superconcepts

  ‘Silent walking’ is a movement taking Gen Z by storm, but it’s copping criticism https://www.tiktok.com/@ariellelorre/video/7190821620087393582 In yet another groundbreaking show of innovation, Gen Z has created a new trend. This time, they’ve invented walking - without any technology. Imagine, going for a walk, without a podcast blasting dopamine in your ears. No camera to capture those Instagram moments. No Strava to announce your exercise and home address to the world. No speakerphone call to share with other pedestrians who you’ll ignore. Just you, the wind, and the birds. Ms Maio said the first two minutes of her walk were “mayhem”, until she hit a “flow state”, when “suddenly you can … hear yourself.” So stunning and brave was podcaster Maio that she was able to endure 2 whole minutes of anxiety before she was able to mellow into a state of “flow”. Whether she then realised the anxiety reducing effects of technology-absent walking is not ...

 Maybe a new platform isn’t what we need *Other Data includes times you picked your nose, phobias, and broken pinky promises Here we go again, yet another Twitter clone, claiming to have what it takes to steal the doomscrolling crown from Elon Musk’s increasingly evident clusterfuck. Only this time, it has the advantage of a familiar pedigree, a “trusted” brand — that of none other than Mark “Cambridge Analytica” Zuckerberg. It’s what we’ve all been waiting for, an already heavily populated microblogging platform which doesn’t require a working knowledge of Linux to join. A chance to be an early adopter — perhaps even an influencer(!) of the next greatest social media platform, as if it was 2011 when these things still mattered. Meta’s stocks have soared, many have finally ditched their Twitter accounts, and after the ill fated metaverse excursion , Zuckerberg is relevant again. So please excuse me, for not giving a shit. I’ve been an addict, I mean user, of Tw...

Are you ready? If you thought the Social Media fueled era of narcissism, fake news, and attention economy was bad, you haven’t seen anything yet. When it first came out, we had high hopes for Social Media and its ability to democratise thought. In many ways, it has delivered - but in the end, the nefarious forces who run the world bastardised it for their own advantage. Now, social media is a negative force, fueling addiction, abuse, and manipulation. We could rid the world of Social Media today and we would be no worse off. AI has finally, after many false starts, made its splash into the world - yet this is only the beginning. As with Social Media and the Web before it, we have no idea of the potential that it could unleash, though we all know it’s going to be big, and it’s going to change all our lives. So why do I automatically assume it’s going to be a negative force? Is it because I’m scarred by the impacts of Social Media and the Web? Well, they have certainly shown me how human...

I started this blog in the late 00s to write about Transhumanism, Technology, and Virtual Reality. Technology has always been a passion. Growing up in the 80s I lived through an incredible evolution of electronics and computing. Mass mobile communication was a science fiction wonder I read about in the technology magazine Quest . My internet was Teletext , I wrote letters to pen pals. It was a time of hope and wonder for what the future of technology could bring. Until the last few years, this wonder has continued. Smart phones have brought us closer together, and the digital world has matured into a significant piece of our lives. I think it was the Apple watch when things changed for me. The iphone was an incredible, though incremental, world changing gadget. We all know that. But when the Apple watch was announced it became obvious that these technology companies had peaked. They were no longer about pushing boundaries, they were no longer interested in trying to evolve society with...

Photo by Raychan on  Unsplash As most of us have, I’ve grown addicted to the conveniences and dopamine hits of smartphones. So I decided to see how, and if, I would function without one. The night before I was due to go into the office, I took the SIM out of my Pixel and inserted it into my old Nokia E63. In the morning, I got up, grabbed both phones, and headed for the train station. I had the Nokia in my pocket and my Pixel tucked away safely in my bag. I decided to take the Pixel too in case there was something urgent that I had forgotten about that I might need my phone for. I had no intention of using it. Also, I don’t have wifi at work, and I’m not sure if you’ve realised, but smartphones are almost useless without internet. Almost all apps require it, and those that don’t are not apps that you would generally spend a lot of time on. So without the SIM, I wasn’t likely to use the Pixel at all. I arrived at the station and had to check my train pass balance at the machine, an...

I recently visited Zero Latency — a Virtual Reality company specialising in free-roam experiences. I was expecting a fun, entertaining, but overall gimmicky experience. I was blown away. From the moment you put on the headset, you are immersed . What makes the experience so unique is the way that you have to physically interact. It starts when you pick up your gun. It’s really there, physically in front of you on the ground. And when you pick it up, you can see it in the game. You can see it and you can feel it. Then, you look around at your teammates. They are really there — physically and virtually. How far away they look is how far away they really are. You’re even guided by proximity warnings to stop you bumping into them. This actually increases your senses, essential when your eyes and ears are completely covered. The social element makes it so much fun. It’s hard to believe that’s a real person standing next to you. Not like in an online game where they’re miles ...