Flat Eye presents a possible future which may be neither desirable nor avoidable.

To create this world and make it credible, MONKEY MOON took inspiration from the present. There is no lack of sources: online articles, social media videos, scientific journals and more. On the team's private chat, one observation came up again and again: ""when reality goes beyond fiction."" Things that may seem a long way off or even impossible in the game may in fact have already happened, and some of the game's narrative threads were directly inspired by these true stories.
As archivist for the project, my mission, toward the end of the development process, was to gather all of these articles to create this coherent bibliography. It provides a closer look at what inspired Flat Eye, of course, but also at our present--a time of such rapid, constant change that we don't even realize it's happening anymore.
The goal of this snapshot of the world is to place Flat Eye's major themes (artificial intelligence, the future of work, social change, etc.) in their context. The bibliography sorts articles into several different categories (with frequent overlaps) and provides a summary for each. If you're only after the links and references, you'll find it all at the bottom of the page.

September 2022. The archivist.

The products of the future already exist in some R&D lab somewhere, in an academic article, or in a creative mind. And sometimes, they're already among us. They turn up when we're not looking, and suddenly we don't understand the world we live in anymore. It looks nothing like the world we thought we knew. Welcome.

There’s now an app that lets you pick stocks based on your astrological sign

Published on October 22 2019

Seen by Flat Eye team on December 24 2019

{Content in English}

Art collective MSCHF, which aims to shock consumers by making fun of both products and customers, has launched Bull and Moon, a mobile app that applies the aesthetics of astrology to stock market investing. "We used the stars to outperform the market!" claims the astrological investment app.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/22/20927640/mschf-stocks-astrology-zardulu-prank-jesus-shoes-netflix

[WT-0] See reference details

Nothing Lasts Forever. Not even on the internet

Published on November 30 2019

Seen by Flat Eye team on December 24 2019

{Content in English}

A Letter to the Editor that contemplates the future of the Internet. The author's main concern is the privitization of open public spaces and the design of these spaces, which fosters aggressive behavior and identity theft.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/30/opinion/social-media-future.html

[WT-2] See reference details

L'expérience inattendue "Ganesh Yourself" ou comment simuler un Dieu

Published on March 04 2017

Seen by Flat Eye team on December 24 2019

{Content in French}

This blog post by anthropologist Emmanuel Grimaud tells the story of the "Ganesh Yourself" experiment. In India, a robot (named Bappa) which looks like the Hindu god Ganesh, answers questions from the faithful. Thanks to a dedicated interface, anyone can control Bappa, who takes on the features of his operator. The experiment explores concepts of belief and divinity.

https://www.huffingtonpost.fr/emmanuel-grimaud/experience-inattendue-ganesh-yourself-comment-simuler-un-dieu_a_21872854/

Note from the archivist: Though Emmanuel Grimaud doesn't say as much here, he was behind the "Ganesh Yourself" experiment, which he turned into a 2016 documentary film.

[WT-3] See reference details

Your doctor’s computer may have suggested opioids because drugmakers paid to tweak the software, DOJ says

Published on January 31 2020

Seen by Flat Eye team on February 01 2020

{Content in English}

American start-up Practice Fusion, which sells professional software to doctors, was paid by unspecified drug companies to encourage physicians to overprescribe opioid painkillers at the height of the opioid crisis in North America. Practice Fusion paid a federal settlement but continues to sell its software.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/31/21115692/opioids-software-practice-fusion-justice-painkillers-charges-medical-records

[WT-4] See reference details

Amazon Choice label is being 'gamed to promote poor products'

Published on February 06 2020

Seen by Flat Eye team on February 06 2020

{Content in English}

The "Amazon's Choice" label is not attributed by employees. It is automatically awarded according to undiscolosed criteria including user reviews. Unscrupulous companies can generate fake reviews to "earn" this recommendation.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/feb/06/amazon-choice-label-is-being-gamed-to-promote-poor-products

[WT-5] See reference details

Watch a Mother Reunite With Her Deceased Child in VR

Published on February 07 2020

Seen by Flat Eye team on February 09 2020

{Content in English}

For a South Korean documentary on the power of virtual reality, a mother who lost her daughter to an incurable disease was reunited with the girl in VR. The documentary shows clips of her interacting with the model and alone in a green room.

https://futurism.com/watch-mother-reunion-deceased-child-vr

[WT-6] See reference details

How I hacked modern Vending Machines

Published on October 10 2018

Seen by Flat Eye team on July 21 2020

{Content in English}

Vending machines are sometimes equipped with software to manage user accounts. A hacker explains how he hacked his university's vending machines by taking advantage of vulnerabilities in the code to access unlimited funds. He then alerted the supplier.

https://hackernoon.com/how-i-hacked-modern-vending-machines-43f4ae8decec

[WT-7] See reference details

I spent a week in a VR headset, here's what happened

Published on March 07 2019

Seen by Flat Eye team on October 15 2020

{Content in English}

Short documentary about a journalist who wore a VR headset for 168 hours, his take-away and relationship to reality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGRY14znFxY

[WT-8] See reference details

A rogue killer drone 'hunted down' a human target without being instructed to, UN report says

Published on May 30 2021

Seen by Flat Eye team on May 31 2021

{Content in English}

A United Nations report indicates that in Libya in March 2020, an autonomous military drone attacked a retreating adversary without human instruction to do so. Analysts recommend stricter regulation.

https://www.businessinsider.com/killer-drone-hunted-down-human-target-without-being-told-un-2021-5?r=US&IR=T

[WT-9] See reference details

#WWDC vs Black Mirror. We're living in strange times

Published on June 07 2021

Seen by Flat Eye team on June 07 2021

{Content in English}

This Tweet compares the June 2021 Apple conference that took place before a phony audience made up of memoji avatars because of Covid to the "Fifteen Million Merits" Black Mirror episode where the audience of the televised competition Hot Shot is also made up of avatars.

https://web.archive.org/web/20210607191621/https://twitter.com/danielsantalla/status/1401980558834552838

[WT-10] See reference details

References