Hustlers from developing countries are behind AI built rage bait videos

 Scary. But inevitable. A journalist investigates who really makes those rage bait , politically charged videos.

TLDR: Its hustlers from developing countries.

There is a lot of hate online. An estimated 6 billion people use the internet worldwide, which is about 73 to 74 percent of the global population. That itself is a staggering number , for a technology that has had less than 50 years to grow. It was meant to bring people together, share ideas and connect humanity. Instead it has become a marketplace to share fear and hate. And with the invention of AI, it has only got worse. 

I expected videos and articles about science, logic, and good ideas to trend. Instead what trends now is rage bait videos about politics, gender, and misinformation. Sure, there will always be a few people angry anywhere.. and they need a medium to rant, I suppose.  For years now, that medium has been private messaging sites on the internet.  But now, it seems most of the rants are not coming from folks unhappy.

They are coming from folks poor. As this video shares, a majority of these rage bait videos are created in AI by hustlers from developing countries like India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan .. They are specifically targeting the politics of developing countries like the UK, Australia and USA. Not because of any hate they might have. But due to economics.

You see, the big Tech companies look at people in different countries.. differently. Everyone's attention matters, but some people's attention is just worth more than others. 

As a resident of Australia now, I am surprised to see my adopted country top the list of countries ranked per user cost. That means a view from a resident of this country is wort the most , even higher than one from USA !

So creating a video for such an audience just pays better.  So hustlers from these countries here.. (look up)..they just do that.

But what the hustlers do not fully understand is that their content fuels anger, hate and misinformation..and that can change the politics of said targeted countries.

25 Years of Dil Chahtha Hai

Bollywood has gone to the gutters. I cannot recall the last time I was in a theatre to watch a Hindi language bollywood movie; it was probably 3 Idiots , back in 2009. Its surprising that despite being the industry that makes the worlds highest number of movies, the bulk of what is produced is essentially garbage. Is there a hope for something better ?

Well, 25 years ago , a movie did release, which gave us a glimpse of an alternative future. It made us think, made us cry, made us laugh. But mostly it made us dream. Despite being headlined by 3, top nepo-baby actors of the time, and being the directorial debut of another product of nepotism, it captured lightning in a bottle. Showed us that it is possible to create simple movie, with simple themes, without the need for flashy commercial ingredients.

That movie was Dil Chatha Hai.

A slice of life movie about three urban, rich , college graduate friends living in Bombay, this movie was a breath of fresh air (especially considering it took place in the city). While staying grounded in the reality of the time, it also poked fun at contemporary cinema by playing in a few cliches ( Woh Ladkee hain kahaan comes to mind). And it surprisingly avoided the overused cliche of the love-triangle in storytelling. It featured strong, independent women characters, making their own choices, and are never sexualised in the movie. There are scenes set in clubs and touristy Goa, but there are no scenes of alcohol or drug abuse.  And it did not have a big, bad bad-guy villain , a typical role in Indian cinema of the time. Instead the obstacle the characters have to overcome are their own egos.

So it is sad that director Farhan Akthar gave us this one gem, and went back to typical indian movies with the rest of his offerings. And although the industry later gave us further movies about friendships in the city, none of them would ever come close to the nuanced story telling that is seen in DCH.

Substantial parts of the second half of DCH was shot and set in Sydney, Australia. At the time, I had no idea that I would eventually move to the very places we glimpse in Akash's loneliness. The Sydney harbour bridge, many train stations.. Martin place.. it was fun retracing those places in the city.

But the most iconic of shots and places in DCH is the chapora fort, a place relatively unknown till that time, and is now the most famous landmark of Goa.  And who can forget Akash's famous hairstlye with the goatie ?

Thank you, Farhan and team, for giving us this glimpse. And , its been 25 years, time to make another one.

Artemis - 2 : The Space Race of our time

I am just bookmarking this for myself.  

Also, this site provided the best live tracking of the mission.

https://issinfo.net/artemis

Starry Night

There is this scene from  the 2004 movie, Around the World in 80 days, where Phileas Fogg sighs that they are in the wrong place. "This is isn't science, this is art"

Some time later, he declares the Monique's work is far better than those of the other amateurs. And we get this scene:

Cracks me up everytime !

The movie might have been a box-office bomb, but for me it is one of those under-appreciated treasures from that time. It is based on a classic Jules Verne book , one which I enjoyed reading as a kid. It is an adventure comedy, which never gets serious, but does get emotional. It features star actors from the time: Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan, Jim Broadbent...and cameos from so many others..  Arnold Schwarzenegger , Kathy Bates, John Cleese, Owen Wilson. They got the start and the climax of the movie faithful to the original story, but everything else is just made up ! I don't think they were trying to make a faithful adaptation, but rather a fun, laugh in your seats movie very good just enjoy travelling the world in the 1870s.

But I find this particular scene extremely funny because that person in the last scene is supposed to be Vincent Van Gogh, who has put his famous painting "Starry Night" in the art museum. And I adore that painting.

That is probably the single painting every generation since the boomers will be able to identify today, simply because it is kind of everywhere now. There are cups, mugs ,t-shirts, pillows available in its design. 

And the reason this is not illegal is because the artwork is now in the public domain. Yes, Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night (1889) is in the public domain worldwide because the artist died in 1890, far exceeding the 70-year post-mortem copyright rule.

Now there are numerous paintings about the night sky, like Pissarro, Millet (who also painted a Starry Night), and Hopper's Nighthawks. But it is Van Gogh's interpretation that everyone knows of. He died the year after he painted his masterpiece, his wife apparently struggled to sell the rest of this work. It would take decades after his death for his work to gain recognition.

This is the joke that the scene in the movie above is trying to make; Phileas calling Van Gogh an amateur is point on, because at that point in history, Van Gogh's work  was yet unappreciated.

Now I am trying to recall where I saw this work and learnt about its doomed artist; I am going to venture a guess that it was in college. One of my roommates was an artist, he did pencil drawings, but he had books of great artists. He might have been the one who showed me the night. 

Neil degrasse Tyson is a fan of Gogh and the Starry Night.

       

And there are multiple songs titled "Starry starry night", my favourite being the cover by Lianne la Havas

And BBC's Dr Who had to have an episode only for Van Gogh, an episode that might have helped spread his fame among millenials.

It is clear that what captures everyone's attention is Van Gogh's distinct style, using those short brush strokes to create those circular patterns, which one cannot really see in a clear moon-lit sky. Its nothing special, its just the night sky. This is what he saw out of his little window that night, yet it is presented as a grand spectacle, using the simplest of strokes. Sure, anyone else could have done it, but it probably takes courage to break the conventional rules that others adhere to.

So tonight, when you get some time, look up at the stars, and try to see the beauty up there. 

...and also watch the movie. :D

LinkedIn is the worst social network. Here's a doco.

I quit all my social media more than a decade ago. But the place where I spent the least time online was.. on LinkedIn. Personally I felt it was the worst social media site ..ever. Having seen the linkedIn profiles of most of the folks I used to work with, it was obvious to me that their online profiles were all bogus. It is a place to brag about what you do, hoping to get your next big job.  And now , I hear the place has turned into an AI slopfest with fake jobs an fake applicants.

Someone else has took the time to make this doco, so here goes: