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Author Archives: Matthew Lombard

Call: The Art of Storytelling: Archetypes in Focus (Hybrid conference)

Call for Proposals

The Art of Storytelling: Archetypes in Focus
Sponsored by London Arts-Based Research Centre
May 27-28, 2024
Edinburgh, United Kingdom and Online
https://labrc.co.uk/2024/02/11/storytelling/

Deadline for submission of abstracts: April 14, 2024

This conference aims to gather both creatives and scholars to discuss the diverse types, functions, and significance of storytelling.

“The power of stories lies in their ability to access the deep layers of the psyche, providing a mirror to our inner world.” – Marie-Louise Von Franz

As aptly stated by Jimmy Neil Smith, “We are all storytellers. We all live in a network of stories. There isn’t a stronger connection between people than storytelling.” What distinguishes humans is not merely our consciousness, but our innate capacity to craft narratives – myths being the earliest manifestations of this unique trait, as noted by Margaret Atwood, “built in the human plan.… read more. “Call: The Art of Storytelling: Archetypes in Focus (Hybrid conference)”

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The future of entertaining virtual reality is at gaming arcades

[This essay from TheGamer argues that the entertaining presence experiences provided by virtual reality will be most popular and practical in an updated version of gaming arcades (sadly, a particularly compelling and fun multi-player VR attraction, Dreamscape, just closed its flagship location in Los Angeles after six years). See the original TheGamer story for three more images, and visit the website of the mentioned Two Bit Circus arcade for more information about that venue. –Matthew]

The Future Of Virtual Reality Is Co-operative Experiences

Virtual reality shouldn’t be targeting regular consumers, it should look to revive arcade gaming

By Ben Sledge
March 9, 2024

I don’t use my VR headset that much. I’ve got the original Oculus Quest, back from when it was still called that. It’s the supposedly ‘portable’ version of Meta’s VR device without so many cables. You still need to plug it in to charge if you’re playing for more than a few hours, but it can largely run basic VR games without a more powerful computer or console.… read more. “The future of entertaining virtual reality is at gaming arcades”

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Call: Communication, Digital Conversation, and Media Technologies minitrack of Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-58)

[Note: For other HICSS tracks and minitracks related to presence see https://hicss.hawaii.edu/tracks-and-minitracks/ –Matthew]

Call for Papers

Communication, Digital Conversation, and Media Technologies minitrack
https://CommunicationHicss.wordpress.com/

HICSS – Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
January 7-10, 2025
Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Kohala Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii, USA
http://hicss.hawaii.edu/

Submission deadline: June 15, 2024

Dear colleagues,

We invite you to submit your research to the HICSS Communication, Digital Conversation, and Media Technologies minitrack. This minitrack focuses on the study of communication taking place on digital and social media.

Communication is the making of meaning and culture among people, with growing interconnections with a world of human-machine interactions. In mediated form, communication can involve text, emoticons, audio, images, video, virtual or augmented reality, or any combination thereof. The minitrack welcomes research on all forms of digital communication, including interpersonal, organizational, and mass communication, as well as a wide variety of contexts for communication, such as news, politics, entertainment, education, social movements and activism, etc.… read more. “Call: Communication, Digital Conversation, and Media Technologies minitrack of Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-58)”

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“A little too human-like”: Figure 01 is a multi-tasking conversational robot infused with OpenAI tech

[A new video featuring interactions with the AI-powered robot Figure 01 demonstrates technical advancements likely to new levels of medium-as-social-actor presence. It’s getting lots of attention from the public, press and experts in AI and robotics. Details are in stories below from Mashable and Decrypt; the 2:34 minute video is featured in the original versions of both stories and is available on YouTube. –Matthew]

[Image: Source: Decrypt]

It’s like ChatGPT with a body: Watch creepy demo of OpenAI-powered robot ‘Figure 01’

I prefer my ChatGPT disembodied, thank you very much.

By Kimberly Gedeon
March 14, 2024

A creepy demo of “Figure 01,” a humanoid, conversational robot, has hit the internet — and I can’t believe it’s not a deleted scene from I, Robot.

In the demo, Figure 01, packed with OpenAI-tech, is asked what it can “see.”… read more. ““A little too human-like”: Figure 01 is a multi-tasking conversational robot infused with OpenAI tech”

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Call: The Limits of Fiction Workshop

Call for Abstracts

The Limits of Fiction
November 21-22, 2024
Paris, France
https://sites.google.com/view/limitsoffiction2024

Submission deadline: April 15, 2024

Two-day workshop on the 21st and 22nd of November at College de France (Paris) on the limits of fiction, organized by François Recanati and Merel Semeijn. We invite submissions of abstracts for presentations in philosophy, semantics and/or other fields that are related to the workshop theme.

WORKSHOP THEME

This workshop brings together researchers that explore the limits of the concept of ‘fiction’, or the limits of fiction itself. Topics of interest include:

  • What are limit cases of fiction?
  • What phenomena can we explain by reference to the ‘fictive stance’ and what phenomenon can we not explain in this way?
  • Investigations into non-standard/understudied fictions (e.g., metafiction, irony, video-games, virtual reality, fanfiction, etc.) and their theoretical ramifications for philosophy of fiction in general
  • The fiction/non-fiction border
  • The relation between fiction and concepts such as ‘illusion’, ‘deception’, ‘dreams’, etc.
read more. “Call: The Limits of Fiction Workshop”
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VR headsets can be hacked with an Inception-style attack

[The frightening prospect of hackers stealing information and manipulating the presence experiences of virtual reality users without their awareness is described in this story from MIT Technology Review. In the “Twisting Reality” section of the story an expert notes that “There is no way to authenticate what you are seeing once you go into virtual reality, and the immersiveness of the technology makes people trust it more.” –Matthew]

[Image: Art by Dogboy]

VR headsets can be hacked with an Inception-style attack

Researchers managed to crack Meta’s Quest VR system, allowing them to steal sensitive information, and manipulate social interactions.

By Melissa Heikkilä
March 11, 2024

In the Christoper Nolan movie Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character uses technology to enter his targets’ dreams to steal information and insert false details into their subconscious.

A new “inception attack” in virtual reality works in a similar way.… read more. “VR headsets can be hacked with an Inception-style attack”

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Call: Digital Technologies and Identity (Hybrid symposium)

Call for Abstracts

Digital Technologies and Identity
Tilburg School of Humanities & Digital Sciences, Tilburg University, The Netherlands, and online
July 4-5, 2024
https://philevents.org/event/show/120862

Submission deadline: April 30, 2024

Artificial intelligence, algorithms, and other digital technologies impact and transform our identities in various ways.

Algorithms perform a wide range of tasks for us, changing the nature of work and our identities as workers. They decide who gets a mortgage, who earns parole, and who is invited to a job interview, constraining our life choices. Algorithms on social media influence how we vote, what groups we align with, and how we express our identities to others. We anthropomorphize and form close relationships with digital technologies embedded in chatbots and robots. Meanwhile, generative AIs proficient at generating text, music, and images raise questions about our creative identities and authenticity of expression. As digital technologies are integrated into our brains and bodies, new forms of hybrid, cyborg identities emerge.… read more. “Call: Digital Technologies and Identity (Hybrid symposium)”

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AI-generated Marilyn Monroe chatbot can hold an extended conversation with ‘realistic emotions’ and expressions, company claims

[As reported by Variety, Marilyn Monroe is the latest celebrity to be replicated via technology, this time as an interacting, AI-based chatbot said to mimic and engage with users more effectively than previous efforts. Coverage from Decrypt adds these details:

“The idea, Soul Machine explained in a blog post, was fueled by more than nostalgia. Advances in AI tech, the company said, can help honor and reimagine iconic figures in an interactive and engaging way.’From static search to text-based chat to conversational AI, we are witnessing a rapid paradigm shift as we begin to head into conversational chat with multimodal capabilities,’ Soul Machines said in a document shared with Decrypt. …

‘Soul Machines’ vision diverges from current generative AI by prioritizing cognitive modeling, explicitly replicating human brain and body interactions (inspired by neuroscience and cognitive science),’ the company said.… read more. “AI-generated Marilyn Monroe chatbot can hold an extended conversation with ‘realistic emotions’ and expressions, company claims”

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Call: Perception in Games and Virtual Worlds Workshop II

Call for Papers

PERCEPTION IN GAMES AND VIRTUAL WORLDS Workshop II
May 10-11, 2024
Regenbogenfabrik, Lausitzer Str. 21a
Berlin, Germany
https://www.gamephilosophy.org/2024/03/cfp-perception-in-games-and-virtual-worlds-ii-10-11-may-2024/
https://sites.google.com/view/perceptioningames/

Submission deadline for abstracts: April 11, 2024

Both traditional games and games that take place in virtual environments rely on play states designed around their perceptual features. This is apparent by the fact that they prominently rely on phenomenal spatial structures, but also by a variety of perceptual roles that enter into elements like storytelling, sound, kinesthetic feedback and immersive design.

How should we understand the character of perception in games and virtual environments? While normal perception registers ordinary perceptual properties, players perceive objects and properties imposed by images, rules, symbols and ludic context. In the perception of virtual worlds, users are not perceiving ordinary objects, but rather images and symbols designed to instill imagination and to convey semantic contents.… read more. “Call: Perception in Games and Virtual Worlds Workshop II”

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MAGA uses AI to invent pictures of Trump with Black people

[The latest use of generative artificial intelligence to evoke mistaken perceptions about the role of technology in media experiences involves fabricated images of Donald Trump with Black people, as reported in this story from Futurism. For more images and information, see the original version of the story, as well as the mentioned BBC report and broader coverage from AP. –Matthew]

[Image: Source: BBC]

MAGA Uses AI to Invent Pictures of Trump With Black People

“I’m not claiming it’s accurate.”

By Maggie Harrison Dupré
March 4, 2024

MAGA influencers are turning to generative AI to fabricate photos of presidential candidate Donald Trump alongside smiling Black voters, according to a report from the BBC — yet another sign that the threat of AI-driven misinformation to America’s ongoing election cycle is no longer an imminent danger, but one that’s already taking root.… read more. “MAGA uses AI to invent pictures of Trump with Black people”

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