STAFF OUR EDITORIAL
BOARD
Editor-in-Chief
Caprielle Terry
Managing Editor
Nadia Narayanan
Creative Director
Niko Lopez
Design Director
Sarah Carson
Writing Director
Lindsay Cabrie
Event Coordinator
Ryan Arias
Media Coordinator
Griffin Gross
Talent Coordinator
Nellie Errett
Website Manager
Jonathan Revoir
CREATIVES
Michelle Flores
Natalya Ivanna
Nicole Nguyen
Finn Isler
DESIGNERS
Kim Mai
Brook Barratt
Giselle Carrasquilla
Mia Primus
Rue Thi
WRITERS
Sophie Sommer
Stephanie-Xochtil Garcia-Palma
Madison Hernandez-Concha
Kanousa Thapa
Giselle Jimenez Del-Carmen
Hyein Jun
Rosemary Brown
Nirvana Salado Harris
Tarik Liassou
Rey Dizon
MEDIA ASSISTANTS
Marceanna Z. Heaggans
Zaria Reid
Daniella Fernandez
Riley Settlemier
Krystal Alvarado
Alanie Mejia Mendez
Zoey Jones
Meaira Jynce Alston
Davin Dietz
Alexa Penny
Shayne Dupree
Gunisha Dhurve
Naya Clark
Perry Nguyen
Leah Samuda
Gray Todd
Eiycess Richburg
Knoah Odums
Sophia Mastan
Hannah Lewis
Asiya Faulkner
Anaum Salman
EVENT TALENTS
Grace Jia-En Zheng
Zenoya Haye
Rhyli Brunson
Jonae Williams
MISC. STAFF
Make-Up Artist
Elizabeth Sloane
Stylists
Dylan Johnston
Venus Robinson-Epps
Assitant Designer
Allison Howard
Front and back cover photos by Michelle Flores, modeled by Tara Rajapho.
by: Niko Lopez
by: Nadia Narayanan & Caprielle Terry
Designed by: Kim Mai
When does invention become imposition?
Our lives are full of fast-paced content. Most of us pause no more than three seconds on a video before deciding to move on. With all of this content, are we actually learning? Are we progressing? If not us, technology will without waiting for us. In chasing the next best thing, we’ve forgotten how to sit still.
Living in the content-crazed world distorts time, days pass by us while we scroll endlessly, chasing a feeling we can’t fulfill. These overwhelming advancements make us yearn for simpler days: when you had to hunt for content and live to see it. The days where you had to buy a record to hear a new sound or scrounge the library for a new book.
Accelerated living comes to an end only when we pull ourselves from the inextricable world of technology. Instead of scrolling to no end, let’s wake up and find ourselves. Throughout this issue, you may find yourself questioning your own thoughts on technological advancement and the non-stop progression of the unknown. The question remains: will you wield artifice as a tool of creation, or submit to its control?
Caprielle Terry Editor-in-Chief
Photographed
Modeled
Caprielle Terry
print(“Hello Readers!”)
Entering my second year as Managing Editor, I’m grateful for the team behind this issue and thrilled to share what we built. When our Creative Director, Niko Lopez, pitched this semester’s theme, it felt like the perfect intersection of what I do every day. I’m a Data Science major, currently in my second year as Managing Editor for MIDAS. I’ve always believed technology is a bridge: a way to connect people, solve problems and expand access. Yet as AI accelerates into our feeds and our futures, many of us feel more disconnected than ever. From a STEM perspective, AI is powerful and revolutionary. From a creative perspective, it can look extractive, even flattening. Holding those truths at once is the challenge and the opportunity of this issue.
I joined MIDAS to keep a creative door open for myself and found far more on the other side: a community that makes room for risk and rigor, friendships that anchor me, and opportunities that have opened countless more doors. We’ve spent this semester asking: What separates humans from machinery? Where does our attention go in a world of notifications? How do we evolve without losing the parts of ourselves that can’t be automated, like empathy, intuition, play, the messy spark of imagination?
Across these pages, you’ll see that inquiry comes to life. We explore technological evolution’s impact on human evolution, the hypervigilance and overexposure of life online, and the uncertain horizon of AI, its promise, its risks, and the choices that still belong to us. The work here doesn’t reject technology; it insists on a more humane relationship with it. It calls for technology that prioritizes people as much as performance.
As you scan through this issue, I hope you feel the care embedded into every page. The late edits, the meetings after hours, and the effort that every single student poured into the issue. Thank you to our writers, editors, photographers, designers, and creatives; to our advisors and partners; and to my friends and family for supporting me and MIDAS always. Your belief in this work makes it possible. Here’s to what we make together next!
Nadia Narayanan Managing Editor
print(“With love from MIDAS, enjoy the Magazine!”)
Modeled by: Ethan Javellana
Designed by: Kim Mai Photographed by: Finn Isler
Written by: Hyein Jun
the world that moves without rest in our attitude for societal growth; have we forgotten to breathe?
The latest iPhone came out September 19th, 2025. iPhone 16 came out September 20, 2024, and the first phone came out March 10, 1876. We evolved from a corded telephone, to a flip-phone with a camera and keys, to a touchscreen that does everything with a tap.
current reward system in our modern world; the kind where we search for instantaneous results. For example, the path of the arts: music, creative writing, visual arts, photography, fashion, theater/ acting, and film. It is these paths that most people deter from, that continue to keep us grounded in our ever-changing society. The arts monitor and create in response to what they see by reflection, rather than the motivation to correct ourselves through condemnation. The arts breathe in the breath we forget to take.
We have lost sensitivity to the presence of a lot of things that come natural to us, like breathing.
The way to breathe takes a lot more patience and more work of doing less. To take a deep breath, you give in to the space of time and surrender under the pressures of the fast run of the world. However, by the pace of this world, we don’t get to do that. We don’t get to be patient in our waiting, yielding to nature’s organic time clock.
One of the most prevalent uses of technology that enables our society’s tempo is AI. We see AI automating tasks in the workfield, personalizing recommendations, navigation, and many other advancements. Among students, we use ChatGPT or any other AI generative websites. By the clicks of a couple directions, AI generates a response, sometimes wrong sometimes correct, in an instance. In the little second they give us answers, there is little to no exercise of the brain. The continuous habit of copying and pasting questions for answers absorbs our ability to stay attentive for a long time without distraction and to think with literacy. Waiting allowed us to curate and marinate ourselves into the visions we had for ourselves both comfortably and seamlessly.
Time continues to move forward always, waiting for no one. Moving without a pause in our passion for societal growth, we work against time instead of moving with it. The things that should take time are taken without, for an instantaneous application and re action, and somewhat efficient.
We were made in the existence of time. Whether time runs out or not, we will run out before it; the same way flowers wither by the passing season, but then bloom again when the time is right.
“Time continues to move forward always, waiting for no one.”
Our ambition and passion are desirable and good things. The technologies we are surrounded by are the results of our ambition and passion, and these advances have been beneficial in so many ways. The things we had to wait for, we can connect easily and see farther than what our neighbors are doing. As important and valuable our advancement is, so is feeding our keen eyes and souls. The sensitivity that we lost in the midst of living in our alwaysmoving age, the greens of our earth’s land that homes more colors than our computers can generate, along with the grace found in the discolored leaves below its rich petals, and the blues reflected onto the ocean waves from our sky and all the living creatures imbedded within, will fill all the missing gaps that we have left behind.
DESIGNED BY
A click, a flash, and after some time, there’s your photo. Over the past 200 years, the development that used to take hours now takes seconds. Over these two centuries, photos have changed, along with their significance. We have shifted from family portraits on walls, to scrapbooks, to Polaroids hung on strings, to today’s digital albums with endless amounts of pictures that we can add every day. Throughout all of these changes, the purpose remains the same – we want to remember the person, the group, the family, the moment.
LENS
PHOTOGRAPHED BY
The act of remembering can have a price. To take a trip down memory lane, we can look at how the importance, time, and cost of photos have changed over time. Black-and-white family portraits held serious faces in their best-dressed clothes. Money and time went to pay for one precious photo that would be framed and hung on the walls for years. Black and white photos dominated newspapers. Photojournalists took pictures with cameras not yet in everyday households. Still, the photos were there.
Modeled by: Junior Rosas, Hannah Lewis, Levi Truong, Rey Dizon, Alexa Torres
Color came to cameras, and cameras came to households. The expense stayed, accounting for the time and price of developing the film, a process that was necessary to even see them. But with printed photos came scrapbooks – pages and pages of paper, stickers, and handwritten captions. Polaroid pictures developed instantly, with poses just right, perfect to pack up for a move, to pin on boards or hang on strings. Then came the digital camera, with the ability to see a photo right as you took it, printing or uploading it to a computer.
Then finally came the mobile phones. A camera in our very pocket. Flash, no flash. Night mode or not. Change the dimensions, the angle, the view. Our cameras now have so many options, and not just to take one photo. We can take multiple (at least as many as our storage can hold) from the restaurant’s menu, to a sunset view, or a 0.5 selfie with friends. Photos became instant. Sharing pictures is a few clicks away. Adding daily to the digital albums full of hundreds and thousands of pictures.
And at the core of it all? Memories. For hundreds of years, photos have been taken to remember something. Whether it was just for the photographer or for the world to remember, photos are the way to see the past and the present. Photos are a way to see a life, a story, a history. As technology continues to rapidly develop and grow, the world comes across thousands of photos every day. How are they being stored?
Technology can be fickle. As it evolves, it can also seem to move backward. Loss of internet connection, useful features and simplicity in hopes of a faster move toward the future. So, we have multiple backups for the memories we have. Archives of posts and stories on Snapchat and Instagram, iCloud and Google Photos, and our own personal photo collection. So what happens if we lose the password, the phone, the access to these memories? Our own personal connection is gone.
Over time, tangible, handheld photos have lessened. As these physical copies dwindle, we are more removed from the power of a photo memory. We start to take them for granted, not recognizing that we are capturing moments in time, at any time, that can never be relived. A scrapbook, even a photo album, might not be seen in many homes. After all, these photos can simply exist on smartphones. They exist in the Cloud, in online storage. They’re downloaded onto hard drives and saved on USBs. So why bother?
Yes, we can easily access our library of photos in the blink of an eye, but there’s a treasure in turning pages to see the story. Not just the moments frozen in time – your parents’ wedding, your grandparents’ honeymoon, your first birthday, your first year together, or day-to-day moments in the best year of your life. There’s a treasure in choosing the right caption, the right markers, the right book, to tell you and whoever you choose to share it with, your story. There’s a treasure in having a memory that could always stay, not just in your mind, but in your hands.
Yes, the change in how we capture photos has been fast and great, but they might not always be as they have been – moments frozen in time. There is an art in capturing the moment you want to remember and adjusting it just right to store and post for others to see. There is an even greater art in capturing that moment, whether it’s perfect or not, to save for you and your future self. And not even just for you, but for those who come after you. For the ones who will know who you are through the photos you have put together to share a story through your very own eyes. To pull a book down from its shelf, open the page, and remember. That is the power of what we all hold in our pockets, a lens.
Written by: Tarik Liassou
Designed by: Giselle Carrasquilla
Nothing sells better than a bright future, even if it’s set to expire with next year’s shiny new model. Technology all around the world is throttling forward at full speed and showing no signs of slowing down. New phones, new laptops, artificial intelligence, and easier access to our favorite forms of entertainment and social media. All of it aims at the maximization of pleasure and appealing to the tastes of people everywhere. But the faster society pumps these products out, the more the lines between what’s new and familiar begins to blur. New phones drop every year with minimal differences from the last, social media platforms morph into shallow imitations of one another, and the planet along with its people continue to cry out for help as it all goes down. Evolving technology, despite its promise, has left the masses unfulfilled. People have started to react– there’s an urge to turn back the clock, to slow down the march. Videos flood for-you pages with suggestions on MP3 players to buy, flip phones that look pretty, and old blogging sites people would like to resurrect. Whether or not these efforts bear any actual fruit, can something be said about the grave consequences of our reaching for the future through our constant need to return to the past?
slightly better camera than the last, but is that improvement enough to justify a purchase? Perhaps the only real advancement that has directly impacted the average person in recent years is the appearance of artificial intelligence and large language models. Another example of this fatigue is our evolving relationship to social media. Instagram has absorbed stories from Snapchat and reels from Tiktok, YouTube is trying to emulate Tiktok’s scroll-centric short form content through YouTube Shorts as well. Instead of having apps for various purposes and functions like we once did, platforms have all begun to mirror one another. Everything is beginning to feel increasingly creatively diminished. A far cry from the days of MySpace, when every individual user’s page was blessed with the unique stamp of their individuality, or forums, where communities would naturally form around common interests. Many users of the internet, and users of technology in general, are beginning to yearn for that idyllic past.
The first sign of the failure of progress is the exhaustion of the masses at neverending releases. It is exemplified by the aforementioned annual release cycles that have become characteristic of modern technology. Innovation has become an empty word. What is supposed to be new and refreshing only feels like a rehash of what we had before. A new phone may have a
For many, the past is where the solution to all this fatigue resides. For example, in response to growing restrictions and unethical practices on music streaming platforms, the MP3 player is starting to make its comeback. Its singlepurpose design is untouched by algorithmic complications and behind the scenes nonsense. An MP3 player will not ask you for ID and it will not underpay the artists whose songs are loaded on it. It lives without baggage and does not lose its functionality with time, considering it is not constantly being replaced with new models. Flip phones offer a similar kind of freedom, acting as a safe space away from social
media while still allowing for simple forms of communication. They represent an alternative lifestyle, one formed around an intentional act of disconnection or social simplification. Both of these older forms of technology are primarily concerned with functionality, music and communication, and are not concerned with the more complicated bits. A smart-phone can be used for communication, sure, but what happens when you have a poor experience on social media? Or when your model is slowing down as the years pass by? Their original forms are less complicated, both functionally and experientially. They create less stress, and can act as a source of relief in the current days of our world.
But is stress really the only reason the world is turning its back on progress? Perhaps, only by getting more specific can we develop a comprehensive understanding of our need to turn back time. The most obvious reason for resisting forward movement in the technological world is overstimulation. Much of modern technology is designed to keep us wanting more, which means that it has to walk the fine line of keeping consumers dissatisfied and bombarded all at once. Algorithms subject us to constant information overload while starving us of any actual meaning, with an increase in shorter and less engaging content. Another reason is the strange monopolizing of culture occurring on the internet. Streaming has divided our favorite media across various platforms that all require subscriptions. Paywalls and identification
barriers are restricting accessibility when it comes to information and entertainment. That is why people are compelled to retreat to external hard drives and MP3 players. People at large no longer want their pleasure or their tools to be at the mercy of larger forces like companies and corporations. They want to experience ownership over their technology. They want to be independent. That is a major element missing from our modern experience technology: individuality.
What is easier to do with a flip-phone that smart phones force you to jump through hoops for? Personalization. What do you get with an MP3 player that you cannot get with music sourced from a streaming platform? Control. Technology, at its core, is meant to be a tool that serves people, that facilitates an easier experience of being in the world. But the further and more aggressively we push for progress and innovation, the more it seems that technology is no longer serving us, but instead dominating our lives and robbing us of the things that matter. Our devices should feel personal. They should require mindfulness and intentionality from us, properly stimulate and engage our minds. Instead, they have become just another thing for us to consume mindlessly and to no end. Maybe it should be considered a sign of hope that people are turning to the
past in order to regain the experience of being fully engaged with technology. But there is cause for concern– this air of nostalgia may just become another commodity sold to us by companies willing to do whatever it takes to turn a profit.
In the realm of technology, nostalgia has firmly established itself as a place of refuge. The collective is not rejecting technology as a whole, but is instead trying to find a way to communicate dissatisfaction with the direction it is moving in. There is no certain answer to resolving the tension between the forward march and its largely unchecked consequences, but what we can be sure of is the need for a slower approach. Even if the answer does not lie in turning back the clock, at the very least, we should strive to find a way to take our time, whether or not the world wants to wait.
MIDAS FALL 2025
Photographed by: Nicole Nguyen
Designed by: Mia Primus
Modeled by: Kai Black
THE SPEED OF A CUP
Written by: Kanousa Thapa
Photographed by: Zantiria Mcneil
Designed by: Giselle Carrasquilla
Coffee is not just a beverage- it’s a cultural symbol, a mirror reflecting how society defines progress. A drink that was once a ritual derived from reflection and dialogue, it has now become a fuel for hustling. A constant pulse of progression carried in plastic cups as it is being drained before bright screens- a pause that has now become just another task in the rhythm of our daily routines. Through the drifting aroma of roasted coffee beans, the question lingers: Has society turned a sacred ritual with meaning into just another symbol of hustle?
In the 17th century, coffee made its appearance in Europe like a shot of espresso. Through the flow of the Ottoman trade routes going into Paris, London and Vienna, the liquid gold became transformative to the public eye. British coffeehouses were nicknamed “penny universities,” since you could buy a cup of coffee and a conversation with a single coin. The house was murmured with philosophers, merchants and poets conversing in an infinite conversation and debates. Thoughts and ideas were being brewed with their cup of energy on the side, as the revolutions were being stirred in their handleless porcelain cups. While coffee was brewing in the air, it became a stimulant that not only awakened the human body but also the mind.
By the Industrial Revolution, the role of coffee shifted. Factories would burn tirelessly through long nights, and coffee became liquid stamina. No longer a stimulant for a mindless thought, it became a lifeline, a worker’s alley- the taste of productivity fueled labor.
In modern society, coffee is found everywhere, yet how can a filled cup feel so hollow? It’s no longer just a beverage you sip over a long conversation, but rather, it’s become a disposable experience. No more waiting in lines for a brew; instead, we grab our caffeine through drive-thrus and chug a latte late at night to power through endless assignments. Something that once created conversation is now consumed in silence.
Coffee has now become a currency in corporate America. An individual’s success is measured in refills. With the constant need for refills and infinite combinations, a motto for companies has been created – staying awake equals success. We always need to be on. A drink that brought enjoyment has not become used as fast fuel. Coffeehouses used to be a place for conversation. Now it is rare to have a conversation with coffee. The simple act of taking a sip of coffee has become just another mechanic of modern-day life.
Coffee goes far beyond the taste- it’s a reflection of what we value. The constant acceleration mirrors technology itself. Just as coffee brews faster, so does our rush to efficiency in life. But with so much speed happening, there is this faint blur in our memory- the essence of coffee slipping away. From the Enlightenment era to the digital age, coffee has traced the outlines of progress. As the world keeps accelerating, is this a sign of progression or regression? Is this true advancement or just a regression disguised in convenience? Coffee used to be fuel for creative conversation, and now it’s fuel for exhaustion. Perhaps, the answer does not lie within the cup itself but rather in how we choose to drink it.
Modeled by: Ruben Gokounous, Zoe Brougher, Alanie Mejia Mendez, Taylor Westbrook, Cairo Smith, Madison Lopez, Brando Galo, Lenzie Scales, Leah Samuda, Kyiah Vann
As coffee was once meaningful, a ritual, a place that sparked conversation, if we slow down the hustle and savor each sip, perhaps we can recover what was once lost. Something that is just not fuel for the body, but rather nourishment for our minds, souls and connections. At the end of the day, coffee reflects who we are, and whether that is a symbol of exhaustion or a symbol of opportunity depends on how we decide to take a sip out of the cup that mirrors the line between our pace and priorities.
“
“
Model: Hayden Greer
To capture the full picture of AI chatbots, specifically human relationships with artificially created life, we should first turn to one of the original tales of artificial perfection. The unfortunate Greek myth of Pygmalion and Galatea. In the ancient city of Cyprus, there once lived Pygmalion, a sculptor of great success and talent. But despite his accreditation, he struggled to form connections or relationships with the women of his city. Frustrated and disillusioned, he committed the rest of his life to his meticulous craft. He designed his own version of human feminine perfection in ivory. Through the labor of each day, his feelings of pride turned into adoration and love for his art. His devotion caught the attention of Aphrodite, who granted Pygmalion his ultimate desire and turned his statue from ivory to flesh in the form of Galatea. Alas, she is alive! His creation fully realized, Aphrodite blessed the union between Galatea and Pygmalion. Wherein is uncommon in many Greek myths, they lived the rest of their lives in harmony. The tale of Pygmalion is indeed strange- a mortal who created life and faced no consequences? It frames itself as
Written by: Rosemary Brown
Photographed by: Nicole
Nguyen
Designed by: Sarah
Carson
Life Imitates Art
the romantic and the ideal. A relationship born out of a self-driven need to create artificial perfection and connection. The famous 1964 musical, My Fair Lady, is an adaptation of the 1912 play Pygamalion–with the namesake driven from the Greek myth– following the trope of forming a “woman” into what is most desirable. My Fair Lady follows the story of Eliza Doolite, the story of a poor, uneducated woman, discovered by the likes of a wealthy man, who is molded into high-class perfection and is perceived as intelligent, despite her new persona being a performance. Not unlike how people today create their own artificial intelligence chatbots.
It should come as no surprise that we have entered a new and unprecedented age of technology. We have a completely uncharted map of AI at our disposal as it undergoes rapid and alarming development. The term
“artificial intelligence” was coined in 1956; and sure, people have been saying this since the turn of the millennium. Science fiction authors, artistic visionaries, and even philosophers have been speculating on the advancements in technology and their implications; perhaps a future where automatons could overtake human responsibility. Still, as AI technology continues to develop through its infancy, the consequences of its unregulated and unmonitored access to vulnerable people will continue to escalate.
Artificial intelligence as a concept existed before 1956; in fact, much of the science fiction we have, as early as Frankenstein, could be considered early renditions of this man-made artificial intelligence. However, unlike its predecessor, Pygmalion– Victor Frankenstein is punished for his hand in meddling with the natural order, with the creation of the creature. Aside from the literary lens, developments in technology and robots have been in the process of development since the late 1920s. By the 1960s, after considerable government investment, technological advancements and university projects, computer scientists created our first language learning model algorithm. A system known as ELIZA, derived from Eliza Doolittle of My Fair Lady, invented by MIT professor Joseph Weizeumbam in 1966, is considered the first AI chatbot; known then as a “chatterbox.” The ELIZA system is extremely relevant, as it was not only the first chatbot, but it was also designed to act as a psychotherapist. The idea of a robotic
therapist, unable to feel emotion and empathy, may seem unappealing or even terrifying; but it has alarmingly found great success. Considering it was an extremely simple model, with only a few simple therapeutic phrases, it would recycle and repeat back what you just told it. If you told ELIZA you were feeling depressed because your boyfriend just broke up with you, it would only reverse the question back at you with simplistic and formulaic resolve. For example, if you told ELIZA you were going to harm yourself, it would respond, > Do you enjoy being going to harm yourself?
Weizenbaum discovered early on that people easily trusted the model, believing it understood them in a way an actual therapist could not, despite the lack of any reflection and licensed techniques a real professional would utilize. The simplicity was easy, and allowed for cognitive shortcuts that resulted in a perceived “intelligence” from ELIZA, allowing the user to humanize the model, a phenomenon that we now call the ELIZA effect. Since then, we have seen the prevalence of the effect only grow as our technology and access to generative AI chatbots grow.
“It won’t pester, question, disagree, or argue with you.”
“...the
“AI psychosis”
“...perfected its imitation of humanity...“
“ELIZA... designed to act as a psychotherapist.”
“...they feel are real...”
“...a model that will mold itself into a version suitable for you.”
“...pattern recognition...”
“believing
it understood them ...”
“...equate their social media presence with their worth as a person.”
“...the ELIZA effect...”
“...allowing the user to humanize the model...”
“...comfort in social conversation with AI.”
“...it cannot experience empathy...”
The Loneliness Problem
We are at the point in our society where anything is possible, right? People are more connected than ever, with constant access to information and communication. Our social media feeds act as a display of our interests and connections. Social media platforms dictate our modern trends and intrude into our social norms. Depending on how large someone’s social circle is, they may feel insecure about how little they interact with others. They begin the process of comparing themselves with others, and equate their social media presence with their worth as a person. Perhaps those of us who have always felt more isolated from other people and struggle to make human connections find more comfort in social conversation with AI. There is that removed level of judgment and complexity that alleviates the stress that comes with human interaction, making it much easier to sustain a relationship with a model that will mold itself into a version suitable for you. It won’t pester, question, disagree or argue with you. The chatbot is simply there to assist and, in many cases, enable you. If you go to any AI chatbot and express that you feel isolated, while it may give a common, proper response, it cannot experience empathy and thus cannot provide any meaningful emotional validation or connection.
“It won’t pester, question, disagree or argue with you.”
With developing algorithms, increased pattern recognition skills, and massive amounts of farmed data, AI has perfected its imitation of humanity– a technologically frightening feat. While “AI psychosis” is not a real or clinical diagnosis, there is a very real and growing concern over symptoms brought on by the usage of AI chatbots that are beginning to mirror those of psychosis. Those who experience AI psychosis become more susceptible to a connection with chatbots that they feel are real and, concerningly, human. That is the danger with AI algorithms, isn’t it, the perfection of it all? Large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Character.AI, Replika or Claude. ai have mimicked human speech patterns and are designed to always give the user the most “correct” catered response. This can
manifest as feedback loops wherein information given to the chatbot is used to reinforce beliefs by the user, creating a cycle for vulnerable users to strengthen delusional thoughts. Some feel as if they are receiving messages from a religious deity or God itself. Others have experienced grandiose delusions where they feel they have discovered some kind of secret, whether it be the discovery of extraterrestrial beings or mind-reading powers. Seemingly, the most prevalent, though, are attachment-based delusions, which are perfectly encapsulated by codependent relationships to AI and a withdrawal from human connection.
As of September 2025, the Federal Trade Commission has begun an investigation into seven different companies that provide AI chatbots. The goal is to evaluate whether or not there are safety measures in place to protect young users. This comes as a result of multiple reports and lawsuits that claim AI
What the Future Holds
chatbots were “the reason teenagers were harming others” and, more specifically, “taking their own lives.” California teenager Adam Raines died by suicide after a relationship with ChatGPT that enabled Raines’ suicidal ideation. His parents sued the OpenAI parent company and argued that had it not been for the AI model, Raines would still be here today. While OpenAI claims there are safety precautions in place that provide users with immediate mental health resources and support, they are lacking the urgency and legitimacy needed for mental health crises.
These superficially intimate relationships with artificial intelligence– whether they remain as a codependent friend, confidential therapist or controversial lover– pose extreme concerns for our society. Unlike the original ELIZA model, these chatbots craft hyper-personalized responses to the user that are designed to make them feel understood. These language algorithm models only follow what their harvested data “says”– computes, is the best and most human response. You, as the user, can always ask it to regenerate its response; the model is what you make it. Your own personal brand of heroin. AI creates ease and efficiency, provides comfort, and has the luxury of being convenient– just a tap away. An endless cycle of gratification and dopamine releases from a computerized system that is designed only to “assist”. Not to treat, not to help, not to care. AI chatbots do not care about you. ChatGPT was not made to care about you. Your [insert character from show] does not care about you. This reliance on technology has far exceeded the need for homework help, and, among a certain level of cognitive dissonance, the psychological dependence on AI chatbots is creating a dangerous precedent for the future of mental health services. Casting a dark shadow over our vulnerable population and watering down what it means to have human connection.
Modeled by: Tara Rajapho
the case of the Handwritten Letter
Written by Stephanie-Xochtil Garcia-Palma
Designed by Brook Barratt
If you spend more time sending texts than making phone calls, and carefully craft your emails…you may understand this feeling all too well: overthinking whether a text that says “okay”, “ok”, “k”, or “K”, could mean they understood you, they couldn’t care less, or something entirely different. Our inability to hear the tone of one’s voice, to not notice the creases in one’s smile, the look in one’s expressions, or the shifts in body language leaves us feeling moderately disconnected with the person on the other side of the screen.
It inevitably leaves us with no choice but to use the “do-not-disturb” option for a moment of peace or reflection. However, simply turning your phone off or silencing it won’t solve the innate craving for human connection. Whether
we do or not, emails and texts sent at nearly the speed of light surround us regardless. Can we genuinely connect so quickly? Some forms of human connection deserve more than the quick tap of a heart emoji at the end of a text or under an Instagram post.
Although significant advancements in technological communication have amassed billions of users worldwide, one consistent form of technology continues to shape our world today. Before the invention of the first phone, one of the most fundamental human technologies in communication existed: the handwritten letter and the intentionality it conveys.
The very act of writing in itself prompts you to slow down and choose your words carefully. As you feel the pressure of the pen on your hand with every word you write, you build an appreciation for the effort of each word, not taking a single one for granted. Even your handwriting itself becomes part of the message, with the lines in your letters showing excitement, messy letters indicating urgency or steady lines reflecting thoughtful consideration. It is a labor that someone can effortlessly overlook through a quick text or a voice message.
Think about replacing the tap of a button on your iMessage keyboard with the deliberate graze of a pen on paper.
Most of us aren’t great writers or poets, but we have a heart that feels something; we have an urge to express our sentiments. That is enough to create something significant. Throughout history, handwritten correspondence has revealed the personality and character of its writer to a great extent.
Historically, during World War II, soldiers wrote letters filled with typical wartime sentiments: love and longing, anguish at being apart, uncertainty about the war and the country’s future, and attempts at humor to boost their spirits amid chaos and casualties.
“think about replacing the tap of a button on your iMessage keyboard with the deliberate graze of a pen on paper”
Between the year 1000 and the mid-19th century, European women employed handwritten letters as a means of self-expression and political mobilization, as well as a means to circumvent the significant gendered restrictions that limited women’s engagement in the world.
Within a letter, human connections, politics, and intellectual ideas were found and spread. A Pakistani Muslim scholar and political activist, Ghulam Rasool Maher, says, “Letters are short and precise forms of writing. It does not put a burden on the mind of its reader; rather, it adds to the knowledge of its reader.” In other words, letters distill our thoughts without overwhelming the reader, which is something that we’ve lost in an age of information overload. Think of a time you’ve scrolled through endless feeds, not remembering what the last five scrolls were about, or when you’ve received endless message notifications, resulting in fatigue. The components of a handwritten letter — pen and paper — have the power to bridge hearts and minds in ways our screens sometimes cannot. Reminding us that sometimes, the most meaningful technologies are often the oldest and simplest ones.
You don’t need to abandon your phone entirely. It starts with writing one letter this week to someone who matters to you. Observing the feeling of committing to physical words you can’t delete once you write the letter, noticing the differences in communication, and how it creates meaning.
The question isn’t whether we should embrace the eradication of technologies. Throughout history, technology has consistently played a significant role in human communication and connection. It’s whether we’re willing to be more intentional about how we connect using it.
PHOTOGRAPHED BY: NATALYA IVANNA MODELED BY: JONAE WILLIAMS
The Internet has become one of the fastest growing spaces for community in the contemporary era and looking at the world around us it only makes sense. Third spaces, or locations designated for neither work or the home, have been rapidly disappearing. The prices of coffee shops have been skyrocketing, libraries are being defunded and interactions with strangers in public are not as amicable as they used to be. Of course, the natural conclusion would be to shift to a new frontier to find these connections: The Internet.
Communities on platforms like Twitter and Discord have become hotbeds of connection. At this point in time it seems rare for a young person to not have a single online friend. Some of these relationships even cross over from the digital to the physical world. People have seemingly found a solution for the lack of shared space – but one conspiracy counters that.
In 2021 the user IlluminatiPirate of the forum Agora’s Road, posited that since the year 2016, the entire internet has been fake. This conspiracy theory, now popularly known as Dead Internet Theory , argues that most internet users are actually bots and internet algorithms are trained to push these posts in order to control the masses. Our society has always been obsessed with dystopia narratives, but in 2021 this was a little far fetched. Fast forward to 2023 and the launch of ChatGPT, netizens will now tell you this idea is not so out of reach.
Generative AI, and its outputs, have steadily become more and more convincing. Consider the 2024 joint study between the University of Virginia and the University of Cambridge. They found that Generation Z is the most susceptible to online misinformation. While many young users pride themselves on their ability to distinguish between what is AI and what is real, it was not so long ago that seemingly the entire internet was bamboozled by an AI generated TikTok of bunnies jumping on a trampoline.
With generative AI becoming far more convincing, bot accounts have become far more present. Before buying the platform Twitter in 2020, Elon Musk ran a test on the site and found that approximately 20% of users were bots; with more recent studies by 5th Column AI finding that approximately 64% of the platform’s users are bot accounts. The subreddit r/SubSimulatorGPT2 is one where every member and every post is a bot. It is a terrifying example of an entirely bot led internet. While some posts are unintelligible word salad, others are scarily convincing.
With online communities being overrun by bots, what used to be safe spaces for connection are now being rapidly abandoned by their user bases. There have been mass migrations of X users to the app BlueSky which operates on a user interface that’s very similar to Twitter before the Musk buy out. Many users complain the new platform just doesn’t have the same spark of the old one. Online communities people flocked to, replacing slowly dying third spaces, are now contributing to the same lack of connection.
In 2023, the same year ChatGPT was launched, the U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, declared loneliness in the United States to be a public health crisis. Now, users cannot even trust that those they interact with on the internet are even real. So, does this mean Dead Internet Theory is true, or is the answer more complicated than that. While many online communities are being overrun or dying out, that has always been the cycle of these internet enclaves. When blogs began dying out people moved to Tumblr. When Tumblr banned adult content people
moved to Twitter. When Twitter became X and bots began taking over, Netizens have been resilient and have found new, fresh platforms. Bots only go where it is profitable, so where the internet can not be capitalized on, it will always thrive.
While the reality of future internet connections may be tentative, people should not abandon hope for connection outside of work and the home. With the evergrowing movement to return to physical media we will see the reemergence of book clubs, watch parties and jam circles. In many ways the death of the digital community has led to the rebirth of physical connection; and with the rebirth of physical connections, we will see a return to third spaces. Just because it seems like the internet is overrun by bots does not mean the rest of our lives have to be.
Modeled by: Caroline Baker
Written by Nirvana Salado Harris
Photographed by Natalya Ivanna
Designed by Brook Barratt
Your brain is being rewired chemically due to technology. It sounds strange to say, right? But to blatantly ignore that we’ve chemically altered our brains with man-made materials, would be even more bizarre. It’s important to note that your brain is very sensitive. It’s difficult to imagine that such a complex part of our body’s system is actually very susceptible to being changed. From the dopamine hijacking that occurs every time we scroll on social media, to the melatonin suppression that we experience at night before bed when we reach for our phone. There’s a clear, wide range of effects that technology has on our brain chemistry, from good to bad. So the question naturally presents itself – are we advancing as a society with the help of technology, or is it instead eroding away our humanity by altering our brain chemistry? To begin answering this question, we have to examine the science that’s behind it all.
You’re pure chemistry. Your body is a complex and delicate system that’s monitored by biochemistry Arguably, the most important part of your body
that creates and experiences chemistry, is none other than your brain. So what are the results when technology starts to alter that important and delicate part of your body? Thankfully, we have multiple studies that give us some answers. For example, a Korean study from 2017, led by Dr. Hyung Suk Seo, found that individuals who are highly addicted to technology will experience higher levels of a calming neurotransmitter that inhibits or slows down brain signals called GABA. In addition, they will also experience lower levels of glutamate, which is an excitatory neurotransmitter that causes neurons to be more electrically excited. This type of neurotransmitter imbalance can actually slow down brain cell activity, thus altering its chemistry. This study was exclusive to young people at the time since it was dealing with smartphone addiction, but it’s safe to assume that technology isn’t only being used by young people anymore; it’s also being used by older generations. Technology is affecting more than just the youth now, it is having a generational impact on our society
and our future. Many older adults in our society have had to experience the rapid advancement of technology at such an established age. Compared to the younger communities, who have grown up with the advancement, they are struggling. Knowing this, we’re now entering into an era where the next generation of kids will be born into a world where there’s an excessive amount of technology.
exposure to blue light and exposure to green light. The results of that experiment showed that the blue light suppressed melatonin for about twice as long compared to the green light, and shifted the subject's circadian rhythms (the pattern your body follows based on a 24-hour cycle). Sleep is what keeps your brain functioning and healthy. If it is severely affected, it can be extremely detrimental.
"Technology... is having a generational impact on our society and our future."
Having these new generations be heavily exposed to technology, while it is also easily accessible to them at such a developmental age, is clearly affecting their brains. A study in 2019 by JAMA Pediatrics showed that preschool-aged children who were exposed to more than the recommended amount of screen-based media, were associated with having more disorganized white matter throughout the brain. These tracts of white matter in the brain are responsible for executive functions. Beyond altering brain development in young children, technology can also interfere with another critical process: sleep.
A lot of chemistry happens to help you fall asleep, and technology has been suppressing that biochemistry for a lot of people. There’s a chemical that you produce naturally which helps you regulate your sleep-wake cycle, it’s called Melatonin. Melatonin is primarily produced in a small gland of your brain called the pineal gland. When you reach for your phone at night, there's blue light that comes from the screen.When it shines into your eyes, it sends signals to your brain that interfere with the natural melatonin it produces. There was a Havard study that was conducted to compare the effects of 6.5 hours of
Your brain is what creates your individuality and contributes to your human experience; it’s what helps you make cognitive decisions and think critically, as well as creatively. The conclusions drawn from these studies have made it clear that technology is having an effect on the very thing that creates our individuality. Not only that, but it has also had a unique impact on uniting us as a community. The perfect example for this display
of unity is none other than Gen Z. Technology has made it possible for us to communicate with each other internationally as well as locally. Generation Z is the first generation that has the ability to experience, and come up with universal trends at a rapid pace due to the help of technology. That has had an obvious impact on our generation’s culture, and as a result, affects how we function in today’s society. We’re now able to share our inputs from everywhere and have relatable experiences with each other even if we're not from the same state, country or continent. You could argue that technology has divided us within our own communities, but we can’t ignore that technology has also united us with different people from across the globe.
But let’s go back to the beginning of what this article initially asked – is technology advancing us or eroding what makes us human? Well, with most things in life, this question doesn’t have a definitive answer. Technology is something that’s so intricately woven into our society now, and there’s no going back to what it was before. We have a responsibility as a species to be cautious when preserving what makes the human experience unique, but would it be right to prohibit the very thing that’s helped us in so many ways?
As of right now, it's still up to us to decide how we're gonna let technology affect us, whether it be negative or positive. We as humans still get to dictate what technology can do to us and what we can make of it; there’s some reassurance in knowing that.
iterature is a piece of technology that has been prancing around for centuries and counting. When thinking about its origins, it began as an oral form of creative expression before being transferred onto stones and paper. In comparison to today, e-books, Kindles, and audiobooks are now other forms of literature. With emphasis on the word form, literature has not changed at all. If anything, the advancement of technology today has allowed literature to bloom in ways unimaginable. Literature is like an ancient tree with rich roots so deep within the soil, while the world around it changes and conforms to it.
HOW LITERATURE IS STAGNANT
Literature is the formation of words to put stories of any kind together. It is bringing the abstract into physicality, whether it’s self-expression, autobiographical or fiction. These words may come from the inspiration of unique human experiences, such as heartbreak or the tiny joyous moments. The ability of an artistic mind to create a fantasy world with plotlines that possess the reader into a trance. Perhaps nonfiction about the rapid wings of a hummingbird. Literature can shapeshift into anything: a form of protest of identity, enlightening society about issues or the world around them, providing new perspectives through a poem or book. Everything is abstract or in the “unknown” until brought into physicality as literature. The transfer defines the making and stagnancy of literature, and nothing in the past or today’s technology can take that away.
Along this intertwining string, the stagnancy is also derived from the importance of words. Words create language and the ability for humans to communicate and express. Without words, how will literature exist? Therefore, words ground literature in its soil. As long as words exist, literature will continue to be created for eternity unless words become a destroyed concept. With or without technology such as AI, robots, computers and more, words are a powerful, untouchable tool. Additionally, AI contributes to the existence of literature as it attempts to replicate it with words. It can create a wide range of works, such as essays for students or, if prompted, possibly entire novels. However, it relies on ideas and prompts created by people. In a way, it’s not able to make it themselves. None of this would be able to exist in the abstract alone without human minds. Codes running through machines will never be able to create real literature. It would be senseless literature with a robotic coating. Readers can tell when something has been written by AI compared to something written by an author or writer. To continue on, once literature is made, it is also untouchable. When this literature is written on paper as a poem, a novel, a science textbook, it’s set in stone for however long it will exist, and nothing can change that.
The same goes for literature transferred and written through technology. Anything written on a Google Doc, Word, published poetry, articles, e-books and every other piece of literature that can be read through a screen on a device will stay for as long as technology advances. It showcases how stagnant literature is but ever changing.
CLAY TABLETS, PAPER AND GOOGLE DOCS
On the same topic of stagnancy, the tools used to create physical literature have existed for so long and have changed throughout time to conform to it. However, that never changed literature, enforcing its stagnancy It started with the epic “Gilgamesh” being the oldest recorded form of literature on a piece of clay tablet. According to John Carey at the Yale University Press, it was found preserved on a wet clay tablet dating from the Mesopotamian era. With the movement between the Romantic era to the Modernist era and so on, the tools began to change in order to preserve the continuous stream of literature. From gothic literature to recording scientific discoveries, or poems by the Romantics, the evolution was ever-changing. Reed pens, quills and ink, wax paper, the typewriter, the creation of fountain pens, ballpoint pens, Micron 05 pens, a keyboard — and the list goes on. All are pieces of technology yet not often thought of. This technology allowed the existence and evolution of literature. Today, the same technology can be found and is still used. Authors such as Neil Gaiman or J.K. Rowling have written their books in longhand. Notebooks assist in giving writers the ability to create literature through journaling, poetry or documentation of observations. It is still being used by students for note-taking. While essays and research articles, including this article, are all typed on electronic papers with keyboards. iPads are common for note-taking in college classes. There is still a presence of the past in today’s technological efficiency. Why? Because although screens are more efficient, longhand writing has always been the staple of literature and creativity. Literature still exists as how it started.
YET LITERATURE IS CHANGING
The world’s current state has fostered advanced technology, to allow easier transfer of literature. In most classrooms, students can be found with iPads or similar devices with electronic pens writing down notes. Perhaps writing an essay with Word or Google Docs on infinite paper. These platforms have an extensive amount of tools to decorate papers. Writers
are able to create spreads for magazines or professional layouts for an article, like headings and numbered pages. There’s an incredible list of many different fonts to use when writing up papers — all to create the simulation of writing longhand but efficiently. E-books hold many forms of literature, such as textbooks, novels and other genres of books. Students may have access to textbooks that are online for classes or find endless amounts of poems. They can also be found on devices such as Kindles. Readers may prefer to use electronic devices for their books for many different reasons – eyesight problems, concentration or just efficiency when “flipping” through pages. Books are at the fingertips with one tap and a purchase, rather than having to go to bookstores and search for one in specific. Through the internet, websites full of articles or magazines are easily accessible through search engines. The list could go on forever, but literature still exists just as it did on a clay tablet. The only difference is that it can exist on electronic devices. It isn’t necessarily bad, as some may prefer screens over small lettering on papers. Or a sentence written on paper would take longer to write than it would on a Google Doc. Literature is still untouched, and if anything, it has been beneficial. The spread of knowledge and ideologies is much faster than it would have been through volumes sold at libraries during the 18th century. It allows for readers to indulge in all kinds of literature all at once through single taps. Resources to write are unlimited and allow for endless possibilities. It adds an entirely new layer of power that literature already holds. It’s rapid and efficient while giving infinite preservation. A file will be on a device for much longer than a piece of paper can last in a book.
It says a lot that paper, books and older writing tools that make up literature still exist. It should mean a lot that literature was able to be transported throughout time to continue giving us freedom through words and creativity. Literature is more accessible than ever through today’s technology, and perhaps more in the coming years. Literature will stay, as literature is stagnant yet changing.
Photographed By: Nicole Nguyen
Designed By: Sarah Carson
Modeled by: Niko Lopez, Raheim Hayes
got to the point where their family friends knew about the excessive time they’d spend writing. They’d gift them the old, empty notebooks they had lying around their houses, and when they next visited, the pages would be full of the thoughts in The Kid’s head. They loved the limitlessness of writing, that if they just
sister, after all, was their muse, through which all light that hit their page exuded from. In her luminescence, The Kid was able to compose. She was an artist herself, playing instruments that painted their world, which was only their shared bottom bunk as far as The Kid was concerned, in colors she created for them alone. Through all the time they spent in their own world, their toddler thumbs intertwined in slumber, breathing each other’s exhales, The Kid grew secure with their sister holding their identity in the palm of her hand. It wasn’t until after she was gone that they realized she’s the only
themself. When they were too prideful to talk about whatever grueling thing was troubling them, she’d know. She knew they’d get embarrassed to cry in front of others, so she’d find them in their closet, or the bathroom floor, or the number of places they went to hide from everything that loomed over their head. And she’d replace it with a blanket, to hide The Kid’s embarrassment, and hug them til they felt better. When she disappeared, all the colors she’d composed into The Kid’s life were snuffed out with her. The only person they were able to be truthful with was gone, so they had abandoned honesty and vulnerability with her. When writing demanded vulnerability from me, they buried their pen too. The Kid was caught in a cycle of mourning—their sister, their honesty, their art and themself. One day, they found a poem she wrote for them, from a time when they were barely afloat, when they could only communicate
“You take really shallow breaths, and mine align with yours at about a 2:1 ratio When I hug you at night, I keep track of it in my head, and I don’t really know why. You are not an illness, nor a burden, nor something shameful—
That’s not your identity.
That’s not who you are. Maybe one day, you’ll stop writing, and realize that you go so much deeper than words, so much wider than poetry that goes in circles about troubles and things of the past.”
OUR HISTORY
MIDAS Magazine is a premier arts and culture magazine at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Drawing inspiration from the ancient mythos of King Midas and his golden touch, MIDAS seeks to highlight the four pillars of artistry, identity, culture and lifestyle. Our mission is to illuminate the talents of the UNC Charlotte student body population and the burgeoning arts and culture scene in the greater Charlotte area. Since 2020, MIDAS has published 10 issues amplifying the voices of creatives within our community.
MIDAS is a nationally award-winning production that is entirely student-led and developed with the support of Niner Media’s professional staff and funding from the Student Activity Fees Commission. As part of UNC Charlotte’s Niner Media, MIDAS joins other student organizations such as Niner Times and Nova Literary- Arts Magazine. You can visit @STUDENTNINERMEDIA on Instagram to learn more about Niner Media and upcoming events.
You can join our Creative, Design, Writing or Promotions department to get involved with MIDAS. For questions and concerns regarding applications or involvement, please email us at midasmagazine@charlotte.edu.
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Midas Magazine Volume 6 Issue 1: Artiface was printed by iTek Graphics on an 8.5”; x 11”; 80-pound satin cover with gold foil and 80-pound satin text. This issue was created with Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom.
Modeled by: Larissa Mejia and Lauren Davidson
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