TL;DR,
WELCOME TO ISSUE TWELVE OF THE·BY·PRODUCT. A WEEKLY RECAP OF WHAT IS GOING DOWN & WHAT IS COMING UP ON THE INTERNET. LET GET TO IT.
CATEGORY: REALNESS
BeReal wants to be the social-media app on which you can be real. But how can we attempt authenticity when our lives are carefully manicured on platforms like Instagram? After gaining traction in the States this spring, the French platform is currently ranked No. 1 on the App Store’s “Top Free Apps” chart and bills itself as the “simplest photo sharing app to share once a day your real life in photo. / Via Vulture
CATEGORY: ACTIVISM
On a searingly hot night in New York City, a group of mask-wearing activists grasping bags of lentils set out to stage the biggest blitzkrieg yet upon a new target for climate campaigners in the US – the tires of SUVs. Meet The Tyre Extinguishers / Via The Guardian
CATEGORY: SCIENCE
Energy, mass, velocity. These three variables make up Einstein's iconic equation E=MC2. But how did Einstein know about these concepts in the first place?
A precursor step to understanding physics is identifying relevant variables. Without the concept of energy, mass, and velocity, not even Einstein could discover relativity. But can such variables be discovered automatically? Doing so could greatly accelerate scientific discovery. / Via Phys Org
CATEGORY: FASHION
Some fashion came from runways, others came from the streets, still others came from the construction sites of Japan. In Japan, an occupation as a construction worker is widely regarded as a “3k” job; kitanai (dirty), kiken (dangerous), and kitsui (demanding). However, in today’s article we will be introducing you to the hidden 4th “k” in the life of a construction worker, which is kakkoii, cool. Via / One Block Down
CATEGORY: CULTURE SHIFT
Season four of Netflix’s Stranger Things has given its predominantly young viewers a lot of things, from a new Californian setting to a long-overdue Kate Bush primer, yet when it comes to lasting cultural impact, it’s an often overlooked aspect of TV that might end up as the show’s greatest legacy: turning subtitle-writing into a creative art form. / Via The Telegraph
CATEGORY: REFLECTIONS
I Share, Therefore I Know? Sharing Online Content — Even Without Reading It — Inflates Subjective Knowledge. Billions of people across the globe use social media to acquire and share information.
A large and growing body of research examines how consuming online content affects what people know. The present research investigates a complementary, yet previously unstudied question: how might sharing online content affect what people think they know? Download the PDF. / Via SSRN
CATEGORY: ARCHITECTURE
This one has been making its rounds. The Line, is a beyond amazing concept. It is a 500-meter-tall mirror-clad skyscraper that will be built to house nine million people as part of the Neom initiative in Saudi Arabia. / Via Youtube
CATEGORY: SPECULATIONS
According to one theory, the internet is made of demons. Like most theories about the internet, this one is mostly circulated online. On Instagram, I saw a screenshot of a Reddit post, containing a screenshot of a 4chan post, containing a screenshot of Tweet, containing two images. On the left, the weird, loopy lines of a microprocessor. On the right, the weird, loopy lines of a set of Solomonic sigils. Caption: ‘Boy I love trapping demons in microscopic silicon megastructures to do my bidding, I sure hope nothing goes wrong.’ In other versions, the demons themselves are the ones who invented the internet; it’s just their latest move in a five-thousand-year battle against humanity. / Via Damage
CATEGORY: ARTWORLD
The Guardian reports that in Auckland, New Zealand, artist Matthew Griffin made a piece of art called "Pickle," and it's exhibited "on the ceiling of an Auckland art gallery." You might be wondering what type of dill-icious pickle it was — a dill pickle, sour pickle, gherkin, lime pickle, or maybe the Kool-Aid pickle (via Fruit Stand)? The Sydney-based artist flung "a single slice of pickle plucked from a McDonald's cheeseburger" on the ceiling, and people have already made up their minds about the art piece. Some called it "moronic," while others said that it's "brilliant" or "genius." / Via Mashed