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December 16, 2023
The tech giant’s app, which launched in July 2023, first needed approval from the European Commission over privacy provisions
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/dec/14/threads-launches-europe-meta-twitter
Threads launched in the European Union on Thursday, further expanding the Meta-owned platform’s user base and dealing another blow to competitor Twitter/X. Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced the launch in a post on Threads. Threads, known as a “Twitter killer” app, launched in July 2023 and was immediately available in the US and more than 100 other countries, including the UK. However, its debut on the continent lagged due to strict privacy laws in the region.
Before launching in the EU, Meta first needed to seek approval from the European Commission over the app’s privacy provisions. Many speculated the delay was due to the EU Digital Markets Act, which addresses a variety of big tech antitrust and privacy concerns – including sharing content across platforms. Meta did not specifically cite the act as the reason for the delay, but the Instagram executive Adam Mosseri said: “The complexities with complying with some of the laws coming into effect next year are significant.”
Creating an account on Threads requires users to have an Instagram account. In other markets, users were at first unable to delete their Threads account without deleting their linked Instagram account. Meta changed the setting in November. However, with Thursday’s launch, Meta is giving users the option to browse Threads without creating a profile on the app or on Instagram.
“People who use Threads without a profile can browse content on Threads, search for accounts, share content via link copying or platform sharing, and report Threads content, but can’t create a post or interact with content,” Meta said in a blogpost announcing the change. Threads launched in July 2023 and quickly amassed more than 100 million users in its first week. The platform has since seen a large drop off in active users, but Zuckerberg in earnings calls has remained steadfast that the platform would eventually reach its goal of 1 billion users.
snip
Meta's Threads app launches across EU in blow to competitor X
The tech giant’s app, which launched in July 2023, first needed approval from the European Commission over privacy provisions
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/dec/14/threads-launches-europe-meta-twitter
Threads launched in the European Union on Thursday, further expanding the Meta-owned platform’s user base and dealing another blow to competitor Twitter/X. Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced the launch in a post on Threads. Threads, known as a “Twitter killer” app, launched in July 2023 and was immediately available in the US and more than 100 other countries, including the UK. However, its debut on the continent lagged due to strict privacy laws in the region.
Before launching in the EU, Meta first needed to seek approval from the European Commission over the app’s privacy provisions. Many speculated the delay was due to the EU Digital Markets Act, which addresses a variety of big tech antitrust and privacy concerns – including sharing content across platforms. Meta did not specifically cite the act as the reason for the delay, but the Instagram executive Adam Mosseri said: “The complexities with complying with some of the laws coming into effect next year are significant.”
Creating an account on Threads requires users to have an Instagram account. In other markets, users were at first unable to delete their Threads account without deleting their linked Instagram account. Meta changed the setting in November. However, with Thursday’s launch, Meta is giving users the option to browse Threads without creating a profile on the app or on Instagram.
“People who use Threads without a profile can browse content on Threads, search for accounts, share content via link copying or platform sharing, and report Threads content, but can’t create a post or interact with content,” Meta said in a blogpost announcing the change. Threads launched in July 2023 and quickly amassed more than 100 million users in its first week. The platform has since seen a large drop off in active users, but Zuckerberg in earnings calls has remained steadfast that the platform would eventually reach its goal of 1 billion users.
snip
December 15, 2023
Aderrien Murry, who is Black, was wounded by police after calling 911, and authorities declined to charge the officer involved
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/15/aderrien-murry-police-shot-911-family-vows-fight-justice
The family of an 11-year-old boy who was shot by police after he called 911 and asked for their help have vowed to continue to fight for justice after authorities declined to charge the officer involved. Aderrien Murry, who is Black, was seriously wounded by police after his mother asked him to call the police when the father of one of his half-siblings became angry. They were at their home in Indianola, Mississippi.
When police arrived, Murry was shot in the chest by Sgt Greg Capers after police ordered everyone in the house to put their hands up. Murry had emerged running from around a corner and headed for the door, according to relatives. His injuries included a collapsed lung, fractured rib and lacerated liver. “We are committed to seeking justice for Aderrien and his family, and we will persist in our efforts to ensure accountability through the civil legal process,” the family’s lawyer Carlos Moore said in a statement to NPR.
On Thursday a grand jury decided there was no criminal conduct by Capers in the case. The office of Lynn Fitch, the attorney general, said it would therefore not press any charges. “As such, no further criminal action will be taken by this office in this matter,” Fitch said in a statement.
Murry’s family have launched a $5m federal lawsuit against the city and two police officers, accusing the police department of poor training and supervision of its officers, reckless disregard and gross negligence. The family – and the lawsuit – have repeatedly asked for police body-camera footage of the incident to be released though the police department has not yet done so.
snip
US family of 11-year-old shot by police vows to seek justice after officer gets no charges
Aderrien Murry, who is Black, was wounded by police after calling 911, and authorities declined to charge the officer involved
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/15/aderrien-murry-police-shot-911-family-vows-fight-justice
The family of an 11-year-old boy who was shot by police after he called 911 and asked for their help have vowed to continue to fight for justice after authorities declined to charge the officer involved. Aderrien Murry, who is Black, was seriously wounded by police after his mother asked him to call the police when the father of one of his half-siblings became angry. They were at their home in Indianola, Mississippi.
When police arrived, Murry was shot in the chest by Sgt Greg Capers after police ordered everyone in the house to put their hands up. Murry had emerged running from around a corner and headed for the door, according to relatives. His injuries included a collapsed lung, fractured rib and lacerated liver. “We are committed to seeking justice for Aderrien and his family, and we will persist in our efforts to ensure accountability through the civil legal process,” the family’s lawyer Carlos Moore said in a statement to NPR.
On Thursday a grand jury decided there was no criminal conduct by Capers in the case. The office of Lynn Fitch, the attorney general, said it would therefore not press any charges. “As such, no further criminal action will be taken by this office in this matter,” Fitch said in a statement.
Murry’s family have launched a $5m federal lawsuit against the city and two police officers, accusing the police department of poor training and supervision of its officers, reckless disregard and gross negligence. The family – and the lawsuit – have repeatedly asked for police body-camera footage of the incident to be released though the police department has not yet done so.
snip
December 15, 2023
https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2023-12-15-corruption-new-york-redistricting/
Westchester (New York) County Executive George Latimer, left, and Deputy County Executive Ken Jenkins
Progressives and Democrats were cheered last week when New York state’s highest court tossed out the 2022 congressional district map and ordered the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission to draw a new one. A fairer map could flip as many as five seats back to Democratic. But what sort of Democrat? In New York’s 16th District, a nasty primary fight is brewing between incumbent Congressman Jamaal Bowman, an African American progressive, and Westchester County Executive George Latimer, who is white and centrist.
Before the 2022 redistricting, more of Bowman’s district was in the Bronx, which is heavily Black and Latino. Now, most of the seat is in affluent, largely white Westchester County. Following Bowman’s criticism of Israel’s policy in Gaza and the West Bank, the Israel lobby in the form of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) recruited Latimer to challenge Bowman and promised him scads of money. And Latimer is not shy about pointing out how the new district map will determine the winner. In an interview with the publication City & State, Latimer said that if the new district should include more of the Bronx and less of Westchester County, he’s “not gonna win that race.”
And here’s where the plot thickens. Latimer has a fat thumb on the scale. The chair of the Independent Redistricting Commission is Latimer’s own deputy county executive, Ken Jenkins. If Latimer wins the seat, Jenkins would move up to county executive. He’d be the first African American to hold the post. The New York Working Families Party, a strong backer of Bowman, has issued a demand that Jenkins recuse himself. But unless the power of public opinion shames Jenkins into stepping aside, it’s not clear who if anyone has the power to remove him.
And it gets worse. Jenkins was appointed to the post by the state Senate president, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who is also from Westchester. Stewart-Cousins is a close ally of Latimer and Jenkins, and is the first African American woman to lead the Senate. So don’t expect her to ask Jenkins to step aside. Redistricting is all about horse trading. Other members of the commission will want changes in other districts and they need to corral votes. It is unlikely that they would cross Chairman Jenkins on the map of the Bowman seat.
snip
Corruption in New York's Redistricting Plans
https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2023-12-15-corruption-new-york-redistricting/
Westchester (New York) County Executive George Latimer, left, and Deputy County Executive Ken Jenkins
Progressives and Democrats were cheered last week when New York state’s highest court tossed out the 2022 congressional district map and ordered the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission to draw a new one. A fairer map could flip as many as five seats back to Democratic. But what sort of Democrat? In New York’s 16th District, a nasty primary fight is brewing between incumbent Congressman Jamaal Bowman, an African American progressive, and Westchester County Executive George Latimer, who is white and centrist.
Before the 2022 redistricting, more of Bowman’s district was in the Bronx, which is heavily Black and Latino. Now, most of the seat is in affluent, largely white Westchester County. Following Bowman’s criticism of Israel’s policy in Gaza and the West Bank, the Israel lobby in the form of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) recruited Latimer to challenge Bowman and promised him scads of money. And Latimer is not shy about pointing out how the new district map will determine the winner. In an interview with the publication City & State, Latimer said that if the new district should include more of the Bronx and less of Westchester County, he’s “not gonna win that race.”
And here’s where the plot thickens. Latimer has a fat thumb on the scale. The chair of the Independent Redistricting Commission is Latimer’s own deputy county executive, Ken Jenkins. If Latimer wins the seat, Jenkins would move up to county executive. He’d be the first African American to hold the post. The New York Working Families Party, a strong backer of Bowman, has issued a demand that Jenkins recuse himself. But unless the power of public opinion shames Jenkins into stepping aside, it’s not clear who if anyone has the power to remove him.
And it gets worse. Jenkins was appointed to the post by the state Senate president, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who is also from Westchester. Stewart-Cousins is a close ally of Latimer and Jenkins, and is the first African American woman to lead the Senate. So don’t expect her to ask Jenkins to step aside. Redistricting is all about horse trading. Other members of the commission will want changes in other districts and they need to corral votes. It is unlikely that they would cross Chairman Jenkins on the map of the Bowman seat.
snip
December 15, 2023
https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2023-12-14-condition-us-aid-israel-netanyahu/
For more than 30 years, the official policy of the American government (with some deviation during the Trump presidency) has been to support and promote a two-state solution to the problem of Israel-Palestine. The Oslo Accords, which established a process by which a viable and independent Palestinian state could be established alongside Israel, was one of the genuine achievements of Bill Clinton’s presidency. But for a right-wing Israeli’s assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who championed the accords, they might have led to something like a durable peace or at least a modus vivendi in that vexed land.
Neither the Israeli far right nor the Palestinian extremists ever accepted Oslo; each favors a religiously homogenous regime that runs from the river to the sea. The Israeli far right now dominates Israel’s government, and that government’s leader, Bibi Netanyahu, is now more explicit than he’s ever been that no Palestinian state will ever be established. Down in the polls—very down in the polls—after having Hamas’s October 7 murder raid occur on his watch and after refusing to accept any responsibility for having had that happen, Bibi plainly hopes his extreme anti-Palestinian posture will at least win him back the support of the Israeli right. As Israeli columnist Nahum Barnea noted in the centrist newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, “He failed as Mr. Security and he failed as Mr. America. Maybe he’ll succeed as Mr. Never Palestine.”
Which raises a question for the Biden administration and the United States more generally: Why should we support Israel so long as its policy is fundamentally at odds with ours, and with our general support for legitimate national aspirations? Why should we continue to give it aid? Why should we continue to veto United Nations resolutions premised on promoting two-state solutions?
I don’t regard such a shift in policy as anti-Israel; I regard it as a necessary form of tough love. Plainly, Israel’s policy of opposing a Palestinian state has not worked, as numerous acts of terrorism, two intifadas, and the October 7 raid have made all too bloodily clear. There’s no reason whatever to believe that it will work going forward. To the contrary, were Israel to accept a viable Palestine on the West Bank, it’s clear that its leading Arab neighbors, most particularly Saudi Arabia, would normalize relations with it, and the global “Kick Me” sign that Israel has affixed to its butt could be removed. (Some kicks would surely continue, due partly to the endurance of antisemitism, but they’d be fewer in number.) Such an accord would require Israel to relinquish a number of its West Bank settlements, but the majority of Israelis (those who live within the nation’s Green Line accepted borders), having experienced the rule of the settler and ultra-Orthodox extremists in Bibi’s Cabinet, don’t appear all that keen on forfeiting their lives and livelihoods to the demands of those zealots.
snip
Condition U.S. Aid to Israel on a Modicum of Israeli Realism
https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2023-12-14-condition-us-aid-israel-netanyahu/
For more than 30 years, the official policy of the American government (with some deviation during the Trump presidency) has been to support and promote a two-state solution to the problem of Israel-Palestine. The Oslo Accords, which established a process by which a viable and independent Palestinian state could be established alongside Israel, was one of the genuine achievements of Bill Clinton’s presidency. But for a right-wing Israeli’s assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who championed the accords, they might have led to something like a durable peace or at least a modus vivendi in that vexed land.
Neither the Israeli far right nor the Palestinian extremists ever accepted Oslo; each favors a religiously homogenous regime that runs from the river to the sea. The Israeli far right now dominates Israel’s government, and that government’s leader, Bibi Netanyahu, is now more explicit than he’s ever been that no Palestinian state will ever be established. Down in the polls—very down in the polls—after having Hamas’s October 7 murder raid occur on his watch and after refusing to accept any responsibility for having had that happen, Bibi plainly hopes his extreme anti-Palestinian posture will at least win him back the support of the Israeli right. As Israeli columnist Nahum Barnea noted in the centrist newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, “He failed as Mr. Security and he failed as Mr. America. Maybe he’ll succeed as Mr. Never Palestine.”
Which raises a question for the Biden administration and the United States more generally: Why should we support Israel so long as its policy is fundamentally at odds with ours, and with our general support for legitimate national aspirations? Why should we continue to give it aid? Why should we continue to veto United Nations resolutions premised on promoting two-state solutions?
I don’t regard such a shift in policy as anti-Israel; I regard it as a necessary form of tough love. Plainly, Israel’s policy of opposing a Palestinian state has not worked, as numerous acts of terrorism, two intifadas, and the October 7 raid have made all too bloodily clear. There’s no reason whatever to believe that it will work going forward. To the contrary, were Israel to accept a viable Palestine on the West Bank, it’s clear that its leading Arab neighbors, most particularly Saudi Arabia, would normalize relations with it, and the global “Kick Me” sign that Israel has affixed to its butt could be removed. (Some kicks would surely continue, due partly to the endurance of antisemitism, but they’d be fewer in number.) Such an accord would require Israel to relinquish a number of its West Bank settlements, but the majority of Israelis (those who live within the nation’s Green Line accepted borders), having experienced the rule of the settler and ultra-Orthodox extremists in Bibi’s Cabinet, don’t appear all that keen on forfeiting their lives and livelihoods to the demands of those zealots.
snip
December 14, 2023
LONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said on Thursday that those responsible for settler violence against Palestinians would be banned from entering Britain, following a similar plan by the European Union.
U.N. figures show daily settler attacks in the Israeli-occupied West Bank have more than doubled since the Palestinian militant group Hamas's deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel from Gaza.
"Extremist settlers, by targeting and killing Palestinian civilians, are undermining security and stability for both Israelis and Palestinians," Cameron said on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.
"Israel must take stronger action to stop settler violence and hold the perpetrators accountable. We are banning those responsible for settler violence from entering the UK to make sure our country cannot be a home for people who commit these intimidating acts."
snip
https://twitter.com/ashoswai/status/1712792570856718847
UK bans entry for those responsible for settler violence against Palestinians
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-bans-entry-those-responsible-settler-violence-against-palestinians-2023-12-14/LONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said on Thursday that those responsible for settler violence against Palestinians would be banned from entering Britain, following a similar plan by the European Union.
U.N. figures show daily settler attacks in the Israeli-occupied West Bank have more than doubled since the Palestinian militant group Hamas's deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel from Gaza.
"Extremist settlers, by targeting and killing Palestinian civilians, are undermining security and stability for both Israelis and Palestinians," Cameron said on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.
"Israel must take stronger action to stop settler violence and hold the perpetrators accountable. We are banning those responsible for settler violence from entering the UK to make sure our country cannot be a home for people who commit these intimidating acts."
snip
https://twitter.com/ashoswai/status/1712792570856718847
December 14, 2023
Label: Radialchoice – VSX 1148, Virgin – VSX 1148
Format: Vinyl, 12", Single, Limited Edition, 45 RPM
Country: Canada
Released: 1981
Genre: Electronic, Rock, Pop
Style: Synth-pop
Toni Basil - Mickey (BBC Special + Official - 1981) ReMastered
Label: Radialchoice – VSX 1148, Virgin – VSX 1148
Format: Vinyl, 12", Single, Limited Edition, 45 RPM
Country: Canada
Released: 1981
Genre: Electronic, Rock, Pop
Style: Synth-pop
December 14, 2023
Israel-Hamas latest: IDF determined despite heavy losses in Gaza; ambassador says two-state solution not possible
The Israeli ambassador to the UK has rejected the idea of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Meanwhile, Israel has vowed to continue its bombardments in Gaza in the face of wavering international support - despite heavy losses.
https://news.sky.com/story/israel-gaza-latest-hamas-war-updates-sky-news-blog-12978800
BREAKING: Israeli ambassador @TzipiHotovely rejects the idea of a two-state solution "The answer is absolutely no"
https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1734982762208113039Israel-Hamas latest: IDF determined despite heavy losses in Gaza; ambassador says two-state solution not possible
The Israeli ambassador to the UK has rejected the idea of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Meanwhile, Israel has vowed to continue its bombardments in Gaza in the face of wavering international support - despite heavy losses.
https://news.sky.com/story/israel-gaza-latest-hamas-war-updates-sky-news-blog-12978800
December 13, 2023
https://archive.is/9er7N
Highland Fine Cheeses in Scotland bills the Minger as the most putrid-smelling cheese on earth.
There is a cheese that may stand alone. In proud fetidness, that is. Rory Stone, a 59-year-old cheesemaker at Highland Fine Cheeses in Scotland, has been overrun with orders for a washed-rind cheese called the Minger, which he is billing as the most putrid-smelling cheese in the world.
“Everybody is still asking for samples, and it just hasn’t stopped,” Mr. Stone said in an interview. “And I find it really bizarre. I mean, it is a smelly cheese, but it is quite a lovely flavor. So the only problem now is I’ve run out of cheese.” Mr. Stone, whose parents were also cheese makers, began selling the Minger seven years ago. (“Minger” is slang for someone who is ugly or smells bad. “There are some Urban Dictionary definitions which are a bit rude,” Mr. Stone said.)
Supermarkets initially rejected it, dismissing it as a gimmick. But it sold well enough in independent shops, and it has won several awards, including best specialty cheese at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh in 2019.
This week, however, Asda, a British supermarket chain, announced that it would stock the cheese in its stores, making it widely available for the first time. The Asda news release, which described the Minger as “pungent,” gave rise to a low-grade media frenzy, with Mr. Stone giving interviews to The Telegraph, Sky News and the BBC.
https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1732148007351492721
snip
Rory Stone, a Scottish cheesemaker, claims to have made the world's stinkiest cheese. Customers can't get enough.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/08/world/europe/stinkiest-cheese-minger-scotland.htmlhttps://archive.is/9er7N
Highland Fine Cheeses in Scotland bills the Minger as the most putrid-smelling cheese on earth.
There is a cheese that may stand alone. In proud fetidness, that is. Rory Stone, a 59-year-old cheesemaker at Highland Fine Cheeses in Scotland, has been overrun with orders for a washed-rind cheese called the Minger, which he is billing as the most putrid-smelling cheese in the world.
“Everybody is still asking for samples, and it just hasn’t stopped,” Mr. Stone said in an interview. “And I find it really bizarre. I mean, it is a smelly cheese, but it is quite a lovely flavor. So the only problem now is I’ve run out of cheese.” Mr. Stone, whose parents were also cheese makers, began selling the Minger seven years ago. (“Minger” is slang for someone who is ugly or smells bad. “There are some Urban Dictionary definitions which are a bit rude,” Mr. Stone said.)
Supermarkets initially rejected it, dismissing it as a gimmick. But it sold well enough in independent shops, and it has won several awards, including best specialty cheese at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh in 2019.
This week, however, Asda, a British supermarket chain, announced that it would stock the cheese in its stores, making it widely available for the first time. The Asda news release, which described the Minger as “pungent,” gave rise to a low-grade media frenzy, with Mr. Stone giving interviews to The Telegraph, Sky News and the BBC.
https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1732148007351492721
snip
December 13, 2023
Label: Alternative Tentacles – VIRUS 38
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1984
Genre: Rock
Style: Punk
The Crucifucks - s/t (1984)
Hardcore punk rock band from Lansing, MI, USA, formed in January 1982 by vocalist and only constant member Doc Corbin Dart. The group was known for Dart's shrill voice, anti-authoritarian lyrics, and extreme antagonism.
The band's original drummer was a young Steve Shelley, who eventually ended up as the permanent drummer for Sonic Youth.
The Crucifucks first album was recorded by Black Flag producer Spot and released on Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys' label Alternative Tentacles in 1984.
The band's original drummer was a young Steve Shelley, who eventually ended up as the permanent drummer for Sonic Youth.
The Crucifucks first album was recorded by Black Flag producer Spot and released on Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys' label Alternative Tentacles in 1984.
Label: Alternative Tentacles – VIRUS 38
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1984
Genre: Rock
Style: Punk
December 12, 2023
https://aeon.co/essays/the-moral-imperative-to-learn-from-diverse-phenomenal-experiences
On 26 February 2015, Cates Holderness, a BuzzFeed community manager, posted a picture of a dress, captioned: ‘There’s a lot of debate on Tumblr about this right now, and we need to settle it.’ The post was accompanied by a poll that racked up millions of votes in a matter of days. About two-thirds of people saw the dress as white and gold. The rest, as blue and black. The comments section was filled with bewildered calls to ‘go check your eyes’ and all-caps accusations of trolling.
Vision scientists were quick to point out that the difference in appearance had to do with the ambiguity of ambient light in the photograph. If the visual system resolved the photograph as being taken indoors with its warmer light, the dress would appear blue and black; if outdoors, white and gold. That spring, the annual Vision Sciences Society conference had a live demo of the actual dress (blue and black, for the record) lit in different ways to demonstrate the way the difference of ambient light shifted its appearance. But none of this explains why the visual systems of different people would automatically infer different ambient light (one predictive factor seems to be a person’s typical wake-up time: night owls have more exposure to warmer, indoor light).
Whatever the full explanation turns out to be, it is remarkable that this type of genuine difference in visual appearance could elude us so completely. Until #TheDress went viral, no one, not even vision scientists, had any idea that these specific discrepancies in colour appearance existed. This is all the more remarkable considering how easy it is to establish this difference. In the case of #TheDress, it’s as easy as asking ‘What colours do you see?’ If we could be oblivious to such an easy-to-measure difference in subjective experience, how many other such differences might there be that can be discovered if only we know where to look and which questions to ask?
Take the case of Blake Ross, the co-creator of the Firefox web browser. For the first three decades of his life, Ross assumed his subjective experience was typical. After all, why wouldn’t he? Then he read a popular science story about people who do not have visual imagery. While most people can, without much effort, form vivid images in their ‘mind’s eye’, others cannot – a condition that has been documented since the 1800s but only recently named: aphantasia. Ross learned from the article that he himself had aphantasia. His reaction was memorable: ‘Imagine your phone buzzes with breaking news: WASHINGTON SCIENTISTS DISCOVER TAIL-LESS MAN. Well, then, what are you?’
snip
New research is uncovering the hidden differences in how people experience the world. The consequences are unsettling
https://aeon.co/essays/the-moral-imperative-to-learn-from-diverse-phenomenal-experiences
On 26 February 2015, Cates Holderness, a BuzzFeed community manager, posted a picture of a dress, captioned: ‘There’s a lot of debate on Tumblr about this right now, and we need to settle it.’ The post was accompanied by a poll that racked up millions of votes in a matter of days. About two-thirds of people saw the dress as white and gold. The rest, as blue and black. The comments section was filled with bewildered calls to ‘go check your eyes’ and all-caps accusations of trolling.
Vision scientists were quick to point out that the difference in appearance had to do with the ambiguity of ambient light in the photograph. If the visual system resolved the photograph as being taken indoors with its warmer light, the dress would appear blue and black; if outdoors, white and gold. That spring, the annual Vision Sciences Society conference had a live demo of the actual dress (blue and black, for the record) lit in different ways to demonstrate the way the difference of ambient light shifted its appearance. But none of this explains why the visual systems of different people would automatically infer different ambient light (one predictive factor seems to be a person’s typical wake-up time: night owls have more exposure to warmer, indoor light).
Whatever the full explanation turns out to be, it is remarkable that this type of genuine difference in visual appearance could elude us so completely. Until #TheDress went viral, no one, not even vision scientists, had any idea that these specific discrepancies in colour appearance existed. This is all the more remarkable considering how easy it is to establish this difference. In the case of #TheDress, it’s as easy as asking ‘What colours do you see?’ If we could be oblivious to such an easy-to-measure difference in subjective experience, how many other such differences might there be that can be discovered if only we know where to look and which questions to ask?
Take the case of Blake Ross, the co-creator of the Firefox web browser. For the first three decades of his life, Ross assumed his subjective experience was typical. After all, why wouldn’t he? Then he read a popular science story about people who do not have visual imagery. While most people can, without much effort, form vivid images in their ‘mind’s eye’, others cannot – a condition that has been documented since the 1800s but only recently named: aphantasia. Ross learned from the article that he himself had aphantasia. His reaction was memorable: ‘Imagine your phone buzzes with breaking news: WASHINGTON SCIENTISTS DISCOVER TAIL-LESS MAN. Well, then, what are you?’
snip
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHometown: London
Home country: US/UK/Sweden
Current location: Stockholm, Sweden
Member since: Sun Jul 1, 2018, 07:25 PM
Number of posts: 43,809
