[FRIAM] Augmented Reality

[glen]

This is an interesting take on AR I hadn't really thought of:

Sanas, the buzzy Bay Area startup that wants to make the world sound whiter
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/sanas-startup-creates-american-voice-17382771.php

And a voice modifier from a different company here: https://koe.ai/recast/

This post brings home the implications of such:

Does the rise of the Metaverse mean the decline of cities?
https://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/agora/2022/08/rise-metaverse-mark-zuckerberg-decline-cities

Do we want our "public spaces" (e.g. cities) to be owned by singular corporations? Olympia (where I live) is already bad enough, mostly renters, most of the downtown rental properties owned by a single family. We're inching ever so slowly to Plato's Philosopher King, except any benevolence of the King is a mere (and sporadic) side-effect of the primary motive: profit. This seems, to me, strongly analogous to the grifters who call pretending to be "Agent Bob Jones" or whatever from the IRS trying to steal money from me in the form of Walmart gift cards. I know several of my similarly aged peers who talk loudly and often about their rental houses, usually, since I'm surrounded by liberals now, bragging about how they keep the rent low and try to provide a good place for the renters to live. This altruism-washing of their rent-seeking behavior is way too similar to disguising an East Indian voice to sound more white. Is it really any less dystopian if you're the one on top?

It's interesting that I don't mind the loss of possible contact/engagement with some people because they rely solely on Facebook (Instagram, Zoom, or whatever) for their networking. Most breweries and music venues up here use Instagram as their primary announcement forum. The result? I don't know about them. So I'm much less likely to engage. That's fine. More time to think <https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35901414/>. I'm "this close" to quitting LinkedIn, too:

People Are Flooding LinkedIn With Strange Stories. We’re Calling Them Broetry.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/why-are-these-posts-taking-over-your-linkedin-feed-because

We really do need honest *public* spaces, even if you hate "socialism". The internet is a public utility and should be treated that way. And governments should devote some of our tax monies to corporation-independent social network platforms. Mastodon would be perfect for that.

-- 
ꙮ Mɥǝu ǝlǝdɥɐuʇs ɟᴉƃɥʇ' ʇɥǝ ƃɹɐss snɟɟǝɹs˙ ꙮ