Think: Digital Futures

A reflection on time, and how we mediate it through digital technology. Thanks to Tara and Andrew McLennan. 

How are your Facebook posts impacting the health of the planet? It might sound like a contradiction in terms but this episode from Think: Sustainability’s Jake Morcom explores the environmental impact of online data.

Jake chats to Ella Barclay, an artist and graduate student at the University of Technology Sydney; Senior Analyst Rodney Getta; and Lecturer Tanya Notley from the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University.

On April 25th 2018, 25 year old Alex Minassian drove a passenger van into pedestrians on a crowded Toronto footpath, killing 10 people and injuring 16 others. Moments before the attack Minassian posted a message on his facebook shedding light on his motive. The message voiced admiration for a man who killed six college students in California in 2014, and announced his allegiance to a internet hate group called the incels, short for “involuntary celibate”.

In this episode we hear from Heidi Matthews who teaches in international criminal law (Osgoode Hall Law School), we look at the history of online misogyny with former journalist and researcher Emma A. Jane (University of New South Wales), and talk about the problematic nature of letting incels define themselves with Dr Ramona Vijeyarasa (University of Technology Sydney).

Producer: Miles Herbert and Cheyne Anderson.

If you’ve tuned in to news from China over the past couple of months you’d be forgiven for thinking Xi Jinping spent the Summer reading Orwell and is now trying to convince 1.3 billion people how rad it is. From AI facial recognition tech to the nightmarish social credit system, surveillance tech in China is on the rise.

This episode we hear two perspectives on the state of surveillance tech in the Middle Kingdom. We look into the historical roots of the social credit system with Wanning Sun (University of Technology Sydney). Then we head to the “laboratory of surveillance tech” Xinjiang province with Wall Street Journal reporter Josh Chin.

If your toddler is accidentally watching gory videos on Youtube Kids, or your Facebook feed won’t stop recommending you ads for formal track pants - you might be the victim of a broken algorithm. Algorithms are often cited as the architects of our digital lives, but how much do they actually influence what we consume online?

We watch Youtube with James Meese (University of Technology Sydney), understand the ecosystem with social media researcher Babak Abedin (UTS), and dissect algorithmic culture with Ted Striphas (University of Colorado, Boulder).

The recent anti-sex trafficking bill SESTA-FOSTA sent shock waves through sex industries around the world. But it’s not just income sex workers are losing when their business is forced offline.

We chat to Cameron Cox, CEO of Sex Worker Outreach Project; Andre Shakti, sex worker, activist and journalist; Eurydice Aroney (University of Technology Sydney); and John Scott (Queensland University of Technology).

WARNING: Explicit Content

Further links:

The Lysistrada Emergency Fund

Third Wave Fund Sex Workers Giving Circle

Behind every major technological innovation is an engineer. Whether inventing, planning, or building, engineers are instrumental to stuff getting done. They’ve built the world around us, but do they have what it takes to save it to?

We meet Scott McKeon (From the Ground Up), a student pushing for a human centred approach in engineering. We then chat to Abbas El-Zein (Sydney University) and Sam Perkins (Engineers Without Borders) about what this means for the discipline. Finally, we meet a classroom of students at the University of Technology Sydney who want to make change happen.

With five times more viewers than the NRL Grand Final, and a higher prize money than Wimbledon, the world of competitive video gaming has flown curiously under the radar in Australia.

Producer Myles Houlbrook-Walk takes us into the growing Australian Esports scene. First, we delve into the underground culture with Alex Walker (editor Kotaku). Next, we meet some of the players who have gone pro, like FIFA eLeague player Mark Brijeski, Overwatch player Connie Ko, and train alongside Australia’s top League of Legends squad. Finally, we chat to sport scientist Job Fransen (University of Technology Sydney) about the physical demands of professional play!

Thanks to overpopulation and man made climate change, global food stocks are running low. Enter the “future foods” - the gross, weird and wonderful things clickbait articles tell us will be on our dinner plate in ten years time. But there’s more to this debate than just eating worms. 

We talk to the colonial gastronomer Jacqui Newling (Sydney Living Museums) about how we didn’t use to be so squeamish. Then we meet researchers Janice McCauley (University of Technology Sydney) and insect farmer Olympia Yarger (GoTerra) about how hard it is to change our tastes. Finally, we speak to Judy Friedlander (University of Technology Sydney) about the mess we’re in. 

The Algae products we tried were made by Venus Shell Systems based in Nowra, NSW.