Ted versus The Media Lab [video]
youtube.com
Ted versus The Media Lab [video]
1–10 of 162 posts
Re: Ted versus The Media Lab [video]
#2This is well known in academia and exist outside of Media Lab as well. For example, I asked a professor (not associated with the Media Lab) about using hype to get grants. He said: "It's just like the stock market right, money goes here, it goes there, it's all story telling. I have to tell stories too because if I don't, then other people will tell this story and get the money. But I think I can use it better than other people." This is a very "well-respected" Ivy League professor in applied machine learning.
As for the Media Lab, they're really selling the image of technological progress. And Corporate entities find value in this exact image because they're just reselling it to their shareholders, many of whom are dumb money. But the image is required to attract idealistic and clueless grad students who'll sacrifice their lives and sanity to make demos. I know several people who graduated from the Media Lab with masters/doctorates, and they are all of this exact mold: taken captive by pipe dreams and their own delusions of what this stuff could do, while their advisors are churning through students and packaging new narratives.
Re: Ted versus The Media Lab [video]
#3The Epstein connections are deeply concerning.
Re: Ted versus The Media Lab [video]
#4This is well known in academia and exist outside of Media Lab as well. For example, I asked a professor (not associated with the Media Lab) about using hype to get grants. He said: "It's just like the stock market right, money goes here, it goes there, it's all story telling. I have to tell stories too because if I don't, then other people will tell this story and get the money. But I think I can use it better than o…
The parallels to SV, VCs, and the startup ecosystem are striking.
Re: Ted versus The Media Lab [video]
#5It's ok to take the convicted pedophile's money. Just don't put his name on any buildings! That would cross the line.
Re: Ted versus The Media Lab [video]
#6I don’t think i’ve ever taken Media Lab “seriously” — or if i did, my age still started with a 1.
To take media lab seriously is to miss the point. They aren’t supposed to be serious! If i may coin a term, they’re not even doing blue sky, they’re doing crack-of-dawn. 99% of what they think about will turn out to be a funny shadow on the wall from the laundry hamper that looked cool for a minute until the room brightened up.
There’s nothing wrong with that per se, though we do have a narrative around funding right now that discourages silliness.
Media Lab falls over when they try to sing the serious song instead of their true one, and often falls over quite hard. They should not have to try, but such is the way of the world right now.
Re: Ted versus The Media Lab [video]
#7The Epstein connections are deeply concerning.
[deleted]
Re: Ted versus The Media Lab [video]
#8This is well known in academia and exist outside of Media Lab as well. For example, I asked a professor (not associated with the Media Lab) about using hype to get grants. He said: "It's just like the stock market right, money goes here, it goes there, it's all story telling. I have to tell stories too because if I don't, then other people will tell this story and get the money. But I think I can use it better than o…
The parallels to SV, VCs, and the startup ecosystem are striking.
Yeah I think overt exploitation is what happens when you have a situation where there is very thin or no layer of management between the most savvy players of the game ( professors, founders or VCs ) and fresh meat ( engineers or grad students ). They're both situations where the predators walk freely amongst the prey and take as they please. Also SV was an extension of academic-military-industrial complex, and they both engage in high risk projects that don't necessarily pan out.
Re: Ted versus The Media Lab [video]
#9I don’t think i’ve ever taken Media Lab “seriously” — or if i did, my age still started with a 1. To take media lab seriously is to miss the point. They aren’t supposed to be serious! If i may coin a term, they’re not even doing blue sky, they’re doing crack-of-dawn. 99% of what they think about will turn out to be a funny shadow on the wall from the laundry hamper that looked cool for a minute until the room brighte…
So what is its point?
Re: Ted versus The Media Lab [video]
#10I don’t think i’ve ever taken Media Lab “seriously” — or if i did, my age still started with a 1. To take media lab seriously is to miss the point. They aren’t supposed to be serious! If i may coin a term, they’re not even doing blue sky, they’re doing crack-of-dawn. 99% of what they think about will turn out to be a funny shadow on the wall from the laundry hamper that looked cool for a minute until the room brighte…
So what is its point?
Futurism, maybe? Speculative fiction to get people talking and thinking about the future, but in the form of prototypes† rather than fiction.
† ...prototypes of single components of ecosystems that don’t exist, usually.