The problem with pattern matching or prejudice by another name. Prejudice is a hot button topic in society. Racial prejudice, ageism, systemic racism. Embedding prejudice into technology through pattern matching will be the new frontier for social justice campaigns.
Singaporean telecoms firm SingTel does adverts that focus on traditional family roles and often run into unintended consequences. It is interesting that they focus so much on the reinforcement of tradition. Presumably, even with Singapores innovative housing policy and efforts at reducing prejudice through its one Singapore policy, it still taps into traditional Chinese values. The unintended consequences are cleverly woven into the creative. Take for instance take this advert / meditation on snowflake gen-z.
Jaguar launched its F-Type with this video – it taps into the nostalgia for Hot Wheels and reminded me of Honda’s cogs advert. The focus on Hot Wheels reminded me of the ignominious end of British toy car manufacturer Matchbox and Dinky. Both of whom would be familiar to those people who fall into the generation X age bracket. My childhood was all about the Matchbox Superfast line.
Tapping to the childhood delight of playing with cars is very smart because of its emotive nature. Though it is a world away from driving today.
Pablo Escobar’s family doesn’t strike me as the kind of progeny that you’d get tech gadgets from. Apparently Elon Musk’s Boring Company copied their previous product – a tech bro friendly flamethrower. Now they’ve come back with a foldable smartphone. The video has the kind of misogynist excess of the Michael Mann- produced TV series Miami Vice.
Finally, The New Yorker has an amazing profile of William Gibson. How William Gibson Keeps His Science Fiction Real. Well worth an hour of your time. The timing of the interview is to match the launch of Gibson‘s latest book Agency.