August 2018 AN ALPBACH MEDIA ACADEMY PUBLICATION
TECHNOLOGY
AI brings voices from the grave POLITICS
Making voting cool
Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Drama at Alpbach
BERGE VON IDEEN DAMALS, HEUTE, MORGEN
SCOPE
EDITORIAL
IMPRESSUM ALPBACH MEDIA ACADEMY Editors: Elina Andrus, Conor Campbell, Petros Gogos, Can Guneri, Johanna Hirzberger, Noel Kriznik, Catalina Langer, Manuel Lavoriero, Liv Østerstrand Rasmussen, Ekaterina Palashina, Olivia Powell, Katharina Ratzmann, Federico Turrisi, Verda Uyar, Dariia Zubrytska. Strategic Adviser: Marianne Peters Chief Editor: Stefan Pollach Chief/Sub Editor: Mark Meredith Sub Editor: Diana Brand Art Director: Willem van der Vlugt Video: Maialen Torres Lete Mentor: Anke Plättner Consultants: Lukas David Wagner, Thomas Weber Photo: Bogdan Baraghin, Andrei Pungovschi, Laurent Ziegler Project Management: Kerstin Hosa, Franziska Werkner, Daniel Pleschutznig Managing Director: Philippe Narval Herausgeber und Medieninhaber: Europäisches Forum Alpbach gemeinnütziger Verein, ZVR 173455474, Franz-Josefs-Kai 13/10, 1010 Wien
Joining the dots As furniture was carried in and final preparations were underway at Forum Alpbach, a group of aspiring young journalists from all over Europe sat down on the terrace of the Congress Centre. They got to know each other and their mentors, they told stories about their first jobs. At home they work in radio and newspapers, they run fact-checking
platforms, they gain experience through internships. Here they constitute the editorial team of the Media Academy. Their mission is to gather stories from the halls and streets of Alpbach. They talk to speakers, participants and locals. They find stories that draw on the panels and go beyond. They join the dots between the Symposia and set out to make
the ideas and theories accessible to nonAlpbachians. Follow their reporting on Alpbuzz and on the social media channels of the Forum. And take a wrap up with you in this first edition of Scope magazine. Stefan Pollach Chief Editor www.alpbach.org/alpbuzz
photo bogdan baraghin, coverphoto andrei pungovschi
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SUPPORTING PARTNERS Europe is a project that is all about overcoming boundaries. We foster exchanges and cooperation across the boundaries of language, mindsets and perceptions.
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CONTENTS
10 | Drama at Alpbach
A big sister writes...
14 | EU elections
18 | Action in Alpbach 16 | Gender questions
6 | The virtual dead
TECHNOLOGY
The virtual dead
Artificial intelligence keeps them with us
T
VIDEO
Follow this link to our video explaining how AI and art go together: is.gd/aiandart
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his is about talking with the dead. Using Artificial Intelligence to amass the deceased’s personal data, videos, social media entries, voice recordings and more, a responsive “chatbot” reconstruction of the individual is created. Spooky? Maybe. But it is happening. Eugenia Kuyda, the Russian founder of the chatbot app Replika, created one when her close friend Roman Mazurenko died in an accident. After re-reading their long correspondence she decided to make a prototype of her dead friend to honour him. Based on his old messages and by means of AI she recreated a virtual image of Roman. It became for her something like a grave where you can come and stay in touch with the person and tell them everything that you didn’t say when they were alive. It’s a conversation. Now the dead answer you. Roman responded in text. Not so long ago, the electro music world was shocked to hear of the death of cult DJ Avicii. Fans refused to believe it and rumours spread on social networks that he was still alive. People wrote about everything they were grateful to the artist for, and what his music meant to them. So what if fans created a grave-
stone chatbot of Avicii pooling all available bits of information about him in a form that people could communicate with. It might make it easier to come to terms with a death but the idea raises ethical and psychological questions. According to Dr Maria Angela Ferrario, lecturer in Digital Technology and Environmental Change at Lancaster University: “Graves are simulacra of our relations and because we want to have a form of conversation we go to the grave and have a conversation with deceased relatives. And technologies enable the higher, different level of simulacra. So the conversation you have with a chatbot is just a different level of wanting to keep on having a conversation.”
ethical questions
Using personal data in such cases poses ethical problems. As one of many possible solutions to the ethical problem of using someone’s personal data, she recommends choosing a curator of your data in case of your death. However, your data is not only information about you, but also about other people. Who then has to decide whether their usage is ethical or not? Peter Kirchschläger, Professor of Theo-
shutterstock
“A chatbot is just a different level of wanting to keep on having a conversation.”
logical Ethics at the University of Lucerne, said: “Firstly you should make sure that you respect the rights of that person who can’t decide what is going to happen with their data. If so, then you have an additional question that you should ask: if this data can be used without harming the rights of other people and the family. Then, of course, it should
also be taken into account. Probably it could be a limiting factor to the dead person’s rights. In this case you should respect the rights of all humans.” At the same time, the professor thought it should be possible for someone to dictate in their will what would happen to their personal data after their death. By Dariia Zubrytska and Elina Andrus Read on →
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TECHNOLOGY
Scene from Black Mirror season 2, episode 1 where Martha interacts with a cyborg replacing her deceased boyfriend. © black mirror/bbc/netflix
Black Mirror peels back a sinister future There is a continuous battle within us between the rational and the illogical. Even if we know exactly how to behave we sometimes still act in a contrary manner. But, however logical we may be, there comes a moment when it is difficult to stay emotionally stable and that is when a loved one dies. Netflix’s popular TV-show Black Mirror, wellknown for its dystopian vision of the future, shows how AI can bring people back from the grave and the impact that can have on the survivor. Be Right Back is the first episode of the second season and deals with the relationship between Martha and her boyfriend, Ash, who has died in a car crash. The episode shows how Martha is changed by this loss from a highly principled person to a woman who is ready to make compromises as Ash is ‘reborn’ through a chatbot, phone calls and, finally, as a cyborg.
The programme also considers how ethical it is to use AI to bring a person ‘back’. Do we have the right to use someone’s personal data after their death? And what people leave on social media is only a small part of their lives, even if they are actively tweeting every minute. Our pages are much improved versions of ourselves. Ash-AI is based on the very best photos of him chosen from thousands of pictures. The same applies to all our posts, letters and statements. A man may not really be delighted with the Grand Canyon, but he will write about it in glowing terms for others to see. Of course, we can recreate a person according to how they present themselves on
Do we have the right to use someone’s personal data after their death?
social media but it is not possible to predict their actions based on this. AI is just an algorithm that is clever at using the collected data of a dead person but it can’t do something spontaneous or emotional. During the episode we see the transformation of Martha. At the beginning she doesn’t want to hear anything about the chatbot but later she changes her mind and prefers the machine to the actual human being who wants to take care of her. Be Right Back shows how, in the not too distant future, AI businesses could exploit such a vulnerable state to make money out of suffering. The episode is an unusual fantasy, beautifully shot without the use of special effects. It is strongly ideological, dealing with difficult social problems. But Charlie Brooker, the script writer, lacks subtlety and restraint going over the top to get his message across.
Post-death conversation is a hot topic among scientists. Some grapple with the legal regulation of this question while Alexander Bard, a Swedish cyber-philosopher and artist, stresses the positive benefits of human life continuing after physical death. “It is really up to Facebook and other platforms how they want to deal with the pages of dead people,” he says. “For my own part I see no reason why we would need to, so to say, ‘clean away’ people from the virtual world when they die. Unlike in conventional cemeteries, there is unlimited space on the internet and we can, in principle, allow all people to live on online in all eternity.” Bard adds: “Wouldn’t it be fun to be able to follow your great-grandfather or great-grandmother on your mother’s side and their thoughts throughout their life with images and quotes? This will also change our perception of death. We are still burying bodies but not people.”
Alexander Bard
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ARTS
Drama faces cuts in schools
Invaluable skills for everyday life 10
P
icture 20 people, young and old dancing and leaping about wildly to The Bad Touch by Bloodhound Gang blasting out of the stereo. The music stops to gasps of exhaustion and shouts of empowerment. This is just the beginning. “Each of you, stick one of these cards on your forehead. But don’t look at it,” Liadán, a young actor, instructs. The cards show jacks, queens, kings and so on and the aim is to replace the identities of the participants with those on their cards. Soon they will be acting their assigned roles as part of a newly established artificial society. “Why is it called a Play?” is a seminar at European Forum Alpbach 2018 hosted by Nona Shepphard, playwright and
example, due to the introduction of the English Baccalaureate as well as financial cutbacks, arts qualifications have declined in the British school system. Marina Hülssiep teaches children between the ages of 10 and 14 at a new middle school in Vienna. The majority of them often come from underprivileged families and are still struggling to speak German. Ms Hülssiep says drama could benefit integration. “I have many kids from Syria who are still learning German. For them, drama would be a great way to express themselves, to be active, to be creative. Subjects like physics or biology require a basic knowledge of German.”
consistency
Associate Director of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) in London. The workshop teaches skills of communication, self confidence and body language. Participants can reflect on themselves and their communication with each other through theatrical exercises which bring out characters in a story.
under pressure
These skills may be invaluable in our everyday and professional lives. But drama in education is under pressure in schools throughout Europe. “It’s terrible that drama is being reduced in schools. Arts and humanities give us such breadth and depth as people and make us understand what it is to work with each other,” says Ms Shepphard. For
Students of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts during the acting workshop „Why is it called a play?” at the European Forum Alpbach. Drama skills can be used in everyday life to help overcome insecurities and social fears. photo bogdan baraghin
She regrets that there is only one hour of music per week taught on Friday as the last class of the week. “I cannot speak for every school but I think there is a lack of good arts teachers. There are a lot of drama workshops where people come to the school to teach but they would only do it once. There is no consistency in doing drama classes, there is not a big culture as in the US, for example,” Ms Hülssiep says. Martin Kušej, director of the Residenz Theatre Munich, shares the concerns about current school curricula. As designated director of the Burgtheater Vienna, Austria’s most important theatre, Mr Kušej states that there is not enough debate on drama, art and music in Austrian schools, adding that “if we abolish art altogether,” we will “eventually die from a mysterious disease.” In his role as lecturer for directing at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna he notices a strong decline in artistic skills among applicants. “It’s a matter of education,” he says, calling for a revision of educational policy in Austria. Playwright Nona Shepphard says: “Theatre and drama ask the questions that we as a society need to ask ourselves and expose issues and important subjects that we need to think about. I think it has a really important part to play, especially at the moment when our societies are so divided.”
Drama skills How to speak in front of people without feeling nervous? How to improve your small talk skills? Here are the top three suggestions from drama students of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts:
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Take your time when talking. Breathe. You can’t escape nerves.
2
Be aware of your body and your body movements. Use your hands when speaking.
3
Listen to people. You don’t have to speak constantly.
By Olivia Powell, Manuel Lavoriero and Noel Kriznik Read on →
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ARTS
Scope spoke to four of the RADA students who came to Alpbach. This is what they had to say on how drama skills help them in everyday life.
Liadán Dunlea (20) SETTLEMENT “I was quite shy when I first started drama school. I wasn’t sure if I had the right knowledge to be able to get involved in debates with my class. I am a lot more settled in my own voice now. Having your own opinion and voice is important.” OPENNESS “It's easier said than done, but you just need to get over what people will think of you. Drama forces you to interact and understand people. No other field will teach you this. Be open in trying new things.”
Jack Morris (22) CONFIDENCE “Joining drama school improved my confidence. Before I got involved in acting, I had trouble speaking to shop assistants and waiters. I didn’t like the way my voice sounded and I didn’t have the confidence to speak up. Getting involved in acting helps you find your voice.” IMAGINATION “Your imagination can take care of you. You don’t need to overthink everything, you can let things flow. It’s about just saying yes to what your imagination gives you. This helps on a conversational level. A more constructive conversation happens when you’re relaxed, you trust yourself and your imagination and don’t focus on yourself and your own anxieties.” SILLINESS “Drama allows you to lose your inhibitions. It gives you a chance to act like a kid again and to discover a unique identity. Even if you don’t see yourself being an actor or going into theatre, participating in drama gives you so many skills which can be applicable to so many different parts of your life.”
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Aron Julius (23) VOICE “I’ve learnt that my voice is just as valid as everyone else’s. An important thing for young people to understand is that they really are important and their voice is necessary for growth and in everyday life in schools and businesses all over the world.” ENSEMBLE “There are not many people in this world in complete isolation, everyone is with someone in some format. Drama teaches us to work in groups, communicate with each other verbally and as an ensemble.” COLLECTIVE “There are people who will also look stupid and together you don’t look stupid. The collective is always more powerful than the individual. Be as brave as you can and take one step at a time.”
VIDEO
See the students express their tips: is.gd/dramaskills
Kemi Awoderu (22) SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS “The skill I have learned from drama school which is benefiting me now is maintaining eye contact and staying focused on that person. I would tell my younger self to be more confident, trustful, and to have a voice and opinion. You have one so use it and you never know how this will change and affect someone in a positive way.” REJECTION “We should allow ourselves to fail. Learn to dance with rejection, see rejection as an opportunity, take it as a blessing. Without drama I don’t think I would be half as confident as I am now. I used to have major body and confidence issues. Through drama class you get to put your attention on one thing and forget about your life problems and the outside world.”
photos bogdan baraghin
YOU “If you want to do something, just do it. Do not feel like you have to go with friends. When I started going to stuff by myself, I enjoyed it more because I was not relying on other people. It is important to take yourself out of your comfort zone, then you learn.”
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POLITICS
Social media in the political sphere
The influence of the influencers
A
ccording to the recent Digital Report, Instagram reaches 306 million of 13 to 24-year-olds worldwide. The top European accounts on this platform claim more than 10 million followers. Among them there are famous soccer players or singers, but most of the Instagrammers have won followers by posting photos of their dinner, of their newest clothes or a nice place they travelled to. “To many teenagers, influencers are more prominent than classic celebrities,” writer Ingrid Brodnig said in an interview with Scope. The question is: would these influencers be ready to use their impact on young people to support democracy in Europe? The Austrian blogger Madeleine Daria Alizadeh, known as “dariadaria”, has 163.000 followers on Instagram. She uses the platform to promote a sustainable lifestyle. Also, from time to time, she raises her voice to draw attention to social topics. Recently, she posted a nude picture of herself in order to raise her followers’ awareness of climate change. Brodnig said it is always necessary that the channels are seen as authentic and credible. “I think it would be strange if an influencer who has only posted fashion or pictures of food up to now all of a sudden starts to post political content,” she said. Instagram could work as a platform to promote serious political issues using positive pictures, Brodnig said. “Many
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Posing nude gets them clicking. Blogger Dariadaria's photo got over 13,000 likes. foto instagram @jennandthecamera /@dariadaria
people like Instagram for the fact that positive content is communicated on a visual level.” But YouTube, she stated, would be even more obvious for this purpose as it provides more space for text than Instagram. YouTube shouldn’t be underestimated as a successful mass medium,
“To many teenagers, influencers are more prominent than classic celebrities.”
Brodnig added. “In Austria it reaches eight out of ten people aged 18 to 24.” As an effective way to get in touch with this target group for the EU elections she suggested short, easy and understandable advertisements, set into YouTube videos with a high click rate. This way, people who might just want to be entertained, would be confronted for a few seconds with reminders of the coming EU elections in 2019. During the last election in Austria the successful right-wing party FPÖ used this social media in their campaign, according to Ms Brodnig. By Johanna Hirzberger, Katharina Ratzmann and Catalina Langer
A university student confronts her younger sister with the touchy subject of political engagement.
What’s wrong with you? Dearest Sis Anna, what´s wrong you? You know the election for the European Parliament is coming up soon and the last time we talked about it you had a hard time taking your eyes off your Instagram feed. Maybe a written note will get your attention. You dream of travelling Europe on an Interrail pass with your bestie next summer. You also told me that you would love spending a year abroad as a European volunteer after graduating from high school. I totally get you: I had the best time during my Erasmus semester and have lots of friends all over Europe! Visiting the friends you make during your travels, not having to show your passport crossing borders or applying and paying for visas will be great as well. It’s hard to ignore that the EU offers you more than enough benefits. Don't you get how privileged you and all of us in the EU are? But still you are sitting on your bed watching make-up tutorials on YouTube or Instagram stories of young men driving up-market cars and pumping iron at the gym. What will move you? European politicians copy Barack Obama to make politics cool again but grassroots movements don't get you out of the house. Memes and GIFs of politicians are celebrated online but they have a tough time turning into offline buzz. The European Commission treated you with 15,000 free interrail passes this summer to show your generation what Europe has to offer. It is not only about the different languages, cultures and shared history but about peace. Peace. Yeah, I know history is boring but you just don't know a Europe without peace. And you never know what those idiots in the US, Russia or North Korea are up to. Since June 2017 you are able to use the newest Snapchat filter wherever you are and send it directly to your friends due to the end of roaming charges in the EU. What else has to happen in order to get you out of your comfort zone and get you to take an interest in politics? Will the US sanctions on high-waist Levis jeans wake you up? Imagine spending much more money on high-waist shorts in order to take the perfect picture for your Insta profile like the influencers do. Should politicians present their achievements in the European Parliament in a haul video on YouTube to make politics sexier? Or maybe the president of the EU commission would get more attention talking to you on Snapchat using the puppy filter. Don't let your future be ruined by old white men, Anna! Text your friends on Instagram or Snapchat and get out, engage and vote! There is much more at stake than missing the latest YouTube video from your favourite Vlogger.
Your loving big sister 15
POLITICS
Gender questions
Time to bury binary? Timeline 1882 The earliest transsexual genital conversion surgery was performed in 1882 on a trans man named Herman Karl. 1910 During the 1910s, German sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld ` created the word "transvestite" which at the time meant many more kinds of transgender and even transsexual people. 2003 In 2003, Australia began to let people mark their gender as "X" on their birth certificates and passports.
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gender category for those who do not feel exclusively male or female is not the way forward says endocrinology professor Guy T’sjoen of Ghent University. He believes that society at some point will be ready to eliminate genders in legal papers completely. The Austrian psychotherapist Cornelia Kunert waited 20 years before she would present herself in front of an audience as a transgender woman. “I always feared that it would have an impact on my work as a therapist and could damage something,” she says. But even though she wants to be known as a psychotherapist and a woman, she has now entered the stage as transgender. She does so because she feels that society is changing in its attitude towards the small percentage of the world’s population that does not feel exclusively male or female. For these non-binary people, the male-female system does not reflect real life.
third option
“Societies are getting more open on gender non-conforming people. Society is leading the way for a non-binary categorisation, more diversity,” Ms Kunert says. Several countries are already recognising non-binaries and intersexuals by adding a third option on birth certificates: the so-called X-category. But that is simplifying things and could leave the non-binary people more stigmatised according to Prof T’sjoen. “It would be a
symbolic statement to have the X. X will be just one more category, and it is possible that people would want to be J or C or W, so I think the X-category will not be sufficient,” he says. His fear is that the X-category can become a sort of catch-all space. For some, being non-binary is experiencing
“Society is leading the way for a nonbinary categorisation, more diversity.”
Gender diversity Binary A classification that separates sex and gender into two categories: male and female. The categorisation in binary system is based on people’s genitals, and assumes sex and gender identity match.
Transgender A transgender person is one whose gender identity does not match the one given at birth. For example, does a person who was considered female at birth identify as a male?
Non-binary A non-binary does not strictly identify as either male or female. Their gender identity can be both male and female or neither of them. Nonbinary people’s gender identity can be flexible.
Intersexual An intersexual is one whose chromosomal, hormonal or genitalia characteristics cannot be described as strictly male or female. Most are assigned a binary sex by doctors and family.
None of the classifications above has to do with sexuality.
shutterstock
gender as both male and female, while for others it is rejecting the whole concept of gender. And for some an X-category is not the best way to recognise non-binary people. “On Facebook, you can choose between a lot of genders, many more than just male and female. So I think creating the X-category is simplifying things too much, because it is still not reflecting the reality of society,” Prof T’sjoen says. If X is available, “it should be open for anyone, and on a voluntary basis.” Both Prof T’sjoen and Ms Kunert agree that there is still a long way to go for societies to socially integrate non-binary people. But instead of the X-option, Prof
T’sjoen believes that society at some point will be ready to tear down the classical male and female categorisation legally.
combating equality
That is not the scenario foreseen by Hertha Richter-Appelt, from the Department for Sex Research and Forensic Psychiatry at the University Medical Centre, Hamburg-Eppendorf. Instead, she perceives the male-female binary function in terms of combating gender equality. “If we did not have the categories male and female we would never come, for example, to the point that we can
increase the number of female professors at universities. There are so many domains where there is no equality regarding male and female persons, therefore, we need these categories,” says Richter-Appelt. By Liv Østerstrand Rasmussen and Verda Uyar
“If X is available, it should be open for anyone, and on a voluntary basis.” 17
ALPBACH
AWAY FROM THE FORUM SUNRISE HIKE
Morning out on top
We sat in total darkness as our small cable car lurched upward towards our goal: the top of Wiedersberger Horn. Behind us a pink line grew in the sky as we stepped out in the early morning. The road turned into a steep, narrow path where we climbed, stopping from time to time to enjoy the sunrise.
ALPBACH IN NUMBERS
bogdan baraghin
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Suckling pig was roasted to welcome the whole European Forum Alpbach team. Besides the pig, Tyrolean Knödel were served, traditional dumplings with ham and sausage. A folk music band played and the EFA team mingled with locals on the eve of this year’s Forum.
800
Litres of beer were poured out during the first two weeks of the European Forum Alpbach. Besides the seminars, plenary sessions and opening speeches, the participants of the Forum enjoyed drinks and snacks at the bar and on the terrace. Let’s see how many barrels of beer will be emptied by next Friday.
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Times more soy yogurt is delivered to SPAR supermarket during European Forum Alpbach than usual. In general vegetarian and vegan food is very popular during the three weeks. Besides soy yogurt, convenience food such as sandwiches, wraps and salads sells better than usual during the European Forum Alpbach.
Edited by Petros Gogos, Catalina Langer, Liv Østerstrand Rasmussen, Katharina Ratzmann
FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT
PLAYER TURNS REFEREE his son who was 11 years old at that time. They were the youngest and oldest players in the team. “We lost all our games, but it was good fun,” the professor said. In South Wales he coaches a soccer team of 15-yearolds. “I’m a youth worker by background,” he said. “I see these kids grow through football.” For everyone who missed the first tournament, there will be a Charity Soccer Match on Tuesday, starting at 10am. photo lz
andrei pungovschi
Howard Williamson, Professor of European Youth Policy, had a different role on Thursday. Not because he swapped the lecture hall of the University of South Wales for the soccer pitch in Alpbach, but because he was the referee this year instead of a player. Prof Williamson said he had played in the traditional soccer tournament of the European Forum Alpbach a few times with different teams. Once he played together with
“I chose rats because they are quite similar to humans. Rats move in masses but, as soon as something happens, they stick to themselves. They are egotistic.”
bogdan baraghin
DEBORAH SENGL CREATOR OF THE LAST DAYS OF MANKIND EXHIBITION
bogdan baraghin
E-BIKES ALPBACH IS GEARING UP The streets of Alpbach are filled with big-wheeled electric bikes that are so popular that you’ll have to try hard to find one to rent. They were introduced last year in the local stores and immediately became the new big thing with customers preferring them to normal push bikes. But take care, on these hills the brakepads need changing every two weeks.
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ZUERST ORF.AT, DANN ZÄHNEPUTZEN. WIE WIR UNS INFORMIEREN. Wir haben für alle das richtige Programm.