CARBON: Cyber Edit

Photography By Rosie Toomey Front Page Image: Created with AI and edited by Chloe Carr

Letter From The Editor

Hi Reader!

Firstly, thank you for taking the time to have a look through our amazing Cyber Edit for Carbon!

We wanted to create something different - something that creates a new version of Carbon.

We chose to create the cyber edit because there are limitless possibilities in the cyber world, there are countless different avenues to explore under the cyber theme!

Our entire team has put in the work to create an edit that encapsulates the whole world of cyber - past, present, and future - from cybercore fashions to digital influencers and designers.

I found that this was something completely new to me; I originally thought I was not fit to write about cyber, because I, personally, really enjoy print over digital. But I wanted to challenge myself, and so I decided to become the editor of this cyber edit. It was challenging at first, but with further research into cyber, I realised how deeply interesting cyber culture is, and how much effect cyber technologies have on our everyday lives!

The extent of cyber culture is seemingly endless, and so, please enjoy this amazing edit brought to you by a group of passionate, young creatives!

Lily Amber Dawson-Smith

CONTRIBUTORS

Editor

Lily Dawson-smith

Deputy editor

chika umekwe

creative directors

chloe carr

rosie toomey

SOCIAl media editors

rosie toomey

Violet Wray

Here at Carbon, we have worked really hard to bring you this cyber edit. Each role has done an amazing job despite being lots of hard work, we hope you enjoy all of our articles and can interact with this magazine in the best way possible <3

By Rosie Toomey Imagery from Spotify

Designed

choose escape

Here at CARBON CYBER we have chosen our top 3 favourite cyber music artists to listen to. take a look!

GRIMeS Pastel

choose your escape route ghost

Angel Necklaces from H&M

Butterfly necklace from prettylittlething

Vivien westwood necklace

Crystal Rings from Etsy

ElainaMarieJewelry

Rings from Primark

ea

Earrings from Primark

Cyber jewellery Cyber jewellery

Prop in Photo of a piece of jewellery by Hajime Sorayama x dior, Hajime is the creator of an 11 meter robot who was a part of the first show by Kim jones for Dior. The renowned 71 year old artist and illustrator had a great commision job by building a giant robot for Kim Jones’ first fashion show with Maison Dior.

It took 20 days and 16 people to work at the same time to build the robot that was 11 meters and weighed just over 9 tons.

Kim Jones’ debut collection for Dior includes traditional techniques mixed with advanced technologies: metallic - printed calfskin was laser-etched on to bomber jackets, while blazers were treated with metallization. It was about updating Diors romantic ode into a "hypermodern reality of Japenese culture today".

Original Jewellery By Blackhead in their Alien Collection Listed at £169. For Face Jewellery, I recommend using Blackhead because of the diverse ranges of jewellery to expand your look.

Rock ‘n’ roll in the sixties invaded the post-war numbness and became a catalyst for the youth of that era to constantly search for an imaginary utopia and confront realism. Under the exhilaration, a charming mood always straddled the gap between the changing times.

BLACKHEAD 2022FW invades the era and observes the impact of the sixties tideway on the relationship between accessories and the body.

Sharp, razor-sharp and wild self-expression became the inspiration for BLACKHEAD’s collection. The face decoration in semi armor form combines the use of elements such as Pentacle, snake spirit, blade and fluid to describe the dialectical relationship between accessories and the body in the cultural alternation. No era can resist the invasion of a culture full of destruction, provocation but extraordinarily sexy.

A cheaper version of this design can be bought on ETSY by a creator called MeanieGems who sells a replica for £30, this creator also has their own line of face jewellery and cyberpunk, sci-fi looking jewellery as well as grills and even selling hairpins that look so cool!

However, if you want a cheaper option for jewellery I recommend using ETSY such as ATStudioSF with their Alien Abstract Liquid Rings, these rings look so cool and only £10. Another ETSY creator I recommend for your cybercore look is shop2kforever. This creator sells a range of y2k Jewlery and Clothes. Her shop varies from Barbie Pink, pastel grunge, Gothic and y2k baddie.

I mainly recommend Cyberspace Shop. This online store sells necklaces. rings, belts and earrings. This shop isn’t a corperation but run by a woman named Nichole, who started off selling items through websites before she decided to quit her job to focusing on creating cybercore jewellery. The jewellery varies from frogs, skulls, mushrooms, simple chains to bunnies.

BREATHE.

Styled & Designed by Rosie Toomey Photography by Lily Dawson-Smith

Written & Styled by Lily Dawson-Smith Photography by Violet Wray

Photography by Lily Dawson-Smith

Photography by Lily Dawson-Smith

Metallics will be a notable trend in the years to come, with silver being a key shade within the new found love for metallics.

From matte , to seemingly liquid silver, this is the colour of the future. Most notably, a cool silver with blue hues will hit the runways and fashion designs.

Designers will be exploring armour-esque metallic designs, promoting protective elements in clothing, and creating designs that represent the protection from the world’s crises.

The colour shifting pigment created by the mirror effect of silver will add fluidity to clothing, creating a mesmerising metallic effect.

Luxury designers such as Ferregamo, Et Ochs and Agolde are already infusing their designs with varying silver shades and other metallics, such as bronze and gold.

Agolde has created an eye-catching denim jacket that has a tin foil appearance, and Ferregamo has utilised metallic silver in their chunky belts.

However, there are also many highstreet brands delving into the silver stylingPrimark, River Island and New Look have all created bags and dresses with silver incorporated, for a futuristic sheen effect.

cyber cyber cyber

HIGHSTREETPINK

Denim Rhinestone Miniskirt CYBERY2K $35.00

Attitude Clothing Co

DEMONIA

Slacker 50 Black Glitter Holographic Boot

£116.95

Attitude Clothing Co

Gloss Black Rectangle Sunglasses

£8.99

NEOMACHI ZENKO: T-SHIRT

£23

CyberDog

Cadet Flares

£60.00

fashion digital designers

A digital fashion designer is a creative person, they can come up with any type of garment or fabric to create exclusive and exotic designs never seen before.

Digital fashion is a relatively new industry that is snowballing. Digital fashion uses virtual avatars and digital models to sell (digital) clothing and accessories. This means customers can browse items online, try them in-store, and even buy them without leaving the house.

Anna Lisa Liedtke is a digital fashion designer who started in physical fashion and then cut her teeth in digital design in 2018 when she received training in a 3D software called CLO 3D (a program that allows you to sew your garment with its software and immediately see the result). Today, she trains others to use CLO 3D and works as the Director of Digital Fashion at The Fabricant (a digital-first fashion house).

Mishi McDuff is a Turkish digital fashion designer who founded an incredibly successful virtual clothing house, House of Blueberry. McDuff started designing dresses in 2012 on the popular game Second Life (an early version of a Metaverse land). Today, she partners with physical clothing designers, like Jonathan Simkhai, for metaverse brand activations.

Badass and stylish. From the original WoW collection there were 374 editions out of 10,000, making it the eleventh rarest look.

Lucid Looks

Metallics & Neon Brights

Change is inevitable; in this digital age of cyberculture and technology, everyone’s daily lives become altered to the extreme.

Even within makeup and beauty, the digital landscape is changing our perception of reality. In the future, there will be a great increase in being “different”, no longer are people wanting to fit in, or follow a certain aesthetic. Instead, people will begin to challenge normality and search out for what is unique, and eccentric. This need to be different, coupled

Mesmerising metallics and futuristic vivid brights will become the trend of the future, with cyber culture becoming the focus of peoples’ lives, cyber themed makeup will become very popular.

Taking inspiration from the digital and virtual landscapes, as well as video game inspired aesthetics, cyber makeup will allow artists to become more creative and sci-fi focused with their

Photography by Violet Wray

Photography by Lily Dawson-Smith

Digital Influencers

‘A digital influencer is a digital character that was created using computer graphics. This character is designed to situate human qualities and unique personality, including realistic biases and quirks. It’s a functional person that resembles a human persona and is able to affect people’s decisions.’ - IMF

There are many digital influencers that have entered social media. Such as Bermuda who is Miquela’s little sister, Miquela who is known as @lilmiquela on her social media platforms. There is also Shudu, Blawko, Imma and many more.

On the top left hand corner is Noonoouri , then you have Miquela on the top right corner. Bermuda.

These influences have worked with brands such as Pacsun, Balmain, Tommy Hilfiger and Samsung.

Pacsun used a digital influencer because they wanted to carve out a bigger stake in the metaverse. Pacsun, the partnership is a way to extend its reach on social channels that have been increasingly central to the retailer’s growth strategy.

Other benefits of using digital influences are you can create your own spokesman this allows you to have full control over the messaage that is being communicated across. You can avoid potential pitfalls, for example with a traditional influencer they might not turn up but with a digital influencer you can avoid it as you hve full control over their actions and words.

‘54% of all UK consumers find virtual entities appealing on some level.’

Balmain

Prada

Pacsun

Photography by Violet Wray

Cyber

How will the future of the online world look for us?

Technology has had a really positive influence on the development of new high-tech products, I mean, even a calculator had to be designed with the help of technology. However, a lot of studies suggest that new tech such as computers, iPads and iPhones are damaging not only our physical health but also our mental health.

Let’s take a look back at how the internet and the world wide web (WWW) actually came about. Even though commonly thought to be true, the WWW and internet are not actually the same thing. The WWW (created in the 1980s for public use) is one of several ways to retrieve information from the internet. Email is one of the first methods of internet communications, eventually leading us to social media and direct messaging.

95% of teens use a smartphone in 2022 according to pewresearch.org, which is a staggering figure. Lots believe that the phenomenon of technology will die in future generations, however, we can see that this might not be the case with how children are being brought up addicted to screens and the number for teen smartphone users rising every year.

A lot of our daily lives are spent online, even if you don’t realise it. If you’re in university, I’m sure you’ve had online lectures. Or even if you have a job, you might’ve had online meetings on Zoom. A lot of this was sped up by the effects of the pandemic, but the rise of working from home was increasing anyway due to developing technology and online resources. Other ways we spend our daily lives online is online shopping, in fact 27% of all buyers shop online according to tidio.com and facetiming apps as well. These may be super beneficial and easier to use but decrease real life interactions and could be diluting our perception of products being made because of the availability of next day shipping.

This may seem harmless when you first read it, however, excessive screen usage is associated with low sleep, poor stress regulation, anxiety and depression, plus overloads of the sensory system causing problems with attention. Countless studies have proven to us that time in nature is extremely important for your working memory and overall health, but what if we lived in an online world that was fully immersive?

Your first question may be like mine, how does that even work? Well, the Metaverse is a project that has been developing for years, with the first idea being established in 1992. You may recognise this due to Facebook’s recent rebranding to Meta. The metaverse is an online universe which we would access through augmented reality and virtual reality (AR and VR), using VR headsets for example. Some famous video games/APPs have already incorporated this in gameplay, such as Pokémon Go and Skyrim VR.

A fully immersive Metaverse would mean interacting with friends and family online but as if they are right with you, shopping, and even could go as far as work or school. This is a scary thought for a lot of people, especially with technology already being as damaging as it is to teens now, being able to edit and customise your own avatar may put even more stress on teenagers to look perfect in real life. 54% of tech innovators think that the Metaverse will in fact be fully immersive.

This could be a positive advancement to technology if used correctly, giving lots of people equal access to life, helping international businesses connect, and interacting with friends and family that live far from you. However, cyber security, privacy regulations and addictiveness do impose a massive risk, potentially damaging the lives of thousands.

So, what do you think? Would you live in a cyber world?

Photo taken from @loconthaflyeron

Cyber Brain

whats going on inside our minds

Photo

Tiny brain Implant to use social media with your brain

Scientists developed a minuscule brain implant smaller than a human hair which allows people to control computers with their minds. Developed by Precision Neuroscience and works along similar principles to those of Elon Musk’s Neuralink company, though the Precision chip sits on the brain rather than in the tissue.

By cutting a thin slit in a human skull and sliding the chip in through it until it sits on a person’s brain it has made the process of implanting the implant less invasive. The main purpose of this invention is to allow people who suffer from disabilities or paralysis the opportunity to use computers to communicate.

It’s a way to access modern technology without a keyboard and mouse, and while it’s intended to help people who can’t physically use computers anyone could make use of it if they got one implanted.

The brain implant itself is called a Layer 7 Cortical Interface, so named because there are six cellular layers that make up a person’s cerebral cortex and the tech company reckons their implant will essentially function as another one.

It allows a person to control digital devices with neural signals, letting someone move a cursor across a screen or type without a keyboard.

First brain implant to treat depression to start second human trial

Scientists recently implanted electrodes into the skull of a patient in order to treat their depression, with the hope that their condition might be eased by short and small electric pulses into the brain, and now they’re awaiting the start of a second trial.

This technology was actually unveiled back in September, when doctors in St Louis shaved off some bits of the patient’s skull in order to install electrodes into it.

The surgery was performed by start-up Inner Cosmos, just one of several companies working on technology that can be implanted into the brains of patients.

Of course, the most high-profile of those companies is Neuralink, owned by Elon Musk.

That business has been the subject of some recent controversy, but also claims to have trained monkeys to play video games with their minds.

This trial was the first of its kind to use implants directly into the skull to treat depression, and could herald in a new age of science treating mental health issues with hardware rather than more traditional methods such as psychiatry and psychology.

Future Cyber Future Cyber

How will the technology evolve? How this might be different? How will it effect people or the industry?

These are some of the trending topics of conversations. The looming economic downturn, inflation, pandemic, mortgage rates, plu nging tech stocks, and more, compel us to constantly think about how the future holds.

Here are some of future predictions about technology.

AI has a promising future.

There was a shift toward solving the problems to make AI better and productionizing it. We solved problems including data quality, data silos, the inclusion of diverse data, reducing unbiasedness in decision making, improved collaboration between teams, availability of technologies to make decisions on fresh or near real-time data, improved efficiency in operations, introducing solutions to handle the compliance, security, and regulation. Now that we have solutions to those problems, the industry would be able to use AI for critical decision-making.

Rise of AI on the edge.

More and more companies will be using AI on the edge. For example, AI is becoming critically important in combat.

With the enhanced computation and AI-enabled technology, the defence industry can make instant decisions by recognizing and classifying target images.

They are embedding AI on IoT sensors of their devices to achieve this. AI can unlock precision in results for more effective de cision-making.

Gene Technology

Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of biology that focuses on the understanding and manipulation of DNA and genomes of livi ng organisms. Gene editing is a group of technologies that enables genetic engineering in order to change the DNA and genetic structure of li ving organisms.

Human-Computer Interfaces

Human-computer interfaces create wearable devices and technology that help to improve the physical and potentially mental performance of humans and help us lead healthier lives.

ART AI

These images were shot in a photography studio, and then uploaded to an AI art creator - Night Cafe Studio - to be processed into digital art.

Images can be simply uploaded online, a few prompt words are typed in, a style is chosen and AI art is created. Will this new innovation take over, and become the next big thing, allowing creators everywhere to create their own art stunningly quickly?

Will this benifit the world today or will this create a negative impact on artists and people everywhere?

In this article, Carbon explores the consequences of AI Art, and the effect this will have on creatives and people.

“I think the world of AI is scary, this can bleed into video, I think this is impressive, but I think it is just going to make us lazy - it is going to create disconnection between the real world and digital world. At least when posting content there is a person who has created that post or video, but AI would replace this, making people less likely to put the effort in to make content because they can just create it digitally, or with AI. Also, AI will replace jobs.”

- ANONYMOUS

This is one opinion on AI, but many people feel this way - that AI will replace the quality content created by real people, making content creators lazier, and disconnecting the real world from the digital, AI world. This will also create a struggle for content creators, as they work to create high quality content that stands on the same level as AI content.

AI Art is inarguably eye-catching, but AI may cause friction as content creators fight to battle with the creation of AI content overtaking their own content.

There are also many problems that can occur when using AI - often, AI generators online use images from the internet, so there can be copyright issues with AI creating images from pictures that belong to other people. When people use an AI generator to create art, they usually pass off these artworks as their own, with the help of AI, however if this image has been created using a pre-existing picture, this is a copyright issue.

Many of the works in this magazine have been created using AI generators, such as Nightcafe Studio, Dreamlike.art, and Dall-E.

The return of surrealism has influenced an increased interest in AI, designers and creators will reject logic, with AI-created surreal designs that capture something never seen before.

Both professionals and amateurs will both be able to create high quality visuals using AI, in 2022, IBM found that 35% of companies already use AI technology, and this will continue to grow as more companies start to do the same. Already, 42% of companies are using AI solutions in business.

Both of these images have been created using an AI generator, DALL-E, using the prompt words “Cyberpunk, futuristic cityscape” which shows how easy it is to create an AI image, and pass this off as art, so the one thing to remember when creating AI art - always admit this is AI, and is not an original creation, for copyright laws.

Written & Photography by Lily Dawson-Smith (Photography has been generated through AI)

“AI Art is amazing! Having the ability to create art so quickly is a gift, but it should be used wisely, because it may take over artists who use traditional styles such as painting, or drawing, AI could overtake this!”

- ANONYMOUS

AI ART ORIGINS

Ever since 1973, Harold Cohen - a painter and professor at University of California, San Diego - collaborated with a program called AARON to create pictures autonomously. Cohen joked that he would be the first ever artist to still have the ability to create works of art, even after his own death. The AARON program would continue to create AI artwork, by the program and Harold Cohen! To the right is one of Cohen and AARON’s works:

Are the artworks really his, or are they the program’s?

Astonishingly, in 2018, an auction sold a piece of art created by AI, named “Portrait of Edmond Belamy” for $432,500! The piece was created by Obvious , using 15,000 portraits from various eras.

AI is not only for artists, but musicians aswell, in 2017, Taryn Southern created music generated alongside AI in a debut album I AM AI.

To find out more about the stances on AI art, we asked a traditional artist their opinion, here’s what they said:

“I think AI art is really good, because you can literally put words or photos into the generator and make different variations, which is really good to get inspiration for other art you want to do, because sometimes you just get a bit stuck.

Although, you could argue that it’s so easy to make that art might become redundant, but at the same time, AI art could make real art redundant anyway.

But I think people appreciate the amount of work that is put into the art, rather than the actual piece or image itself. AI art can create some really cool images, but there is little to no work put in, it is computer generated, whereas with ‘real’ art, the artists has put in so much time and effort! But it is still so cool!”

AI ARTISTS TO WATCH...

Nidia Dias

Tega Brain

Jason Allen

Refik Anadol

Mimi Onuoha

Mario Klingemann

Scott Eaton

Pindar Van Arman

Gene Kogan

Mike Tyka

Daniel Ambrosi

Anna Ridler

Robbie Barrat

Helena Sarin

Photography by Violet Wray