2055/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cmh&AN=BAQ41518056639>
   ." *CNN Wire*, 02/08/2018.
   - Blackmore, Tim. "Agent of Civility: The Librarian in Neal Stephenson's
   Snow Crash
   <http://oh0065.oplin.org:2055/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=15377830&site=ehost-live>
   ." *Simile*, vol. 4, no. 4, Nov. 2004.
   - Whitty, Monica T. and Tom Buchanan. "The Online Romance Scam: A
   Serious Cybercrime
   <http://oh0065.oplin.org:2055/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=73162659&site=ehost-live>
   ." *Cyberpsychology, Behavior & Social Networking*, vol. 15, no. 3, Mar.
   2012, pp. 181-183.

------------------------------
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