The Coding Notes

The advances of AI and cheap compute power allow us to automate the making of “fake” media texts. Deepfake media generally points to media texts (e.g. audio, pictures and videos) portraying (celebrity) persona in events that have never taken place. The term deepfake references the use of deep learning to create the fake. The interconnectedness of the internet allows us to disseminate media texts with unparalleled speed and depth into (social) networks. Articles with false information disseminate with the same ease. The term “fake news” points to any type of “news” article containing false information. Some are spread with the intent to disinform. Don’t panic! Creating fakes and false information are not new. The spreading of false news as a (political) strategy has happened since at least the 13th century BC . Creating imitation pieces, like deepfakes, is probably equally old. The concept has been formulated as early as 100 BC .  The widespread availability of digital methods t...

Technology changes the world. Technology improves our lives. Just look at the Black Lives Matters movement. Social Media will drive the change of society to finally get rid of racism. It is the power of social media that drives this change. Technology marches in seven-league boots from one ruthless, revolutionary conquest to another, tearing down old factories and industries, flinging up new processes with terrifying rapidity. by Charles A. Beard The many grave fallacies in the paragraph above show technological determinism in all its reductionist crudeness. Technological determinism is the belief that technology is the main (positive) force that steers the direction of society. It reduces the full complexity of society to a crude [ technology > societal effect ] vision of history and societal change. The Medium is the Message by Marshall McLuhan From left to right, Karl Marx's idea, that fast-changing technologies alter human lives, is pervasive...