Humans, Robots
and the Digital Panopticon
Benjamin Joffe | Plus Eight Star | PICNIC, Amsterdam, 2009.09

Benjamin Joffe
ベンジャミン
벤자민
本杰明

4 years
1 year
4 years

www.plus8star.com

“Innovation Arbitrage”
China | Japan | Korea

Social Networks
Virtual Worlds
Online Games
Communities
Etc.

mobilemondaybeijing
the mobile professionals community

Social 3D Apps Team

Why is Asia interesting?

General assumption #1
Everything from USA is great

General assumption #2
Everything from Asia is weird
(and sometimes funny)

IT Infrastructure
100%
Avg. 7 Mbps
80%
Avg. 15 Mbps
60%
3G users
40% C
hi
n
20% a Avg. 4 Mbps
www.plus8star.com
0%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
Internet connections measured above 5Mbps
(Source: Akamai, 4Q08)

Internet Mobile
1.3 billion 3.3 billion
Asia > Europe + USA
Source: Morgan Stanley, 2007

Digital Population
Country USA China Japan Korea
Internet users 225 mln 340 mln 100 mln 35 mln
Mobile users 260 mln 650 mln 100 mln 45 mln
Internet Total X2
Mobile X3

Asia can help predict
part of the future

Agenda
1. Two Curious Cases
2. Humans & Robots
3. The Digital Panopticon
4. What Next?

Two Curious Cases

The curious case
of Andrew Chen

Andrew Chen

Revenue: The Internet Wants to Be
Free, but You Need to Get Paid
Andrew Chen presentation

 Follow

hi! Saw you added me- thanks! What are you
working on these days? Would love to hear it,
email me Andrew_Chen@gmail.com

Automatic Reply!
hi! Saw you added me- thanks! What are you
working on these days? Would love to hear it,
email me Andrew_Chen@gmail.com

The curious case
of Thomas Crampton

http://www.thomascrampton.com/

Direct message from Thomas Crampton
When are you coming down to HK? Be great
to do another interview!

Direct message from Me:
Hehe sounds like a Twitter-bot ;-)
Hope to see you soon~

@benjaminjoffe Just accused me of being a
Twitter bot! Didn't realize I was that
predictable/boring.
6:57 PM Mar 15th from twhirl

Wondering whether I was mentioned by the
"real" @benjaminjoffe or his tweet bot.
3:39 PM Mar 16th from twhirl in reply to
benjaminjoffe

Humans & Robots

“On the Internet, nobody knows
you’re a dog.”
The New Yorker, 1993

Poker

“On the Internet, nobody knows
you’re a bot.”
Wired, 2005

“Glider is a tool that plays your
World of Warcraft character
for you, the way you want it.”

Games Only?

Single Multiple Use of Shared
account accounts Bots account

Shared account
Use of Bots
Whose persona?

Global Voices

“My Twitter friend for 2 years…

…was a Robot!”

Twitter AI workshop in Tokyo

Twitter human bot
Twitter: donsuke and ha_ma

HOW?

How?
1. Picture & name
2. Timely responses
3. Connectors (“BTW”, “indeed”, “!!”)
4. Language twists (“, you see?”)
5. Random words in structured phrases
6. (Intentional spelling mistakes)

Is it robots mimicking humans...?

…or humans being robotic?

Daily Conversations
• Small-talk (“Phatic” / “noise”) a%
• Repeat of daily news b%
• Repeat of previous stories c%
• Original new ideas d%

Call Center =
Human Interface to an AI?

Could we pass a Turing Test?

Idea #1
Identities are becoming
multiple and fragmented

Idea #2
Human & Robot Hybrids

The Digital Panopticon

BRAND

Panopticon
(Prison Concept, 1785)

Creates a sentiment of an
“invisible omniscience”

Digital Panopticon
YOU

Dark Age of Transparency

“Overreaction Man”

In Korea
Broadcasting Jockey goes to bed

True Names
(Vernor Vinge 1981)

Korea
Minerva: Economist Blogger arrested

China
“Human Flesh Search”
(人肉搜索)

In China: “Human Flesh Search”
(人肉搜索)
• Cruelty to animals
• Insensitivity to Sichuan Earthquake victims
• Judging a marital affair
• Corruption case
• Reckless driving

Invisible Killer
(无形杀)
August 2009
Who killed Yin Lan?

“On the Internet, everybody
knows you’re a dog.”

“123people.com is a free real-time
people search tool that looks into
nearly every corner of the web.”

Public Place?

Google Street View

Google Street View in Japan
• 2009.02 - Japan: Municipal opposition to Street View
• 2009.02 - Japan: Tokyo gov't invites Google to discuss Street View
• 2008.12 - Japan: Fukuoka Bar Association requests halt to Street View
• 2008.11 - Japan: Suginami Ward proposes removal of Street View images
• 2008.11 - Japan: Street View and the Burakumin
• 2008.10 - Machida city council requests regulation of Street View
• 2008.10 - Japan: Street View and Public Space
• 2008.10 - Japan: Google, the anti-social corporation
• 2008.09 - Japan: The true revolution of Google Street View
• 2008.09 - Japan: Street View's Missing Streets
• 2008.08 - Japan: Debate over Google Street View continues
• 2008.08 - Japan: Letter to Google about Street View

Privacy = Momentary Anomaly?

What is your country’s definition
of a Public Place?

Idea #1
Online reputation
is the currency of the decade

Idea #2
“Privacy” is being constantly redefined

Idea #3
Be part of the process
(since you’re involved anyway)

What’s Next?

Hope #1
Multiple identities
will support free speech
(not only real-name)

Hope #2
Transparency can bring Empathy
(we’re all humans, after all)

Contacts
www.plus8star.com
benjamin@plus8star.com
+81 | Japan
benjamin0123 +82 | Korea
http://twitter.com/plus8star +86 | China
Telecom & Internet
www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminjoffe
+ Added Value
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