Writer and photographer.
Interracial Aporia In early 2024, new media artist Jackie Liu released Fishin’ for Average Caucasian Boyfriends , a semi-autobiographical video game about overcoming the “script” of “being with a cis, straight, and/or white man…even if I do like them.” 1 Upon a successful “catch,” the fish quips “I won’t shut up about: ‘Anime and Japanese culture’” or “I can’t live without: “Sushi.” The narrative…
Barbara Kruger: THINKING OF YOU . I MEAN ME . I MEAN YOU. 2022. Exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art. Counterculture is not Subculture According to a recent article from a digital publication for marketing, Gen Z expects brands to “champion social causes.” 1 This is an abandonment, if not a reversal, of the originary expectation that “the whole reason subcultures emerge – groups of people,…
A cyclist in Washington Square Park passing a “No Bicycling” sign. From the invention of the bicycle a little over two centuries ago, the cyclist has had to fight for the right to the road. Caught between intimidating motorists and unyielding pedestrians, the bike has had to carve its own path as a form of transportation rather than as a form of leisure. This advocacy for the bike, also known as…
Lloyd’s building in London The tragedy of the winter storm that hit Texas in February of 2021 only begins with the death toll that may never be fully determined . Residents of Texas lost their lives to car accidents , hypothermia, and carbon monoxide poisoning . Hospitals had to evacuate patients due to pipe bursts from the lack of heating and a shortage of potable water, while smaller clinics…
High school students waiting for a school bus in 2009. Nostalgia is the new normal . Instead of looking forward to a brighter, limitless future, we look toward the past, toward a time we think we understand, toward a time we wish was normal. But nostalgia itself has changed over time from a serendipitous feeling to a manufactured one , and we can now actively seek out new movies and television…
Marc Andreesen famously proclaimed in 2011 that “ software is eating the world .” Perhaps it is our own hubris, as humans, that we continue to believe that software won’t eat us, and that we will continue to retain our mastery over computers despite our dependence on them . But even more unsettling is the difficulty of recognizing how computers have influenced us, even as sophisticated algorithms…
One of my fondest memories of my father was his brief obsession with Russell Peters, the Canadian comedian famous for his observations on Asian stereotypes. After he had my brothers and I watch a clip of one of his most famous bits, he would look at us and offer his best impression of Peters’ own exaggerated Chinese accent: “ Be a man! Do the right thing! ” It became a meme inside our home – but…
Brad Burnham of Union Square Ventures articulated the venture capital firm’s investment thesis in 2011 as investments in: USV in 140 characters: invest in large networks of engaged users, differentiated by user experience, and defensible though network effects — Brad Burnham (@BradUSV) June 8, 2011 Not all venture capital firms are thesis-based, but the structure of the industry requires a…
Two recent interactions between humans and bots have put the development of artificial intelligence in striking contrast: the triumph of AlphaGo over Lee Sedol in a match of Go , and the introduction and subsequent shutdown of Tay on Twitter . AlphaGo shows us how far AI has advanced, while Tay shows us how far it has left to go. But perhaps more striking is that AlphaGo was lauded for its…
The role of product in software engineering has always been tense. In many companies, the two are separated into different positions: the product manager and the engineering manager. Yet this distinction disappears at the level of the engineer. Since many engineers are promoted into one of those two managerial roles, it stands to reason that a more nascent form also exists among engineers.…