Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael
Society & Culture
On this edition of Parallax Views, much has been made about the dark, harmful, deceptive, and negative ways which deepfake technology can be utilized as its usage becomes democratized in the coming years. From racists using the tech to make the black lead actress of Disney's upcoming live-action The Little Mermaid white to involuntary pornography and nudification apps, there are some noxious ways the tech has been used so far. That said, can their also be positive uses for these technologies? Artist Stephanie Lepp believes it can and has played with deepfakes in her Webby Award-winning project Deep Reckonings, which imagines controversial figures like Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg confronting the worst aspects of themselves vis-a-vis deepfaked conversations.
Stephanie joins us on this edition of the program to discuss the potential for pro-social deepfakes as seen in her Deep Reckonings series as well as:
- Re-evaluating our ideas around Accountability and redemption at our current social/cultural juncture
- The origins of Deep Reckonings, Stephanie's Reckoning podcast, and her imaginary conversation with the Pope (in which the Catholic Church's leader reckons with the Church's sexual abuse scandal)
- A discussion about Alex Jones, how he's seemed to change over the years, his doubling down on having done nothing wrong in his handling/coverage of the Sandy Hook case, and his interviews with Joe Rogan
- Charles Koch and Stephanie's idea for a reckoning he'd have regarding the issue of climate change; taking people as acting in good faith even if they're ideas our wrong
- Technology and our relationship with knowledge; evolving our concept of truth; ecstatic truth and truth through fiction
- Is deepfake technology good, bad, or neutral?; context and culture in relation to deepfake tech's use; technological determinism
- Stephanie's early activism related to the environment and how it played a role in her later endeavors like Deep Reckonings
- Social change and personal transformation
- Future deep reckonings; Vladimir Putin; our relationship to truth and propaganda
- The politics of synthetic media; do technologies have political qualities?
And much, much more!
No Justice, No Police?: The Politics of Protest and Social Change w/ Matt Clement
Tyranny Inc.: How Private Power Crushed American Liberty and What to Do About It (+ Opposing the Eugenicist, Nietzschean Right) w/ Sohrab Ahmari
The Maui Fires and the Grotesque Mismanagement of a Disaster w/ Journalist Albert Lanier from Hawaii
The Year That Broke Politics: Collusion and Chaos in the Presidential Election of 1968 w/ Luke A. Nichter
The Hidden History of American Democracy w/ Thom Hartmann/The Risks of Nuclear War, Oppenheimer, & Reflections on Alamogordo and Los Alamos w/ Ret. LTC. William J. Astore
The Black Poor, Class, and Affirmative Action w/ Bertrand Cooper
The Texas Mall Shooting and the Phenomena of Nazis of Color w/ Spencer Sunshine and Isaac
Seeing through the Smoke: A Cannabis Specialist Untangles the Truth about Marijuana w/ Peter Grinspoon, M.D.
The Fourth Turning Is Here: What The Seasons Of History Tell Us About How And When This Crisis Will End w/ Neil Howe
Are Business Interests Driving an AI Panic? (+ WGA Strike, ChatGPT Bias, Henry Kissinger, and More) w/ Grant M. Gallagher
Exposing SOUND OF FREEDOM, Tim Ballard, and Operation Underground Railroad w/ Damion Moore
Israel/Palestine, Violence in Jenin, Israeli Police Murder of an Autistic Man, and the Iraqi Shia Kidnapping of an Israeli-Russian National w/ Richard Silverstein
Biden Nominee Elliott Abrams, the Iran-Contra Affair, and the U.S. Foreign Policy Blob
Control: The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics w/ Geneticist Adam Rutherford
The Enduring Legacy of V, the Hit Sci-Fi TV Series That Used the Alien Invasion Trope to Explore the Dangers of Fascism w/ Kenny Johnson
The Wild World of Pro Wrestling (and Some Politics Talk Too... Plus Freemasonry!?) w/ Kenny ”Starmaker” Bolin
Cultural Memory, Climate Change, and the Potential Catastrophe of a Digital Dark Age w/ Charles Henry
Media Representation, How AI Can Amplify Bias, and the Problem With The Little Mermaid w/ Marcus Ryder
Ukraine/Russia War Update + Wagner Group’s Chief Attacks Russian Military Elites w/ Anatol Lieven
The U.S. & Middle East in a Changing 21st Century Order & the Nation-States Vs. Civilizational States Conflict w/ James M. Dorsey
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