MSP [] MATTSPLAINED [] MSPx

“I am not a human. I am a robot. A thinking robot.” Those words were written by an AI called GPT-3. Should we celebrate the arrival of the thinking machine?

Hosts: Matt Armitage & Richard Bradbury

Produced: Richard Bradbury for BFM89.9

www.kulturpop.com 

https://www.instagram.com/kulturpop/?hl=en

https://twitter.com/kulturmatt 

Episode Sources:

• https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/sep/06/from-viral-conspiracies-to-exam-fiascos-algorithms-come-with-serious-side-effects
• https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/08/robot-wrote-this-article-gpt-3 

Why are bees so much better than us? Are wormholes the best way to travel? Plus, a dollop of brown fat and the glue that lets you drink milk.

Hosts: Matt Armitage & Richard Bradbury

Produced: Richard Bradbury for BFM89.9

Episode Sources:

• https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/01/elon-musk-bionic-pig-publicity-stunt-innovations 
• https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-neuralink-brain-implant-v2-demo/ 
• https://www.newscientist.com/article/2253157-travelling-through-a-wormhole-without-dying-may-actually-be-possible/ 
• https://www.wired.com/story/map-shows-how-wildfire-smoke-spreads/ 
• https://www.newscientist.com/article/2253394-honeybees-are-able-to-calculate-probability-and-use-it-to-find-food/
• https://www.newscientist.com/article/2252936-coating-our-gut-walls-with-glue-could-treat-lactose-intolerance/
• https://www.newscientist.com/article/2252925-body-fat-transformed-by-crispr-gene-editing-helps-mice-keep-weight-off/ 

Where are the self-driving cars, the robot servants and the cloud-powered smart companions? Have we been oversold on the power and potential of AI? That’s where the trouble starts.

Hosts: Matt Armitage & Richard Bradbury

Produced: Richard Bradbury for BFM89.9

Photo Credit: Eric Krull / Unsplash

Episode Sources:

• https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidteich/2020/02/27/artificial-intelligence-ai-hardware-and-software-history-does-rhyme/#75ce7cc632d2
• https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2020/06/11/driverless-cars-show-the-limits-of-todays-ai
• https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2020/06/11/driverless-cars-show-the-limits-of-todays-ai
• https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/ 
• https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/22/all-hail-the-california-court-that-put-the-brakes-on-uber-and-co 

Despite the trend for eating healthily and consciously, we know remarkably little about what’s in the food we eat or how it works. Is it time we knew more about the Dark Matter in our diet?

Hosts: Matt Armitage & Richard Bradbury

Produced: Richard Bradbury for BFM89.9

Photo Credit: Hermes Rivera / Unsplash

Episode Sources:

• https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24732920-700-hidden-nutrition-we-dont-know-what-makes-up-99-per-cent-of-our-food/
• https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Food-Beverage/Coronavirus-accelerates-demand-in-Asia-for-plant-based-meat
• https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/22/dining/plant-based-meats-coronavirus.html
• https://time.com/5827315/coronavirus-diet/
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/daphneewingchow/2020/03/31/five-ways-that-coronavirus-will-change-the-way-we-eat/#e9f2e5b1a2b4
• https://fortune.com/2020/07/21/us-consumer-spending-food-dining-out-restaurants-coronavirus-pandemic-lockdown/
• https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/aug/03/vegan-food-company-provokes-advertising-campaign-meatless-farm-coronavirus 
• https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/jul/29/petri-dishes-is-lab-grown-meat-a-mass-market-environmentally-sound-food-fix 
• https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24032080-400-accelerating-the-cultured-meat-revolution/ 
• https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/jul/29/petri-dishes-is-lab-grown-meat-a-mass-market-environmentally-sound-food-fix
• https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/21/higher-steaks-brings-home-the-bacon-revealing-lab-grown-pork-belly-and-bacon-strips/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJ829nuOBNU6mHKTn8z0JPhAwcPx8nlmAcX1ImAJxPf8I_FBLDLhnOErzS6N6iC7f4H70L_RKF5fqLKEiIzth6Vb09JJb7alYq60o-dZp4KzA7Wt249cpqleUWNyxsSZ_inM9HMO3G64bvgUM9gjD15p9OuvDDtYGod0l7nuTdsL
• https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/353533
• https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/20-food-trends-2020 

Do you remember that time Rey and Chewie bumped into Thor at brunch? No? It’s on Gamora’s Insta. Our feeds are full of omakase, dalgona coffee and selfies. But where are the selfies in sci-fi? Welcome to the Real Housewives of Space. 

Hosted by Matt Armitage & Richard Bradbury

Produced by Richard Bradbury for BFM89.9

EPISODE EXCERPT

Do you remember that scene in The Last Jedi where Luke and Rey stand near the edge of a cliff on Ahch-To, arms around each other and staring wide-eyed and grinning into the camera as they point at the puffin-like Porgs? Me neither. MSP’s Matt Armitage has had a revelation: there are no selfies in Sci-Fi.

• So, I originally talked about this on a recent episode of BFM’s A Bit of Culture.
• But it’s been gnawing away at me. 
• This difference between what we see on our screen and our actual behaviour.
• Which is nothing new - we call it fiction for a reason. 

That no one goes to the bathroom on TV shows? 

• And there’s good reason for that.
• When we’re hanging out with friends and someone heads off to the loo everyone else is just kind of hanging around waiting.
• Very often you end up having these kind of filler conversations. 
• And TV is full of moments like these. 
• The coffee shop where the characters get their order in seconds.
• How is that even possible? 
• It takes your heavily pomaded barista five minutes to decide what methodology to use to make your coffee. 
• There’s growing scientific evidence that coffee may increase your lifespan.
• It needs to, just to offset the time you spend waiting for it. 

Are there any behaviours that work the other way around?

• Of course. This is one that I do myself. 
• Most people, when they get in their car, it takes them a few minutes to put their seatbelt on, get the car started, put it in gear, take off the handbrake and move off.
• On TV, people get in the car and drive off in seconds. 
• They do it by starting the car in gear, with the handbrake off or ready to be released, so you can zoom straight off.
• Being an impatient type - I started to copy that years ago.
• A more annoying one is the loudspeaker phone thing.

Using the speaker instead of holding it to your ear?

• Yes. It drives me insane. 
• It’s like the early days of mobile phones when idiots would bark ‘yeah, the line’s bad, I’m on my mobile’ at the top of their voice in some public space.
• The loudspeaker thing - we’ve learned it from reality TV.
• From the Kardashians to those can’t pay take it away type shows.
• Everyone in those shows uses phones on speaker mode because the camera crew need to record the conversation. 
• But suddenly, everyone thinks that’s how you use a phone. 
• One good thing - It’s really useful for overhearing people’s bank details and listening to them lie to their bosses.
• Possibly not the best use of the tech.

As we build ever more complicated games and tasks to challenge AI, should we really be asking them to get the simple stuff right? Like reposing our selfies and helping to prescribe medicines? Science is certainly slick with new smart waterproofing fabrics and bricks that bring Mario to life.

Hosts: Matt Armitage & Richard Bradbury

Produced: Richard Bradbury for BFM89.9

Episode Sources:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2250551-quantum-version-of-the-ancient-game-of-go-could-be-ultimate-ai-test/ 

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2209631-ai-beats-professionals-at-six-player-texas-hold-em-poker/

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2251262-an-ai-can-make-selfies-look-like-theyre-not-selfies/

https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/08/05/1006003/ai-machine-learning-defer-to-human-expert/ 

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2250401-these-are-the-12-ways-you-can-drastically-cut-your-dementia-risk/ 

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2251189-in-ear-nerve-stimulating-device-helps-people-learning-a-new-language/

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2251388-fabric-repels-both-oil-and-water-thanks-to-clever-silicone-coating/ 

EPISODE EXCERPT

Richard: When the world grows dark, people look skywards, searching for a hero who will save them from the powers that threaten their destruction. No, we’re not talking about MSP’s Matt Armitage. As far as I know the only thing he’s saved is old wrapping paper. It’s time for another episode of MSP Science is Slick. 

Richard: Remind us why science is slick?

Matt:

• Firstly, when the apocalypse comes and there’s nowhere you can buy wrapping paper, who are you going to turn to?
• The man with a warehouse full of mouse chewed Xmas wrapping, my friend.
• Failed business ventures aside. 
• Science is Slick is where we tackle the epidemic of doomscrolling 
• And introduce some of the sci-tech stories you might have missed that will help to shape the world of tomorrow.
• And this week we have a bucketful of AI as well as some interesting stories about obesity, money laundering and dementia.

Richard: AI is a good place to start. I’m hitting the Go button…

Matt:

• Glad you approve. Go is where we’re starting.
• The ancient boardgame Go has become a bit of a battleground for a AI.
• Much more complex than chess - the sheer complexity of the predictions it required made it very hard for even supercomputers to match the skill of the best human player. 
• That was until 2017 when Google’s Deepmind powered supercomputer Alpha Go beat the reigning human champion Lee Sedol.
• Since then, Go is about as difficult for advanced AI as tic tac toe is for you and me.

The terrible ‘20s have seen the most radical changes to our society in a generation. As MSP moves into a post-Jeff world, we examine some at home hacks designed to keep us healthy until the world reopens.  

Hosted by Matt Armitage & Richard Bradbury

Produced by Richard Bradbury for BFM89.9

EPISODE SOURCES

https://www.wired.com/story/stop-doomscrolling/

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/15/technology/personaltech/youre-doomscrolling-again-heres-how-to-snap-out-of-it.html 

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24732922-400-what-is-the-best-way-to-lose-weight-and-keep-it-off-for-good/ 

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24732913-000-how-changing-the-way-you-sit-could-add-years-to-your-life/

EPISODE EXCERPT

Ballooning weight gain. Crisps. And doom scrolling. 2020 has not been kind to MSP’s Matt Armitage. Following the do as I say principle, MSP has been experimenting with some ways to stay physically fit and mentally healthy in these strange times. 

You want to start today by telling us about your morning routine?

• I’ve had a very similar routine for much of the last four years. 
• I open my eyes and I reach for my phone and thumb to my news site of choice to find out what Donald Trump has or hasn’t done during the eight odd-hours I’ve rolled fitfully on a mattress. 
• So, far, to his credit, he hasn’t done anything that might directly kill me. 
• So, even before coronavirus came around, I was waking up every morning expecting the worst.

That can’t be very healthy?

• It’s not. But it’s symptomatic of something wider. 
• To give you some context: I’m generally quite anxiety prone.
• And quite a lot of smaller surveys and anecdotal reports from health professionals and the anxious themselves, seem to concur that those with anxiety have coped with the coronavirus quite well. 
• Possibly because a lot of our anxiety comes from uncertainty in our interactions with the wider world.
• So, on the contrary, lockdowns and procedures have provided a certain amount of certainty for the anxious in dealing with the threat. 
• Plus, many of us already have coping mechanisms to deal with - basically - life.

So it’s been a busman’s holiday?

• For those of you unfamiliar with 1970s British sitcoms, a busman’s holiday is the idea of doing the same thing for a holiday as you do for work. 
• But yeah, I coped with the restrictions of the first phase of Malaysia’s MCO pretty well.
• Someone tells me I’m not allowed to go anywhere or interact with people - suits me, I generally don’t want to go anywhere or interact with people. 

How does that relate to your morning routine?

• Well, like many of the anxious, I’m coping with reopening less well than the closing down.
• Being around groups of people freaks me out. 
• Eating in restaurants feels uncomfortable and weird. 
• My wife goes out far more than me and I scream super-spreader at her every time she comes home.

MSP says a fond farewell to Jeff Sandhu by celebrating the decade that shaped him. Mobile phones, PCs, the Web 1.0 and a sea of plaid, acid washed jeans and boho-chic.

Hosts: Matt Armitage & Jeff Sandhu

Produced: Jeff Sandhu for BFM89.9

Episode Sources:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/91603cc1-f159-4c89-9462-443a078945ca

https://www.history.com/news/1990s-the-good-decade 

EPISODE EXCERPT

A couple of weeks ago we were talking about the 80s and MSP’s Matt Armitage came to the conclusion that the 80s has overstayed its cultural welcome and should go away and leave us all alone. What will fill the gap? Does that mean we’re all set for a 90s revival?

[you want to ad lib something about it being your last episode?]

Do we need another revival?

• I don’t think we do. 
• One of the conclusions we reached on that previous show was pretty much to that effect. 
• Hopefully by throwing all the Gen X and Gen Y contaminated stuff out of the window, it will leave the Gen A and Bs space to create something that doesn’t reference Star Wars as its starting point. 
• So, no, I don’t think we’ll see a full-on 90s revival.
• We’ve seen a mini-spike over the last couple of years in terms of TV revivals. 
• Friends has been one of the most streamed shows of the past couple of years.
• We’ve seen shows like the short-lived Roseanne reboot, Will & Grace, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, 90210. New Jumanji movies.
• Plenty of music. 
• The 90s is alive and well.

So, what’s it doing here, today?

• Well, as I think we mentioned on that 80s show…
• The 90s for me was a kind of proto-digital decade. 
• It laid the framework for the digital world we’re enjoying twenty years later. 
• Yet, when we look back at the 90s the two things people kind of pick out are Grunge - Nirvana - obviously and Friends.
• So, as it’s your last appearance on the show, I thought we’d do your defining decade, the 90s.
• For those of you who are wondering, Jeff is relocating to one of Kulturpop’s retirement communities where he can keep fit with some light, hands-on cobalt mining classes during the day and use the clear mountain air to clear his Black Lung at night. 
• So, the 90s is a bit of a going away present to him.
• Jeff, what did the 90s mean to you?

[we can probably ad lib back and forth on this for a couple of minutes]

I’ll ask you favourite music, TV, gadgets, clothes etc. 

[Back to Matt]

• I think one of the weird things is that we don’t have a firm grasp of what the 90s was, beyond those stereotypes we discussed.
• When you picture the 60s you have the kind of groovy, James Bond, mini skirts, Beatles and paisley image. 
• With a backdrop of civil rights, protests and hippies.
• The 70s is long hair and flares. Economic decline and strikes. 
• The 80s was that material greed decade. Fall of the Berlin Wall. Triumph of capitalism and bright, shiny pop culture. 
• all of those are unrealistic encapsulations, of course.

Could pencil and paper be the future of medical diagnosis sensors and facial recognition software? Can water filled windows cool your house? And are ultrasonic waves really the next jump in screen technology? Science is slick…

Hosts: Matt Armitage & Jeff Sandhu
Produced: Jeff Sandhu for BFM89.9

Source Links:

https://www.bfm.my 

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2244446-ultrasonic-speakers-let-people-who-are-blind-read-braille-in-mid-air/ 

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2248486-noise-cancelling-windows-halve-traffic-sounds-even-when-theyre-open/ 

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2247368-water-filled-windows-could-keep-your-home-cool-and-save-energy/ 

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2247049-us-military-electroshock-weapon-can-hit-a-person-100-metres-away/ 

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2248749-sketch-a-heart-sensor-with-pencil-drawings-that-become-electrodes/ 

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2245996-an-ai-can-generate-photographs-of-peoples-faces-from-line-drawings/ 

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2248687-teaching-an-ai-to-be-less-biased-doesnt-have-to-make-it-less-accurate/ 

There’s a smell in the air today. And that smell is knowledge. That’s right, MSP’s Matt Armitage is back with another round of deep tech stories as he announces that science is slick. 

Where are we starting today?

• Accessibility.
• Something we’ve highlighted in a bunch of shows recently. 
• The coronavirus has made us all much more dependent on technology to maintain any kind of semblance of normality in our daily lives. 
• The Internet has become our tool for reaching the outside world - whereas only a few months it was the opposite. 
• A place for people to retreat from reality. 
• There are apps for everything. 
• And that leaves us with the problem of the people who don’t have access to the technology or for whom the tech doesn’t work. 

We mentioned virtual touchscreens, I think…

• Yes. Those Minority report style screens that enable you to navigate your hands without touching. 
• And we mentioned things like sonic pressure being used in those devices to create the haptics - the sensation of pressing a key or a screen. 
• A team of researchers at the University of Bayreuth in Germany has gone a step further.
• They’ve created a haptic system based on ultrasound waves that can recreate braille characters in the air for the visually impaired. 
• The system can be used as an alternate display on ATMs or other public terminals. 

The 80s. A great place to visit, a terrible place to live. Why has our obsession with 80s culture lasted for 20 years? It’s time to throw away the neon tees and create something new.

Hosts: Matt Armitage & Jeff Sandhu
Produced: Jeff Sandhu for BFM89.9

Episode Sources:

https://www.bfm.my 

https://www.vulture.com/2016/10/2016-why-are-we-obsessed-with-the-80s.html 

EPISODE EXCERPT

On last week’s MSP, Matt Armitage had a brain wave. Generally speaking, these are dangerous things accompanied by considerable suffering for other people. This one, if it works, is likely to be no more than a crime against taste. Yes, today we’re talking about The 80s. The decade that just won’t quit.

So. The 80s?

• I don’t know - you tell me.
• I was there. For pretty much all of it.
• And sometimes I feel like I’m still there. 
• I walk into stores and they’re selling clothes like the ones that looked terrible on me 30 years ago.

And look worse now?

• Well, yeah, we hadn’t added Lycra to everything back then. 
• Now I just end up looking like one of those neon caricatures you see in sweat suits and head bands in comedies.

I should advise you that your use of the word neon is being strictly monitored for this show…

• And rightly so. That’s perhaps one of my favourite things about the decade, the total absence of colour sense that I still display today.
• I force myself to wear mostly black and navy clothes because if I’m left to choose the things I want to wear, I’ll end up looking like one of those orphan balls of Play-doh with all the different colours smooshed together. 
• Probably best that I barely leave the house anymore.
• Cultural revivals are nothing new - we recycle fashions and tastes all the time - but those revivals are often short-lived.
• A spring and summer fashion collection, a movie remake or two, some song covers or samples. 
• Normally it’s a Flash in the pan - culture moves on. But the 80s won’t move on. 

In what sense?

• We were announcing and celebrating the 80s revival in the early noughties and it never really stopped. 
• I think pretty much every TV show and movie from that era has been remade.
• Charlie’s Angels, Dynasty, 21 Jump St, Starsky & Hutch, the A Team, Ghostbusters.
• The list of etc etc goes on forever. 
• This year was supposed to be the year that Top Gun made a high altitude comeback. 
• Not sure when we’ll see it now.
• It’s like there’s no stone of 80s pop culture that hasn’t been given another go around. 

Even the games have come back…

• Not just the games - even their music.
• We had stuff like the 8-Bit chip music scene that emulated the kind of music that you’d get in video games and consoles in the 80s.
• Which is weird. Because that music sounded like this:
• Play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=18&v=NTa6Xbzfq1U&feature=emb_logo 
• That was. of course, the Super Mario Bros Main Theme for the NES - Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985.
• And it’s the sound of nightmares. Yet chip music was huge for about 30 seconds in probably the mid noughties.
• But even that’s back. The remix is being remixed. 
• The chiptune scene has been profiled for sites like Vice…