Human Magazine - Issue #05 by Ian Irving - The Creator of Human Magazine - Revelations in Modern Business and Culture

___ MAY 2019

ISSUE #05 R EVELATIONS IN MODERN BUS IN ESS A ND CULTURE

robot human. human Tr a n s p a r e n t A I o n T h e H o r i z o n I n 2 0 1 9 ? Old McFacebook Had A Social Farm, AI-AI-Oh Artificial Intelligence or just Machine Learning?

t o b o r

human .

THE

TEA IRV

EMILY

JAMES

HOLLY

BRYCE

MARCUS

___the team

AM Editor-in-Chief Ian (IRV) Irving

Editors

Emily Perryment James Dutton

Creative Director Holly Rowlands-Hempel

Contributing Writers Bryce Main, Marcus Freeman, Ian (IRV) Irving, Tom Bray, Robert Reed, James Dutton, Emily Perryment, Isadora Welby and Sarah Porter.

Photography:

All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reprinted, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recovering, or otherwise without prior written permission of the publishers. Although the greatest care has been taken to ensure all of the information contained in Human is as accurate as possible, neither the publishers nor the authors can accept any responsibility for damage, of any nature, resulting from the use of this information. The views and opinions expressed by contributors are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Human. Rights owned by Kemosabe.

8-9 14-17 6-27 30-31

10_Icons, artificial intelligence, and Looking

16_Old McFacebook Had A Social Farm,

22_Inspired Minds - An Interview

24_ANA Avatar

28_The History Of Agr

38_Denim, Fast Fa

46_The Flip-F

54-

52_Wh

CONTEN 6

g For an Off Switch

AI-AI-Oh with Sarah Colesporter

riculture

Fashion & Craftsmanship Versus Quality

Flopping Of AI In Advertising

-58

hy I'm Not Afraid Of AI

6_AI or Machine Learning, What's The Difference?

NTS 7

Editor's Note This issue hits on the particularly hot subject of all things AI. Now, let’s be frank – everyone’s talking about AI these days. But, whether you’re looking at Siri, Alexa, or just some autocorrect features found on your latest fancy smartphone, we aren’t creating general purpose artificial intelligence. We’re creating programs that can perform specific, and often pretty mundane tasks. So why all this noise? When a brand claims that it’s coming out with a new AI feature, it often just means that they’re using machine learning. This is simply the technique that lets a machine learn how to better perform a specific task, rather than the ground-breaking artificial intelligence it promised to be. So, in this issue we delve into the myriad of proposed and actual uses of AI, the effects it could have on humanity, and how flippantly these infamous two letters are batted around the creative industry in 2019. Enjoy the read guys.

IRV. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

ICONS, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, AND LOOKING FOR AN

OFF SWITCH...

Shortly after 9pm, on February 5th 2019, the world of artificial intelligence saw its founding father crowned as the greatest icon of the 20th Century. It happened on a television show where the candidates (mostly dead) were voted for by the general public. Well, some of the public. Okay… not a lot of them really. But just enough of them for the winner to beat giants such as Muhammad Ali, Churchill, Pablo Picasso, Nelson Mandela, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and a bucketful of other deserving names. Mostly male, sadly. Just enough to make it interesting TV, if somewhat one-sided. Not enough, however, to mean anything significant in the grand scheme of things. And certainly not enough to make a blind bit of difference to the way the world revolves and evolves.

Not except for the winner. A certain Alan Mathison Turing OBE FRS (letters tragically belated). Mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, theoretical biologist… and pioneer of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. He took his own life in 1954. Some would say it was probably taken from him, even if indirectly. But, by the time of his death, he had rung a bell that couldn’t be un-rung. Intelligence and computers, which had never until then been mentioned in the same breath, suddenly took up space on adjacent air molecules. The world had crossed the Rubicon. Sometimes quietly… other times kicking and screaming.

In 1997, over 40 years after Turing’s untimely death, human dominance of the game of chess came to a juddering halt when a computer named Deep Blue beat the pants off then world champion Garry Kasparov. Artificial Intelligence went from being the stuff that dreams were made of, to being stuff that reality fiction was made of. Hollywood and the world of publishing have been having a field day ever since.Those of us with an active imagination and a love of all things futuristic began to get very excited. Again. Those of us with a nervous disposition and a suspicion of all things apocalyptic began to get very depressed. Also again. I have a foot in either camp. And my hands in a couple of other camps, too. Part of me believes that AI is a science. First, last, and everywhere in-between. Another part embraces the thought that, artificial or not, intelligence without beauty is like the Fibonacci Sequence without the natural world. There’s no denying it. AI has pros and cons that range from the good and the bad to the downright ugly.

First the good… In healthcare, artificial intelligence is being used to detect the deadliest ovarian cancer. It’s also being used to help diagnose depression earlier by analysing Facebook posts. Although, if you’re so depressed that you’re not on Facebook, that could be a potential problem.

Then there’s the bad… The World Economic Forum has warned that women are significantly and negatively affected by the automation of jobs. Apparently, fewer women than men are joining the workforce. It seems that AI still has some way to go before it can be considered an equal opportunity system.

MAN VS MACHINE In 1997, the computer 'Deep Blue' beat the pants off then world champion Garry Kasparov. Artificial intelligence went from being the stuff that dreams were made of, to being stuff that reality fiction was made of.

Then there’s the downright ugly. And frightening. Have you heard the story about the UK government actively funding the development of flying killer robot drones? I kid you not. When I read about them I had Arnie’s voice in my head saying something about the Skynet Funding Bill being passed. And the system going online. And human decisions being removed from strategic defence. Then something about Skynet becoming self-aware. I had to sit down and grab a strong double espresso. Now don’t get me wrong, I love artificial intelligence. I love all kinds of intelligence. I love the thought that the 3lbs of grey matter inhabiting the space between our ears can be responsible for giving birth to something that thinks outside the box sitting on top of my shoulders.

But... I love the idea that a gelatinous mass that’s small and wet and squishy has been responsible for dragging mankind and womankind out of the caves and into the skies. I just don’t like the thought of something, somewhere, at some point, getting the idea into its head that human intelligence is obsolete. No longer required. Past its sellby date. Deserving of being discontinued. With extreme prejudice, maybe. Well hell… call me old fashioned. Call me a closet Luddite. But that’s the kind of idea that makes me want to rip out three-pin plugs and search for an OFF button, pretty damned quickly… Bryce Main

THE GREATEST DANGER OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE...

...IS THAT PEOPLE CONCLUDE TOO EARLY THAT THEY UNDERSTAND IT

Old McFacebook

AI-AI-Oh

AI's journey of discovery We’ve come a long way since Spielberg’s classic about a robotic boy who was desperate to find love and discover where he belongs. Akin to the iconic 2001 film, AI on social media has gone through a similar journey of discovery. Where exactly does it fit in? How does it impact business to consumer relations? Will it help or hinder us humans in the long run? Autonomy and AI has successfully bounded across lots of physical sectors - manufacturing leaps out in particular. It has also received a significant amount of attention from powerful, online beasts such as Google and Amazon, who have ploughed jaw-dropping amounts of money into AI over the past 10 years. So, it’s no real surprise that the social landscape is also benefiting from all of this, with Facebook, Instagram and Twitter now collectively lapping up AI’s unique ability to merge technologies of natural language processing and machine learning. Social media’s boom has seen it now span across multiple platforms and with this growth comes a forever-expanding mosaic of data. Sifting through this data is now very important for a lot of organisations who wish to monitor, understand and act upon their findings, and AI rapidly helps to interpret and manage this. The faster details can be recognised, the faster an organisation can react. AI systems have the ability to identify mentions before they start trending, and send out alerts to those that need to know. This can help to enable companies to improve their social media offerings and enhance customer experience. It can inspire sales teams to initiate an impromptu special offer online. It can make a PR team aware of an approaching smear campaign... AI can both encourage opportunities as well as sound out the alarms.

Is behavio social med interests-

Facebook invested a fair wh and more recently Twitter a Zuckerberg and friends bec topics and use this to prepa irrelevance and in comes p your interests-only.

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By analysing the social footp determining what we do an viewing content in chronolo trend or threat going unno out of hand on social. A rev social media, *cough* Snoop to quote a certain Gallaghe social media might not faze management of one’s onlin to be accepted.

had a social farm,

h____

our on dia inspiring -only feeds?

hack on AI over five years ago, with Instagram, also following suit. With 2013’s investment, came able to track user engagement on various are a more personal rank on feeds. Out goes pre-vetted content; it’s social feeds tailored to

of ways, the obvious being paid adverts, but ents in AI has seen more sophisticated ways of to trace the part of an image that a user is eation of future thumbnails and profile pictures. o understand further complex emotions, such as roll out of ‘emotions’ as a reaction to posts.

prints left by people online, AI algorithms are nd don’t like. Gone are the days of people ogical order. Gone are the days of a developing oticed, a true crisis is curbed way before it gets volution definitely wouldn’t gain momentum on pers Charter. I’d love to dive deeper on this but er, as you were. For some, the role AI plays on e them. Perhaps, the collection, processing and ne makeup is just a sign of the times, something

Some may argue that being served up familiar and likeable content can only be a good thing, as it accommodates convenience and pushes pertinent information into the faces of those that want it. Whereas others may see it as a big threat to personal thinking, reasoning and decision. Harder sceptics may be quick to say that it’s just one of many controlling tentacles, and there’s a bigger picture to be recognised.

Avatar freakshows blurring the lines AI has come so far on social media, we’re even seeing social freak-bots like Instagram’s Lil Miquela gain mass attention. Virtual influencer Lil Miquela is thought to be a sentient robot, and is one of the first digital projects-come fictional characters-come social experiments to cause such a stir. Despite Lil Miquela being completely computer generated, the freckled, Cali-residing AI personality spends most of her time sharing images of herself wearing expensive clothes and portraying the perfect life. We can expect to see more designer avatars in the coming years, especially considering digital narratives are now being shared and played out between several avatars at once. According to some sources, the brains behind Lil Miquela’s recent account hack was from fellow odd-bot, Bermudaisbae, a scenario spawned straight out of the Kardashian era of using conflicts to introduce new characters. A media stunt for sure, but a pivotal moment in the development of conscious AR characters nonetheless.

With progression comes responsibility Without a doubt, AI’s performance on social media is being constantly refined. Whether or not it will ever fully replace the authenticity of a human’s touch remains to be seen. And whether we actually want this in the first place is a wider question for society, but right now consumers are being ‘touched’ by AI on a daily basis, even if many are unaware it’s happening. From afar, AI is playing a positive part, it’s giving people what they want and supporting businesses in doing so. It is also an essential factor in spotting any potential threats before they magnify and become a serious problem. But how AI evolves from here is going to be interesting, not just for marketers and consumers, but for humankind and those who run the world. I’ll leave you with the thoughts of a man who knows a hell of a lot more about AI than me. Steve Tomkinson is his name and he’s the MD of a company that deals with AI and machine learning. Steve says, “for a brand or agency perspective, the future will stay on the current path of the human and robot hybrid model. What will change is the democratisation of access to the AI powering marketing and social media, it’s happened historically across most technology stacks and is filtering down via the easy to use interfaces, that don’t need a developer to integrate.” However, although Steve recognises people dealing with social media should be buoyant about AI’s progression and future works, he does end things with an air of responsibility, stating “remember, this is an augmentation of the human and we all need to think about what percentage of our roles are robot and what is human. We sometimes need to remove the robot to make us more human, and actually happier.” In summary, I’d say it’s finely balanced and what happens with AI outside of social media will somewhat dictate its future plans. Tom Bray Socialgram

WHAT TH 18

AI is giving people

HEY WANT____ 19

I visualize a time when we will be to robots what dogs are to humans, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m rooting for the machines.

Claude Shannon 21

Interview with Sarah Porter

What does AI4Good mean to you? In our world of building an influential AI community bringing together thought leaders and decision makers in artificial intelligence implementation, AI4Good means ensuring that technological methods like deep learning, machine learning and other next generation technologies are developed in a responsible and transparent way in order to improve business development and assist economic growth, while respecting the importance of privacy and regulation of big data. The drive towards this goal should also take into account the ethical and societal implications of using AI in scientific development and expansion.

How would you define the ‘global AI ecosystem’? On the one hand, the Global AI ecosystem is made up of inﬂuencers, developers, scientists, technologists working alongside governments, international organisations such as the UN and NGOs. While on the other, we see enterprise leaders and technicians in all verticals along with the integrators, adopters and end-users of advanced AI solutions. We believe it is important for all players involved to be fully aware of the real issues surrounding the implementation of AI, as well as deep and machine learning solutions. This means the wider world and individual stakeholders across the entire AI value chain are able to face the different strategic, technical and operational challenges brought by AI technological adoption and systems implementation.

Why do you consider it particularly important to ensure that emerging AI technology is safe and inclusive?

As there are optimum ways to integrate AI and innovate for the greater good of industry everywhere, it is important to ensure scientists and technologists alike are on the same page in terms of making the world a better place through AI innovation.

If this is achie technology, m role AI can p set by the U global societ standards an

Inspired Nations what do

According to (SDGs) are the planet an These includ innovation, s among othe

Achieving th private secto collaboration such as AI, se play a major One examp imagery with workers ope

How do greater this prog

At Inspired M enterprise to result of this the major op AI available t promoting A

AI adoption a difference employees m accelerating rather than j of this includ complete re and time; als understandin which while potential to In terms of f technologies

eved, safety and inclusivity will be inherent in the meaning adopters can inﬂuence the important play in the global sustainable development goals United Nations. In essence, it is all about boosting tal development through AI - helping improve living nd economies for everyone everywhere.

d Minds is committed to the United Sustainable Development Goals – oes this mean regarding AI?

o the UN, the Sustainable Development Goals a universal call to action to end poverty, protect nd ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. de areas such as climate change, economic inequality, sustainable consumption, peace and justice, ers.

he SDGs requires the partnership of governments, or, civil society and citizens alike. This level of n means that emerging and disruptive technologies, et a whole new paradigm for development and can r role in attaining the results set by these goals. ple of AI in action here includes combining satellite h object detection software to enable rescue erating in disaster areas.

you see AI being used for the good today? And how do you see gressing in the future?

Minds we connect the global AI ecosystem from o BigTech, startups, investors and science. As a s, we are a community with big ambitions and see pportunities and indeed actions that are making to all economies, countries and cultures – thereby AI for the greater good.

in businesses large and small is already making in terms of improving the workplace, as it allows more time to focus on being proactively part of business growth through creativity and innovation, just cogs in the wheel of manufacture. Real examples de robotic process automation using AI to accurately epetitive tasks in volume, thereby saving money so voice assistants, which help employees with ng processes. Another example is the use of chatbots replacing some workplace activity, also have the create new jobs for data preparation and analysis. future progress, by focusing on emerging s and building communities to ensure that AI is

developed and adopted in ways that are inclusive and equitable, the technologies can work for all, not just a privileged few.

How does this translate into your AI World Summits? Our events and projects are reflective of this progress – we are at the forefront of not just discovering the world’s issues, but defining the solutions. Our Summits are structured and aligned with the UN SDGs and each event is focused on specific strategic outcomes both in terms of content and the world leaders who participate. The global series of summits we host unites the world’s AI ecosystem with major players in the worlds of business and science. Not only do they give a deeper insight into different strategic, technical and operational issues surrounding AI technology, they provide opportunities for intense debate on a wide range of highly relevant topics in all verticals from earth innovation to education, Fintech to automotive or manufacturing to healthcare.

What projects are Inspired Minds currently working on/with? Apart from our World Summits – both in the Americas and Europe, Inspired Minds is also involved in a number of other ground breaking AI projects. These include Ada-AI (ada-ai.org), a non-proﬁt organization and global community working to ensure that AI and other emerging technologies are developed and adopted in ways that are inclusive and equitable. A direct result of this is the STEAM project in Afghanistan – a high school that provides students with critical technical skills and exposure to emerging technologies and AI. Other projects include a successful Fondation Botnar challenge won through a design workshop we hosted, aimed at fostering collaboration between young people in Europe and Tanzania to improve the health and wellbeing in the country. In addition, our community has been pivotal in facilitating the African Alliance of Digital Health Networks at Intelligent Health 2018, the hosting of the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation at World Summit AI, and the launch of AI commons and the formation of ALLAI – a platform for initiating AI from as early as start-up to seed stage. Sarah Porter Founder and CEO, Inspired Minds Twitter: @SColesPorter

ANA

For years, ANA have connected people through their widespread domestic and international network, and it is this commitment to connecting people that spurred their involvement in the project. According to Kajitani, currently only 6% of the population have access to airline travel due to geographical, economical or physical boundaries. The Avatar programme seeks to transcend these limitations, which are all restrictions of the human body and form, to provide access to the rest of the world. Ultimately, they seek to bridge the gap between distance, time and culture. The leisure opportunities on offer here are vast, as it will allow people to gain first-hand experiences of other countries, often without leaving the comfort of their home. But more crucially, the avatars will make it possible to deliver resources and specialised skills to where they are needed most. By placing one avatar in a remote location, it will provide that area with access to doctors, teachers, engineers etc. from across the world, which would improve the local population’s access to healthcare, education and mobility.

AVATAR

In 2018, it was announced that the XPRIZE Foundation would be teaming up with Japan’s largest 5-Star Airline*, All Nippon Airways (ANA), to launch the global ANA Avatar Initiative. The programme instigated the creation of a general-purpose Avatar, which Kevin Kajitani of ANA Holdings and co-director of the project defines as “a physical system that allows you to teleport your consciousness, presence and skills to anywhere in the world.” By integrating the world’s most innovative technologies in robotics, haptics, and artificial intelligence, the avatars will enable users to see, hear, touch and interact with physical environments and other people in an entirely distinct location. This will allow humans to transport their expertise and capabilities through what Kajitani considers “essentially a new form of transportation.”

transportation

To achieve this, the programme is collaborating with the United Nations in their adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, which seek to build a better world and increase the quality of life for all. What’s more, avatars could become indispensable in areas devastated by natural disasters or conflict as they would provide access and aid to spaces otherwise too dangerous for humans to travel to. Through the existence of avatars, we will be able to reap the benefits of 7.5 billion people’s skills and resources which will be invaluable in overcoming global issues.The innovation relies on a symbiotic relationship between technology and human skill and creativity as it aims to improve global connectivity and accessibility through human-activated avatars. Though the project is still in its infancy, once the avatars are put into application, the use of AI will allow for improved and more intelligent functionality in the years to come.

7.5 billion people

Looking to the future, the Avatar X division of the project that is being built by ANA and JAXA (Japan Space Exploration Agency) hopes to use physical avatars to revolutionise the exploration and discovery of space. Recently unveiling plans of the world’s first dedicated space Avatar test field in Oita, the facility will conduct experiments that could be conducive to introducing human life on Mars and beyond. The potential is truly infinite. Emily Perryment Editor

24 *By passenger numbers across all Japanese carriers

25 Photography: ANA AVATAR

Y N A 26

E N Y 27

The history of agriculture is a form of technology into the Our ancestors lived as hunter gatherers, they would naturally flow with the seasons and migrations of wildlife. The experience was often unpredictable, which consequently spurred the birth of the agrarian age – and with it came human settlement and great civilisations. Now, think of a tomato. Its wild forbearer came from Mesopotamia. It was half the size and nowhere near as juicy, nutritious or easily grown as the one found in an allotment or your Tesco’s salad. Millennia of plant breeding by individual growers has made it so. We take the traits of one plant and that of another to breed the perfect specimen for our own needs. Think of Rice Paddies across the breadth of Asia. Five thousand years ago, farmers saw wild grass abundantly growing in flooded conditions and decided to replicate the system for their own harvest. Now rice is the most widely consumed staple food in the world. What do both of these have in common? They both show humanity’s ability to be efficient and adaptable in order to produce security. In my opinion, these two traits are conducive to being able to survive and thrive. Human minds are incredible things. Like the first primeval ape to pick up a stick, we overcame our immediate circumstance through wit and craft.

Farmer: Dong Farming Community, Guizhou, China Photographer: Zhang Kechun

In the mountains of Guizhou province, Southwestern China ethnic Dong farmers of the Yangdong Rice Cooperative harvest their rice on six-hundred-year-old terraces. They us farming methods that hail back to the Han dynasty and invo an ancient and symbiotic relationship between man, anima and nature. Each rice paddy hosts hundreds of species of animals, insects, amphibians, fish and wild plants from whi the communities reap a triple harvest of rice, ducks and fis In stark contrast with China’s industrial agricultural machine the Dong people regard all of nature as sacred and having a spirit. As such, the village has renounced chemicals and machines completely, preferring instead to rely on the ‘cow duck-fish’ trinity to control both the weeds and pests.

the history of introducing e production of food.

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Farmers: Houenoussou Photographer: Fabrice Monteiro Every Wednesday morning in Todedji, members of the women’s cooperative (Houenoussou) gather to eat together before heading off to their two-hectare market garden on the banks of the river Noire. Their work not only provides food for the village, but it ensures that the traditional knowledge and ancestral seed varieties - which are more resilient to climate change - will be preserved and handed down to their daughters. Houenoussou provides a constant source of healthy organic vegetables for the community all year round and their produce is increasingly sought after in the markets of the big cities, where good quality produce seldom exists. In August, the community gather in the sacred forest of Oro, just behind the garden, to sing and dance and pay their respect to the forest divinity, Oro.

But fast forward several thousand years, and here we are. As a species, our craft has separated us from the universal systems that sustain us, and our wit is a self-inflated ego that claims ‘bigger is better’. We have become so amazingly efficient and adaptable that currently, the world’s farmers produce enough food to feed 1.5 times the global population. Yet, through systemic failures and broken distribution channels, it is unattainable for the poor and malnourished, therefore it lies in waste. We are already living in the land of plenty. Walk into any superstore and take a moment to pause – sheer abundance. This abundance has a cost – it is of great urgency that we adapt our diets and means of production in order to avoid the oncoming planetary, economical and social crises. We believe that meat must be with every meal, we believe that food must be cheap. Our conditioning and cognitive thinking has designed our economic systems to perpetuate damaging circumstances. The more we apply controlling measures upon more and more of the universe, the irony is that the less secure we become. Within this play, technology is championed as a path that will save humankind. In reality, technology is only a tool, and the benefits come from the hands that know how to rightly use it.

In agriculture, automa efficiency. Through se can be void of peopl amounts of carcinoge us. On the other, we food that we eat; lite of the soil, and spiritu cycle of birth and de

There are also comp labour shortages and Automation could in risks, whilst working l Installing automation that privilege work w denotes that profitab smaller ones. Prince C how this simply a tra uphold a mosaic of la them, we can kiss goo and local and accessi climate change, the c national food security economies of scale to thus, are economicall healthy food goes up

a glob Farmer: Rob Waldron, Somerset Levels Photographer: Kate Peters Glebe Farm on the Somerset Levels has been in the Walrond Family for 200 years. Rob and Lizzie have seen first-hand the huge changes that have taken place in British farming, from the introduction of chemical fertilisers to the pressure of supermarket monopolies to the one that concerns them most; the extreme weather patterns that now dominate food production in the UK. Long wet winters are delaying planting which means the ‘hungry gap’ (the traditional period in Spring when there is little fresh produce) is getting longer. Meanwhile, hotter summers leave crops like barley struggling for moisture and brassicas are often wiped out by pests which would normally be killed off by the first frosts. ‘It’s not a healthy pattern’ says Rob ‘and you never know what you’re going to get next’. Despite the challenges and its small size, Glebe Farm has been able to thrive because of the organic system they converted to twenty years ago, the huge diversity of their produce and the decision to sell direct to their customers, ‘who are a little more understanding than the 30 supermarkets when flood wipes out the onions’.

ation is advocated to increase ensors and algorithms, a whole farm le. On one hand, this could reduce vast enic pesticides - which is simply killing become even more distant from the erally from the health inducing microbes ually from our ancestry of watching the eath of plants and livestock.

plex socio-economic issues around d the consequential cost of wages. ncrease productivity by mitigating labour longer than an eight-hour day. systems is costly and those who own with economies of scale. A global trend ble larger farms are amalgamating Charles himself is publicly advocating avesty. It is fundamentally critical that we and usages in the countryside. Without odbye to biodiversity, rural economies, ible food – and consequently welcome collapse of our ecosystems and also, y. Small-scale farms do not have the o implement systemic automation and ly disadvantaged, again. The cost of real p and it is an ironic privilege of the rich.

bal trend

My father is an old school farmer, he milks cows in Somerset and that milk goes to make good old Somerset Cheddar cheese. I even milked cows myself for several years. The beauty of watching a sunrise in Spring while you get the herd into the yard ready for milking will never leave me. Farmers milk the cows using a machine it has a pressurised vacuum that replicates a calf sucking at the teat. This technology was widely embraced by farming through the mid-20th Century. In 2019, my dad now sees his way of farming becoming outdated. A neighbouring farm has just installed a fully automated milking parlour – the farmer doesn’t need to even put his wellies on. The claimed advantages of this system are the elimination of labour, consistency and frequency of milking, and the ability to manage a herd through data. Over a cup of tea, I brought this up with my dad and he elaborated his view on progress. “When I was in agricultural college in the early 70s, a good cow gave a thousand gallons a year. Then, in the late 70s the system went metric and 1000 gallons was 4,500 litres, but the bar was rounded up to 5,000 litres per cow. These days we’re looking for a cow to give 10,000 litres. We have doubled the yield of a cow in just 40 years.” When I asked how that has happened, my dad points at another form of technological advancement - Artificial Insemination. “We can choose the semen from the best bulls from around the world. We can choose whatever trait we want to develop in our herd. Through this process we have dramatically improved the efficiency of animal husbandry.” This adaptation through breeding highlights another more hidden side of technological advancements; genetics. An automated milking system does not cope well with nonuniformity. Not many people have spent time handling the teats of a cow but they’re knobbly, some are bent, others even cross over themselves. Automation struggles to decipher the process of putting them onto the machine. Therefore, cows in automated systems need to have uniform teats and are now bred for that trait. Technological changes in farming have exploded. New innovations are being routinely rolled out; drones, monitors, automated tractors, and robotic arms. The aim is to overcome the drudgery of tasks like harvesting, weed control, packing, and sorting. Basically, autonomous tasks. Automation in agriculture is complex, it has to be viewed with steep criticism and yet simultaneously welcomed. There is light in the dark and dark in the light.

Sometimes, I see automation as a tool that will actually solve a problem. Other times, I see it in a darker manner; a wolf of capitalism dressed in a Welsh sheepskin rug. With new innovations come new professionals, companies and investors who need to develop and maintain the market and the demand. Over the past forty years, the agri-tech industry has sprung up and it requires agricultural systems to remain as they are. This is the basic fuel that feeds the perpetuation of a well-known myth. The drums bang, the bells toll and we are forcibly informed that only industrial agriculture can meet food security, especially with a growing population. It is simply a lie. The UN states that 70% of the world’s food comes from small scale agroecological farmers. It is the sweat and passion of women and the poorest who feed the world. I see agriculture as the frontier where the universal truths of flow, cycle, balance and interdependence meet the human psychological construct of Capitalism and eternal growth. The first rule of ‘law’ for capitalism is that expenditure is always less than income. With it comes a subsection titled ‘low expenditure - cheap labour - cheap food’. And right here is the crux of the systemic problem. Since WW2 we have been involved with the EU’s ‘Common Agricultural Policy’. In short, farmers received a payment per acre of land in production; a subsidy for producing food.

Why?Why?

Why?

Because food is vital, it is a common good for human existence. Yet the market dictates that it has to be ch even though it requires the resources for production

The consequence of what has passed is that we – o money – is subsidising negligent practices; the birth o monoculture. Systems such as these are non-regene – meaning that their soil is dying. In the Eastern coun the region known as ‘bread basket of England’, there only 40 harvests left. Literally; cheap food costs the E

In this context, there is room for automation to help us, but it’s only a means to an end. An old adage stat that ‘a fool in his folly will one day become wise’. Wh automation will contribute to is the speeding up of the folly so that we all become wise and welcome th dawning of ‘enlightened agriculture’.

Capitalism as a whole is expanding in its duality – t poles between rich and poor are furthering apart; an elastic band it either bounces back to centre or eventually, it snaps.

Now, we have a sorry state that in the UK there are people employed in producing or packaging basic foodstuffs who cannot afford to buy what it is they are producing – I find that rude and frankly obscene This is food, not a Ferrari. In this circumstance, there a valid argument that they would be better off work elsewhere and let the machines do the work – but there is no guarantee that the job they go into is any more fulfilling.

What concerns me is that we still live in a society w for the most part has the psychological conditioning if you don’t do the work, you don’t deserve to eat. Those who carry this persuasion view the amazing i of Basic Income as a form of welfare for the lazy and When actually, it is absolutely vital in bridging the div between rich and poor. To return back to the elastic analogy, so society doesn’t snap.

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The purpose of automation is for it to achieve its raison d'être; to ease society and as a whole community – avoiding the ‘haves’ being further advantaged over the ‘have nots’. I know some really authentically inspiring farmers, and as a movement they are mostly unseen by wider society – they are doing a heck of a lot, with not much. They are women and men who through their craft give nourishment to individuals, communities and the planet. They run businesses, feed families, save genetic diversity, enrichen biodiversity, champion rights, uphold morals, give consultation to politicians, and educate children and adults; all on very modest pay. The thing is, when it is all boiled down, we have to ask ourselves; what is it that we value? I can tell you that the people who farm in this way are some of the happiest, most content people that I have ever had the pleasure to meet and I am proud to feel part of their tribe. Organisations such as the Landworkers’ Alliance are giving the people a voice who want a system that is conducive to planetary and human health.

Farmer: Dee Butterly, Dorset, UK Photographer: Sian Davey Dee Butterly and Adam Payne are part of a movement of young new entrant farmers who are returning to the land with the intention of making a social and environmental difference. They set up Southern Roots Organics Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) with the mission of producing affordable, nutritious food for their local community in West Dorset while also caring for the land. Trying to address the loss of diversity in our food system, Adam and Dee grow a wide range of sometimes forgotten foods; in any given season 200 varieties of 50 different types of vegetables can go into the boxes they supply to households in the area. At the same time, they try to ensure that good food is available to all, not just those who can afford it.

What differs between these people and industrial farmers is that they exist embodying an understanding of the fundamental universal truths (of flow, cycle, balance and interdependence).

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Instead of battling nature into submission with some robotic instrument, they welcome her into the proce and live interdependently and are thankful. They yield which they can but in balance, they give back. They re and reuse what is no longer needed and in doing so, death of one cycle is the fertility of another. Like tree the forest, each are connected – through their roots support the individual and simultaneously the whole

This level of consciousness is engrained in Agroeco I believe this to be the future of farming.

Here, people value seeing their personal effort bear be it physically or spiritually. They learn through failur and accomplishment. The sweat and strain, make a su summer afternoon rest taste sweet. Is this not truly l An authentic connection of self to other be it planet communal. Living with purpose is connecting to som higher than one’s self. Farmer: Anuța Vişovan, Romania Photographer: Rena Effendi Romania is one of the last bastions of European traditional agriculture with millions of small-scale farms. Over 60% of the countries’ milk here is produced by families with just two or three cows and used in the same village. In the Carpathian Mountains, the Borca family follow a centuries-old tradition of making haystacks out of Alfalfa and local grasses to feed their animals for the winter months. These ancient rituals are under threat, however, as Romanian agricultural land is sold off to foreign companies without consultation or compensation. Farmers now face becoming landless labourers for the big agribusiness plantations, who export their produce, and threaten to destroy their diverse ecosystems. The people here understand their landscape, because they have lived in a reciprocal relationship with it for so many generations. They know the importance of passing this knowledge onto their children. Anuța Borca says “we have to teach them something that allows them to survive if they have no job. It’s important because the tradition is a treasure. If they learn it, they will be richer.”

Here, automation may well find itself in the fields, bu come through authentically, as a tool – a means to an end. It’ll be a timer turning on a tap for the 5pm wat an app that informs you of a rising temperature in th greenhouse while you’re in the packing shed, or a las that measures the lay of the land.

The biggest innovation that’ll ever occur in agricultur when we collectively return and reconnect. The gene fabric of our human evolution has been weaved thro our connection to nature and to a community. To sep ourselves from that fact is to find our species ever lo ever looking for home.

The dynasties of industrial agriculture are cloud capp towers yet to grasp their impending impermanence. The fundamental flaws of their system – the inability to align with the natural systems that sustain us and supporting human health for all – will bring people a their values closer together. This is power speaking truth to power. Robert Reed A Team Foundation With photography permitted by the exhibition We Feed The World.

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Farmer: Susanna Pastorkova, Slovakia Photographer: Tina Hiller In the small village of Dhla Nad Vahom, an hour downstream from Slovakia’s capital city Bratislava, Zuzana Pastorková, runs a market garden from the seeds and cuttings given to her by the local community. Seventy percent of the food grown here is from seed that has either been handed down to her or she has sourced from her travels. Her quarter of an acre garden now boasts beans from Ireland and Hungary, onions from Romania and pumpkins from Cyprus. Zuzana puts the success of the garden down to the way everything works together, including her six Indian runner ducks who roam freely eating the pests from the plants. 'This is very different to industrial agriculture. To understand what's happening in nature you have to be quiet and observe and then the answers emerge on their own’.

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Marcus Freeman

Robots, AI, automation, mass consumerism, cheap shit, sustainability and money. What do all of these have in common?

In this entry for Human Mag I'll be sharing my own perspective on craftsmanship & quality vs. mass machine made, specifically in the menswear scene. I’ll try and keep things plain and simple, but you never know what can happen with this kind of content. It usually starts off all nicey nicey, and then turns into some kind of rant.

Anyhow, let’s kick things off with a bit of positivity – I’m not too fond of being negative through writing but hey, when it comes to mass production coupled up with various other things, it could get a little gritty. Oh, and have no fear, I won’t be bashing all you fast fashion mass consumers who throw away sh*t just for the fun of it. Craftsmanship, ooooshhh what a beautiful word. Just saying the word ‘craftsmanship’ makes my toes tingle and my ears itch. Dissecting the word into thought association makes me think of a few specific things: handmade, well thought through, designed for purpose, artistic, artisanal, particular, intricate, soulful and high value. Stop for one moment and think, what does the word craftsmanship mean to you? Also have a think about the clothes you own, have they been crafted with love and care? Or, are they off the shelf massproduced one-time use did-it-for-the-gram kind of shit?

Who is a craftsman? As you might already be able to tell, I’m totally bias toward the craftsmanship side of things. Oh well, f*ck it, there couldn’t be a better time for people to become more conscious in their retail purchasing habits. All I have to say is that mass production and the throw away society contributes towards rapid climate change. And there we have it, off on a tangent of no return.

You may ask yourself, what is a craft? Or, who is a craftsman? Well, in my own opinion a craftsman is someone that cares and loves what they do, and they do it in their own way. It’s almost impossible to define the nuances of craftsmanship, it’s more about seeing, feeling and understanding what you’re looking at or listening to. Roaming around a niche in the menswear scene has completely blown my mind when it comes to garment production, whether its shirts, shoes, accessories, jackets or a beautifully crafted pair of Japanese denim jeans. My mind is fixated on the intricacies of the whole process. From start to finish, a designer or brandowner will put their heart and soul into each and every stitch, seam, and finishing (even if they aren’t piecing the garment together themselves). I could talk all day about the different aspects of the brands that I’m fond of, but then we’d never get to the juicy part of the article. Benzak Denim Developers are an example of a brand that I’m completely infatuated by. Their owner Lenneart had a vision six years ago and turned it into one of the most highly sought-after denim brands on the market. As niche as Benzak is, their core values appeal to a wider audience. It’s as if Benzak is the hybrid brand that bridges the gap between the denim enthusiast (denim head) and the modern-day clued-up gent. In simple terms, it’s post-heritage with a kick of contemporary styling at its finest. To give you a taste of what craftsmanship is, I’ll rattle off a few features of the made in Japan line Benzak serve up. For a start, all Benzak jeans have a hidden sixth pocket that sits flush on the opposite side to the standard coin pocket (that’s the little pocket usually on the right-side of the jeans). Benzak have a few logos they use on their goods – one of these is a long-horn bull. You’ll notice on the back of a pair of Levis the symmetrical pockets have the iconic arc shape stitched onto them.

Mass produced machine-made fast-fashion low-cost stretchy vanilla clothing. Benzak’s arc is the horns from their bull stitched onto both back pockets. The horns even follow the butt line to increase back-side aesthetics when wearing. Lennaert developed a custom Japanese denim fabric with his Japanese partners. The selvedge tag is made up of two different colours, yellow & green. These represent the initial colours of denim during the indigo dying process before the fabric oxidises after multiple dips. I’m going to stop there, but f*ck me, how has one dude thought about these teeny-tiny details and embedded them into his collections? This just goes to show, there are some people that just do things, and there are some people that really mean to do things. In my eyes, that is a craftsman. Go and check out @benzakdenimdevelopers for yourself, they have a well curated product offering, and great inspirational style recommendations.

So, mass produced machine-made fast-fashion low-cost stretchy vanilla clothing. Hmm, that was a bit of a mouthful. It’s tough not to rant about how fast fashion brands are contributing towards major climate change. It’s the same situation as plastic, and it’s the same with air pollution. To be quite honest, the choice is with the end consumer. But then again, the surrounding economy also comes into play when making lifestyle decisions. Here’s a thought. Instead of me going all keyboard warrior on these brands or people (which would be very unlike me), I’m sure it would be much more beneficial for everyone to think about a few things before clicking through to a checkout. For example, “why am I buying this product?”, “will it bring me value over a lengthy amount of time?”, and “do I really need it?”.

do i really need it?

Products that last a very long time aren’t for everyone. Many factors play into the fast fashion community. This can be anything from a low price to how the consumer has been exposed to it through media. The medium where customers are consuming content from brands has boosted the availability and awareness of this kind of quick consumption. I’m no expert in how these large corporations operate, but I do know landfill is one of the key issues for the throw away culture. The mindset of playing the ‘long game’ is a great place to start when trying to become more eco-conscious in your clothing buying behaviour.

How has AI affected the denim industry? Well, pretty big question to answer. We all use AI every day, whether it’s in our emails or running an ad on Facebook. For denim and other clothing brands this is far more complex. Imagine a world where AI starts designing products based on big data. Trends will be pre-predicted through numbers, patterns will be made for the masses, data will dictate how large groups of people look day in day out. This just smells like soulless clothing to satisfy big corporations' bank accounts to me. Don’t get me wrong, AI is absolutely mind blowing. But as a passing thought, AI is the product of human intelligence, so let’s not knock ourselves down too much. Cognitive technologies are what will most likely shape the future of denim. We’re not necessarily looking at more products being produced. Well, we kind of are if the human race keeps on consuming like it is. Steve Laughlin, Vice President and GM, Global Consumer Industry, IBM Corporation states that “the global apparel market is worth $3 trillion, which is 2% of the world’s GDP.

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t ‘man versus machine’; it’s ‘man and ne’. It’s about an impetus to human ty, whether handcrafted or digitally mmed.” – Denim Hunters 2017

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hat works and what doesn’t work, uenced by big data. Quite rightly said director Jo Baumgartner. Looking forward, ngside the machines we have created. nsight into what we want, need, can, nd, folk like myself who have a specific nts that are less impacted by machine tinue the way we are.

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data from 15 years’ worth of past campaigns, created a 60-second film scripted entirely by AI, the tale of a worryingly sentient car that refuses itself crash. All to launch Lexus’ new ES model.

The AI ad opens on an engineer standing over his newest creation, before the car is forced into a crash test that it conveniently survives thanks to Lexus’ automatic emergency breaks – though not before the car has had its customary few seconds driving smoothly along scenic roads with storms brewing in the distance.

Lexus claim that the ad took roughly six months to create, with the greatest challenge being the development of the AI and training it to learn about human emotions and intuition. This is the most, and perhaps the only, interesting feature of Lexus’ ad; the film itself is unremarkable, but the fact that it was conceptualised and written by a machine raises important questions regarding the future of the creative industry. Speaking to Marketing Week, Michael Tripp of Lexus questioned: “Philosophically, could this cut out or change the creative aspect of this process? Yes.”

Fast forward to 4 months later, a supposedly ground breaking 6 on how human craft will always

Focusing on four Takumi - Japane women - Lexus sought to cele face of growing digitisation and These Takumis range from a pap a Michelin-starred chef and autom film’s supposed 60,000 hour run years of practise it takes to maste the equivalent of working all day, 2

Due to the obvious difficulty of c actual footage, Lexus’ film actually of their Takumis working, not quit to their craft they claim to be

Spiros Fotinos, the global head o marketing at Lexus, commented future, with advancements in AI a reality, we expect the value of thin made by hand to increase. Real b

AI is something that has come to all aspects of our daily modern ation to entertainment, artificial to optimise and revolutionise every sun. Including the creative industry.

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So, what do these two ads, made by the same company within months of each other, tell us about the nature of AI vs. human in the creative industry? Lexus’ AI powered ad has already raised questions as to whether AI can replace humans in creative roles; however, the quality of the written script reveals AI as more of a gimmick than as a serious creative player. On the other hand, the 60,000-hour film seeks to preserve human craft in the face of increasing reliance on machines, something Lexus’ seemed to be advocating for in their previous film. This disparity between the messaging of Lexus’ two ads begs the question: can artificial intelligence ever become more than a flash in the pan interest in advertising, or will it remain a fashionable stunt for marketers to rely on when lacking any new ideas? James Dutton Editor

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WHY I’M NOT AFRAID OF AI With fearmongering stories about artificial intelligence making headlines seemingly every day, it can be hard not to think the world will soon be facing a robot takeover. Clickbait headlines predict the end of jobs as we know them and leave those of us in the creative industry looking over our shoulder for our terminator-style replacements. But contrary to today’s gloomy column inches, this isn’t quite accurate. In fact, despite AI being the buzzword of the moment, it’s actually nothing new at all. The term was first coined back in 1955 by Alan Turing. Predating that was Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace’s 1800s invention, The Analytical Engine. Even in the 1600s, Blaise Pascal was laying the theoretical groundwork for future AI technologies. AI has become a catch-all term, representing everything from chatbots and Alexa to selfdriving cars, drones, and an apocalyptic future. But the truth is, AI, as a phrase, doesn’t actually mean anything. Underneath this neatly packaged term are endless different forms of ‘AI’: from machine learning to image recognition, natural language processing to robotics, and clustering to deep learning, the realities of these cutting-edge technologies are miles from the media storm. Real-world applications of AI are narrower than commonly believed. Not The-Matrix-themed

content of science fiction, but practical, applied uses of AI technology that pick a specific problem and find a machine-driven solution. Marketers don’t need to be afraid of AI, they need to embrace it. Much like the automation that revolutionized digital marketing, AI is a tool to enhance what we do. For example, Phrasee solves a singular but prevalent problem: getting brands’ short-form marketing copy to stand out in a cluttered world. Writing marketing copy, learning what an audience wants, optimizing and processing that data on an enormous scale can all be done in the blink of an eye… but not by a human and not without them injecting bias. Using natural language generation and deep learning, Phrasee has been successfully revolutionising marketing campaigns for global brands, such as Virgin, Gumtree and Dominos. Creativity is certainly not under threat but rather, marketers can use AI to maximize their creative potential (and their marketing campaigns!). Take subject lines, for example: writing 100 different variants of the same copy isn’t where human creativity excels, but writing long-form content is. Phrasee focuses on this repetitive task whilst humans can focus on weaving the narrative they want to tell through their marketing. Phrasee is a tool that gets a marketer’s story seen. And that’s not scary at all.

Isadora Welby Phrasee

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AI or Machine Learning, What's the Difference? We should all be forgiven for believing that right at this moment in 2019, AI exists and is in full bloom amongst us humans. In my research I did a dive into the centre of the universe for all things tech, CES in Las Vegas. I haven’t actually attended myself, but this is the place to see the latest wares of the biggest tech companies on the planet. I have chatted to a number of industry friends and clients that attended the latest January showcase to try and get some steer on whether the event had echoes of the buzzword of the moment, AI, and if there was anything new to be learnt from the 300,000 square meters of exhibition space. It was also said that LG actually did a keynote entitled

This, I guess, was to set the scene for their latest 98” TV which apparently has AI in its processor. What I gleaned from the feedback I was given was that the entire event had a general hum or buzz (or was it even a drone?) of AI! Everything from washing machines and cars to lavatories were extolling the “Powered by AI” subline. Thing is, most of them are not powered by AI at all. So, ever the sceptic, I decided to do a dive into the subject and try to get a handle on just what the hell all of the fuss is about? Just what does everyone really mean when they say AI? And is the phrase lost on most and misused by many?

Artificial intelligence is a notion that has been around for a very long time – robots, robotic servants and computers taking over the world and flipping the power from man to machine. I feel that most who hear the term imagine a cyborg that can repair itself whilst learning the history of mankind, but let’s face it, that’s the stuff of Hollywood. However, it appears that the core idea of AI is not too distant from those perceptions. AI is something that exhibits human level reasoning, independence, creativity, and is meant to be something that can ‘think’ for itself. However, I’m informed by much brighter people than I, that what the tech industry is calling ‘AI’ falls very short of the aforementioned capabilities. Yes, the devices are obviously sophisticated and can process insane amounts of data faster than we have seen before, but the fact remains that all these devices’ so-called magic is just squeezing data into algorithms made by… guess who… yep, humans! These devices still obey our instructions and our commands, they don’t actually form ideas, concepts or solutions of their own making. Now, let’s not be too dismissive of the fact that there are computers inside your cameras that can help select the appropriate settings for a shot, and computers that can now predict when you won’t be home to manage your heating. Pretty impressive stuff, I guess. But none of this is a match for being human.

So, let’s touch on ‘machine learning’, which is often confused with artificial intelligence. This is because machine learning is as close as we have gotten to a machine working like a human brain. At the end of the day though, the computer always responds to its tasks set by humans, and learns the rules made by humans. There is a saying in the computer sciences that goes something like “it’s AI until it’s software”, meaning (I assume) computational problems that are hard to crack, such as image recognition, develop a kind of magic around them. We tend to imagine that only an AI could exhibit such an ability, and then we go and solve the problem and realise there’s nothing intelligent about the answer at all – it just boils down to good engineering. Which then in turn begs the question…

Is it possible to develop AI in the traditional sense? A famous professor named Hubert Dreyfus spent his career writing about the limitations of AI. He identified a number of fallacies held by those who believe that we can develop AI: the biological assumption that neurons are either on or off and therefore can be imitated by a binary-based computer system, the psychological assumption that the mind operates like a rulebased machine, and then finally that it is possible for a machine to ‘know’ anything it likes. These ideas were once disparaged but now they are increasingly accepted.

what the hell is all the fuss about? That’s not to say that new approaches to AI won’t change the paradigm, but it does underscore just how elusive true artificial intelligence remains. And that’s ok I guess. I suppose all of those innovations at CES were or are impressive on their own terms. However, describing them as AI does them a disservice; it actually blunts their impact by making inflated claims. To summarise, there are many who believe that the tech world should put the phrase artificial intelligence on ice until the CES in decades to come when they show us an android that takes a good look at the industry around it, decides “this isn’t for me”, and walks off into the sunset. Irv Founder and Editor-in-Chief

WE'RE ABOUT WHA FOR HUMANS.

ROBOTS..

AT'S RIGHT

FAITHFUL FRIEND. TRUSTY SCOUT.63

___NEXT ISSUE: #6 Japan In the next issue we talk all things Japan - how does this remarkable nation still manage to tickle our creative taste buds and inspire the rest of the world in so many different ways?

_Summer 2019

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