Dear Jenny,
I don't know whether you've seen my post on Facebook, where I share some pictures about the Glass Room, an exhibit that's been in Berlin, London, New York, and is now in SF.
I thought of you when I got to The Smell Test, a way of rating people that reminded me of "Nose Dive." In fact, I told one of the guides there that it reminded me of a program in which people rate each other all the time and--He knew I was talking about The Black Mirror episode you showed me. It also reminded me of the Korean film I recently saw, "Parasites," in which the very poor interlopers overhear the very rich talk about their smell, like the smell of the people who ride the subways. (How would they know?)
Just now as I was looking for a link to give you background, I see that The Black Mirror is mentioned!
So this article can give you background, and I'll just focus on what I enjoyed doing and what impressed me.
The Glass Room is intentionally like an Apple Store, but instead of selling tech, they're warning us against it. The first exhibit I saw shows various tech companies--Google, Facebook, Hewlett Packard, etc--and citizen action both by them and against them. For example, when Trump announced his policy to keep Muslims out of the country, 2,843 tech employees signed a petition that they would refuse to create a data base identifying people by their religion. It also shows protests against and boycotts of the companies for specific reasons.
Getting into the more personal, I looked into a facial recognition mirror and saw all the faces that looked like mine come up. I was jealous because the woman who did this after I finished had prettier faces come up to match hers.
I also took a personality test, and the results showed I was outgoing, extroverted, and not very agreeable. (They had statements like "I know how to comfort people" with choices of "Very accurate, fairly accurate, somewhat accurate, somewhat inaccurate," etc., and I know I don't know how to comfort people so I rated myself low.) But the area they said most defined me was neuroticism because I was 68% less neurotic than most people, which made me a target for a particular kind of campaign, one to give people who've been in prison a second chance!
Of course, I also enjoyed the exhibits giving me a chance to wear a crown or a puppy's mug and see a reflection of myself with ever- changing analyses like "You are 35% one of them,"/"...5% autonomous"/..."83% surprising"/"...
On one screen I got a smiley face emoji and hearts on my eyes with the words "reaction to yourself: good" and "estimated income: $31,099." If I got $31,009, I don't think my reaction to myself would be very good. They also told me my estimated IQ was 100! I think it's like that study done (Forer) where people took a personality test and were then given results that were so generic that all thought the analysis described them perfectly, only to find out later that everyone was given exactly the same results. But, hey, an IQ of 100?? I know I'm struggling to understand this world, but still...
Someone in dating services was quoted as saying, "When two people are told they have a lot in common, they tend to make this true" or something like that.
Another part of the exhibit, Invisible Labor, shows the labor that goes into making our tech projects like tablets and smartphones. I thought this was going to include the poor people who mine the minerals used in our products, but it shows instead all the movements that go on in the factories after the excavation.
The exhibit has four main areas: Red is "Trust Us," blue "Highly Personal," gray "Invisible Labor," and green "Big Mother." Big Mother shows how high tech tries to "protect" us.
It's all very interesting, and I have Maxine Anderson to thank. She's another board member of OWL and on OWL's Political Action Committee who told Kathie Piccagli and me about this after our meeting this past Thursday.
Here are some pictures as well as the official link:
The Glass Room – Looking into your online life.
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Meanwhile, California is burning. I may join a friend (Robert Liu--He's the one we met at Samovar and later went on the march with) and the Red Cross at St. Mary's Cathedral this coming Sunday to help evacuees a little bit.
How are YOU doing?
Love,
Tina
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