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.

This is Project Starline. Years in the making, it works like a magic window, bringing you together with friends, family, and coworkers, even when you're cities (or countries) apart.

Published on May 18 2021

Seen by Flat Eye team on May 18 2021

{Content in English}

Google is working on Project Starline, a "magic window" that makes videoconferencing more concrete and gives it more depth. Starline's hardware currently takes up a lot of space, however, and Google has yet to announce a public release date.

https://blog.google/technology/research/project-starline/

[WOR-6] 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

Talking to Animals: Using AI to Decode the Language of Whales

Published on May 31 2021

Seen by Flat Eye team on June 01 2021

{Content in English}

A presentation of the Cetacean Translation Initiative (CETI) and its volunteers who are fascinated by whales' intelligence, language and dialects. CETI hopes to accumlate enough data to have it analyzed by programs to try to understand whalespeak.

https://interestingengineering.com/talking-to-animals-with-ai-decoding-whale-language

[AI-13] 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

Bacteria-sized robots take on microplastics and win by breaking them down

Published on June 09 2021

Seen by Flat Eye team on June 11 2021

{Content in English}

Scientists have developed microbots to eliminate potentially dangerous and difficult-to-filter microplastics. This first attempt has been deemed successful, though it takes a considerable amount of time.

https://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news2/newsid=58203.php

Note from the archivist: But how do you filter out the microbots?

[WT-11] See reference details

A Bee Cloned Itself Millions of Times Over the Last 30 Years

Published on June 23 2021

Seen by Flat Eye team on June 24 2021

{Content in English}

A South African bee has "recloned itself" (it has really just laid eggs that are genetic copies of itself again and again) several million times over the past few decades. While scientists find this remarkable, they deplore the impact on colonies: bees that clone themselves just keep laying instead of working, slowly destroying the colony. The bees then migrate to a new colony, start laying again, and undermine the queen. One scientist referred to it as "transmissible social cancer".

https://interestingengineering.com/bee-cloned-itself-millions-of-times-30-years

[WT-12] See reference details

Amazon is using algorithms with little human intervention to fire Flex workers

Published on June 28 2021

Seen by Flat Eye team on June 29 2021

{Content in English}

Amazon has made it possible for volunteers to become occasional delivery people using their own vehicles via the Amazon Flex program, which is almost fully automated on the company's end: hiring, performance assessments and firing are all handled by software. Amazon employees hardly intervene at all in the process. The system does have its faults, though. Flex delivery people are sometimes fired by the software for silly reasons just a few minutes after receiving a new mission.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/06/amazon-is-firing-flex-workers-using-algorithms-with-little-human-intervention/

[WOR-7] See reference details

A Facebook engineer abused access to user data to track down a woman who had left their hotel room after they fought on vacation, new book says

Published on July 13 2021

Seen by Flat Eye team on July 15 2021

{Content in English}

A book reveals that Facebook fired over 50 employees between January 2014 and August 2015 for misusing their access to the users' personal data. One of them used it to stalk a woman who had recently broken up with him. Another stalked a woman who had decided not to pursue a relationship with him after one date.

https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-fired-dozens-abusing-access-user-data-an-ugly-truth-2021-7?r=US&IR=T

[SUR-8] See reference details

Black teen barred from skating rink by inaccurate facial recognition

Published on July 15 2021

Seen by Flat Eye team on July 15 2021

{Content in English}

A young Black woman with glasses was refused access to roller skating rink in Detroit because the site's facial recognition system "recognized" her as an individual who had caused a fight during a previous visit. But as it turned out, the teenhad never been there before. The system was unable to distinguish her from another young Black woman with glasses. The article highlights the fact that facial recognition tools are much less precise when it comes to people of color, women and children, which can sometimes result in wrongful arrest and prosecution.

https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/15/22578801/black-teen-skating-rink-inaccurate-facial-recognition

[SUR-9] See reference details

Watch Robots Make Pizzas From Start to Finish at an Automated Pizzeria

Published on July 14 2021

Seen by Flat Eye team on July 15 2021

{Content in English}

Pazzi is a fully automated pizzeria in Paris where the pizzaiolo has been replaced by articulated robot arms. The pizzas are ready in a flash and are only available for takeout, since the company aims to save on rent in addition to salaries. They do have a few employees, though, to ensure the robot and order terminals are in good working order.

https://singularityhub.com/2021/07/14/watch-robots-make-pizzas-from-start-to-finish-at-an-automated-pizzeria/

Note from the archivist: I had to try it. I'll stick with my traditional pizzeria.

[SOL-8] See reference details

References