Artificial Intelligence has been the central thread of countless sci-fi novels in the past century. Long before the first whispers of the Internet, there were forecasts of smart bots and intelligent machine servants who would help us in our every-day lives. After almost 60 years from the first airing of The Jetsons, today it is anything but unimaginable to forecast the creation of a real-life Rosie, the robot maid in the hit TV show, in the next few years. Since Y2K, there has been a 14X increase in the number of active AI start-ups. Through examining the history of the creation of the Internet and the Web, this current explosion in AI was quite anticipated. It is no longer a question of whether AI will revolutionize our very notions of being human and the limits to our capabilities, but whether we are ready for the perpetual paradigm shifts that will take place in the 21st Century.

For the rewiring experiment, I wanted to be more informed on where I got my news. I’m far from the most instructed on where I get my news. Growing up, it was mostly CNN International and the local news every night on Dubai TV. Since coming to NYUAD, I’ve changed my habits significantly, and now I notice I get most of my news from late-night talk shows, which isn’t the most ideal. Most of my discourse on political issues also occurs on Facebook, which, due to its infamous algorithm, tends to create an echo chamber of ideas. Although I had known about The Wall Street Journal’s Blue Feed Red Feed, I did not realize the extent to which this was problematic. In the United States, 44% of American get their news solely from Facebook. I decided to take a few measures to help get me out of this Echo Chamber. I first downloaded a Chrome Add-on PolitEcho, which scans my Facebook friend’s feeds and notes all the political pages they’ve liked to generate for each person a score on their liberal/conservative bias.

It was eye-opening to examine the Red Feed Blue Feed on a personal dataset, and I was shocked by how much it leaned to one side. I could also click on any of the dots to see which Friends swayed in which direction. To help become more aware of this bias in my day-to-day activities, I also installed another Add-on: Official Media Bias Fact Check Icon. This addon gives a score on the political leanings of news websites I visit in the corner of my web browser. With the Addon installed, I spent the weekend collecting my news solely from The New York Times (Classified as Left-Center), The National (Classified as Right-Center), and The World Economic Forum (Classified as Center/Least-Biased).

After exclusively using only these avenues for news, I came to a few conclusions on the ineffective methodology of news bias evaluation. The Chrome Addon only featured a one-dimensional spectrum that ranged from Left-bias to Right-bias. This Left and Right evaluation was also heavily determined on coverage of US news and politics. For example, the strong biases present in Al Arabiya, which was created as a Saudi counter to Al Jazeera, are not captured in the data, because it involves biases that are outside the dimensions of US Politics.

Overall, I realized that attempts to use technology to rewire my habits with the goal of absolutely no bias were futile. Even if I decided to primarily use C-Span as a news source (Classified as Center/Least-biased), my news would be biased towards coverage of the US.  Nevertheless, the additions I have made to my web browser environment make it incrementally easier always to be aware of where I’m getting my news from, and at least think about their incentives in what is reported.

For class, we had to pick a stack exchange site and engage with it throughout the weekend. I’ve had some exposure to Stack Overflow, which is the exchange for questions on computer programming but not with any of the other exchanges offered on the site.

I was surprised by the sheer number of different exchanges to select from. I felt that in order to get a full appreciation for the website, I should try engaging in more than one exchange. I started off with “English Language & Usage”, as I felt like the area where I could help with the most. After answering a few unanswered questions on grammatical rules, I decided to view a few of the top questions of the month. I noticed that I was not as much of an expert in English as I initially thought.

In addition to “English Language & Usage”, I also joined “Personal Finance & Money”. I follow r/personalfinance on Reddit, so I wanted to see how different the two platforms were. After spending some time on the exchange, I felt like the technology was not conducive to any spirit of community. It just all felt very bland. Reddit fosters amazing discussion with nested comments, and it emphasizes what’s “hot” that day, week, or month. I felt like, unless I was looking for a specific question to ask, the Q&A format for Stack Exchange did not generate a desire in me to keep returning to the site.

I have a few issues with the way Stack Exchange is currently organized. It definitely feels like Stack Overflow is the main feature of the site and the rest is an afterthought. For instance, the Stack Overflow logo was even on the “Sign Up” section of the Personal Finance exchange, which is meant to be an entirely separate part of the website.

Although I see myself to continue using Stack Overflow for any quick programming questions I have, and perhaps also using a few other exchanges, I would not recommend it as a place to keep coming back to if you’re a “Science Fiction & Fantasy” enthusiast.

Code

After touring the IM lab and costume shop and spending a few days getting inspired by different ideas, our team met to brainstorm as many thoughts as we had on ways to send a secure message remotely. We initially thought of using binary to encode 37 characters which would require 7 bits (each bit having two orientations). While this seemed like the most optimized way to transfer messages through wires and over the internet, it did not take full advantage of movement, color, and different types of peripheral objects. Movement, color and the ability to use more than 2 objects meant that our code can be less simple in its character set, but each character can be represented in smaller chunks of information.

We decided to use color in our encoding as it was a very clear transferable signal. We used two wooden rods, one covered in blue tape and one in red tape. Each rod can be held in one of four positions (up, down, left, right), and the combination of the two encode a single character. This ensures clarity and gets rid of ambiguity. While many teams divided the plane to 8 equal parts, we decided to stick to 4 quarters because that made the interpretation simpler. While we knew with what we wanted to encode our data, we weren’t sure on the code itself. One initial thought was to have easier signals for letters that are the most common in English such as vowels and leaving more complex encodings to letters such as Q, Z, and X.

However, this started looking like a rule of exceptions, and so we decided to stick with the standard order of the alphabet. We also thought it was intuitive to separate the codes for numbers and letters, so we created a separate encoding system based on the Roman numeral system. The number “V” was encoded with a circular movement of the rod, and “I” was encoded with a top-to-down swing of the rod. We decided to start each digit with the crossing of the rods in an “X” shape.

Since the orientations of left and right are flipped for two people facing each other, we first thought of creating two different code cheat sheets, one for the sender and one for the receiver. This seemed unnecessarily complex, so we instead decided to continue with a single encoding system, and have the sender face their back towards the receiver instead. To solve the problem of separating each character, we decided to use jumping to signal to the receiver that they can move to the next character. This way the receiver knew that the transmission of one character was over.

We also thought, why not make this form of communication a part of a healthy, active lifestyle, and so we included two different starting positions: standing and squatting. (These combined with the jumping created a way of communicating with crossfit). These two starting positions + the red and blue rods + the four positions for the rods gave us a total of 32 possible characters for the letters.

The Day of The Competition

Adam’s Perspective

We got to the Arts Center lobby with hopes of getting the message through. We could feel the pressure transmitted (pun intended) by our classmates who just as prepared to send some messages as we were.

My biggest concern was not that I wouldn’t be able to finish the message but that I would skip a space or that Sohail wouldn’t see the sign as I am squatting. Since we didn’t mirror the code to avoid confusion of direction, that actually worked against us: as a transmitter I did not have any visual feedback of Sohail being able to receive the message or not. I had to make sure during the setup that his view was not blocked by any of the columns and that he can even see the signals that I showed to him while squatting.

On the other hand since the need for visual feedback was eliminated and we implemented the “jumps” to divide each character, I got through the message surprisingly fast. Later our classmates told us that they did not even notice me sending the code, they only realized that the message was sent as we got down the stairs. I was able to transmit a letter every 3-4 seconds, coupling that with the spaces the 40 character code went through in around 2 minutes. The efficiency of transmitting and the fact that the sending went unnoticed proved that the code was secure to use and hard to decode.

Sohail’s Perspective

We practiced a few times before where I was the receiver, but we were still hoping that the code would work over the long distance across the Arts Center lobby. The few times that we practiced, we also finished encoding and decoding the message very close to six minutes, so we felt pressured to go through the characters as quick as possible. Since I didn’t have a hard surface to write on, I sat on the floor instead, which made it a bit difficult to see because of the glass.

As the receiver, I also did not have enough time to decode each character in real time, so I just hoped that I had enough time at the end of the six minutes where I went and decoded the symbols one by one. We added a minor addition before the competition where Adam would jump to indicate a new character. This helped me not lose track of the message, especially as I constantly looked down to my paper and back up again.

As soon as the stopwatch started, I noticed that it was difficult to clearly see the blue rod when Adam was squatting, because it was blocked by one of the pillars. I didn’t want to waste any of our precious time so I just made a note of the ambiguity on my sheet. At the end of transmission, the sentence I had down was “Prerident wins by 8 votes”, so it was easy to notice my mistake.

Persian Poetry & the Shahnameh

Modern Persian is written with the Persian alphabet, which is based on a modified form of the Arabic script. Loanwords from Arabic also constitute around 30% of the language. This transition to the modified Arabic script symbolised the transfer from Middle Persian to Late Persian during the Arab conquest of Persia during the 7th Century AD. 

Persian Poetry has always been a significant cultural and political means of one-to-many communication. The specific calligraphy and illustrations that accompany Persian poetry embellish the rhyme and flow of the text.

Ferdowsi’s epic poem, the Shahnameh, is one of the longest pieces of poetry written by a single poet. Ferdowsi starkly opposed the Arab conquest of Persia, and he wrote the poem over a 30 year period to strip the language used of any Arabic influence: Thus writing it in “pure” Persian. The text has served as one of the pillars of the modern Persian language, and as a result, modern Farsi is still strikingly similar to it.

After the Shahnameh, Persian poetry became a particular form of artistic expression, with specific rhyming schemes following the distichs, or bayt. Till the present day, Persian poetry is infused with a manner and mystical character that is easily identifiable.

References: 

• https://archive.org/details/PersianSufiPoetryAnIntroductionToTheMysticalUseOfClassicalPoemsByDeBruijn/page/n39
• https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/606299.pdf

The Oud

The Oud is the quintessential instrument in Arab music. Believed to have evolved from the Barbat, a lute-style instrument from pre-Islamic Persia, it has become most popular in Arabic and Turkish musical history. The Oud allows for twice as many notes as modern Western music, as most maqams, or melodic modes, allow for quarter tones in between that of Western music. This allows for much more variation in musical expression, where different countries or tribes have their own styles of Oud playing.

The Oud is often the central element of an ensemble and lends itself to improvisation, which is a manner of communication that allows for deeper, unplanned expression, compared to the recital of notes. The Oud is currently a staple instrument in Emirati Folk music, and it is often played in social functions that have a traditional setting.

References: 

• https://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/11956

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After listening to the 99% Invisible Podcast’s “Person in Lotus Position”, I decided to create emojis that would succinctly describe aspects of my life growing up in Abu Dhabi.

After listening to 99% Invisible Podcast’s “Person in Lotus Position”, I created emojis that reminded me of Abu Dhabi in ways that were both memorable and funny. I initially tried to design some emojis with applications on the iPhone App Store, but I realized that they were too restricting. Deciding to switch to a graphic design application, I chose Pixelmator on Mac to design the emojis. I also severely underestimated the time needed to create the designs, although I did learn a lot about graphic design in the process.

I created three emojis: One of a landmark that reminded me of home (Aldar HQ), one of an important part of Emirati culture (Bukhoor), and one for comedic purposes (Emirati sandal (na3al) being thrown out of a hand).

Emoji #1

I used the Aldar HQ building as a basis for an emoji representing Home, as it was the building I passed every day on the way to school. When I showed the emoji to my parents, they immediately recognized it, and said that they found the design to be very pleasing. Out of the three emojis, I feel like this one is the most similar stylistically to Apple’s current emojis, while the next two have more unconventional designs.

Emoji #2:

Bukhoor is the name given to small pieces of Oud that are burned to create a pleasant aroma in the house. My mom would always light bukhoor when I got home from school and walk with it around the house to spread the long lasting smell. She also used it whenever we had guests as a sign of hospitality.

If you’ve never seen bukhoor before, then it is pretty difficult to understand what the emoji is trying to signify. A few relatives I showed it to said that they recognized what it meant, but that they doubt it could be universally used.

Emoji #3:

With this one, I depicted an Emirati sandal, or “na3aal”, being thrown out of a hand. A common parenting technique in the Arab world, the action depicted in the emoji should resonate with people who grew up in the region.

After showing this emoji to a few friends in the library, they asked if I could send them the picture so that they could use it as an emoji as well, which was pretty cool. My parents also found it very amusing.

Many times before, I’ve felt like a text message could have been just that tiny bit better if only there was a perfect emoji to go with it. #3 is my favorite because the emoji itself allows for the expression of a situation that was much more difficult before.

 

Today, for the first time in as long as I can remember, I did not use my phone for eight straight daylight hours. Throughout my first two years at NYU Abu Dhabi, I’ve tried to become more mindful of my relationship with technology, primarily with my phone. I’ve downloaded apps that monitor my screen usage, which help me reduce the overall time I spend on my phone. Regardless of this, it still is the first thing I pick up in the morning and the last thing I put down before I fall asleep.

I used to justify behaviour like this by saying that I was staying in touch with friends and family through social media applications like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. What I realized, though, is that I would often opt to send snaps to acquaintances I made rather than schedule a meetup for coffee or lunch. I also noticed that some of the best times of my life were spent not on my screen, but on adventures I had with friends in real life. Sherry Turkle, the author of Reclaiming Conversation, mentions that there is a twofold purpose through having conversations with people offline. By having conversations with others, we can have better inner dialogue, which is crucial in times where there is no one to talk to, like when waiting for a train, or standing in a moving elevator. She also mentions how the mere presence of a phone on a dinner table can alter the types of conversations that occur. When I did not have my phone on me today, everything felt quieter. Walking on campus felt serene, and I did not feeling anxiety about checking phone notifications, because I didn’t have it on me. I feel like if I had my phone on me, I would have felt much more anxious about checking it, even if it was off.

In the short story The Machine Stops, E.M. Forster illustrates a world where humanity’s every want can be satiated through the “Machine”, to the point that characters in the story would rather stay hooked to the Machine than leave their rooms and experience sunlight. In many ways, I have felt this desire before. I would fall into YouTube rabbit holes or find myself missing sunset because of my video game playing habits. Forcing myself not to use my electronic devices allowed me to take advantage of the natural stopping-cues that come in daily life; It allowed me to have more ownership of what I want to do instead of just watching the next TV show episode because Netflix says it’s starting in 5 seconds.

In both The Machine Stops and Reclaiming Conversation, there is the concept that nuances of expression cannot be transmitted through the Machine. This is the primary motivation, in my life, for engaging with others and having conversations off the internet. There are so much more sensory input such as body language and vocal tone when communicating in real life. Today helped me learn a lot about myself and my cravings for my electronic devices. Although I don’t think I will be going on another 8-hour device detox, I do hope to use my learnings to have mini-detoxes where I put my phone away and focus on what really matters in the present.

Growing up in the UAE within a household that had a deep reverence for Persian culture led to Arabic, Farsi, and English constantly battling for a place in my mind. I realized early in my childhood that some emotions and sentiments were better encoded in a particular language. Whenever my father would get agitated with my sister and me, he would scold us in Arabic. However, when Eid festivities were bustling, the family almost exclusively spoke in Farsi. Effective communication at home often meant using the three as efficiently as possible, and it was typical for most spoken sentences to include terms from each language. Sometimes when talking to my parents, I would even use the grammatical structure of one language and the vocabulary of another.

I never had any formal education in Farsi, and so I was only able to communicate with it orally. Because I never spent time thinking about concrete written structures in the language, I felt like I had much better control of the language as I could manipulate the structures of the words to my liking. Although my parents often spoke in Arabic to each other, I rarely used it in the household. My Arabic education, very different from that of Farsi, was instead heavily based on learning grammar, spelling, and writing essays in school. In The Information, James Gleick describes the phenomenon of the African drums that talk: A communication system that used drums not as a form of code, but a poetic exchange that included tonality and emotion.

My relationship with Farsi was similar to the way of the talking drum. I spoke the language without any knowledge of code for my lexicon, but instead a deeper appreciation for the emotion that the sound of the words evoked in my head. As I transitioned to employing this conceptual framework on technological platforms, starting with BBM and MSN Messenger, and more recently WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, I was able to find new ways of describing how I interacted with language online.

The transition between English, Arabic, and Farsi had always been very seamless in my mind, but this was harder to reproduce with written texts. And so, to overcome this, when chatting online with friends I’d write predominantly in English with sprinklings of Farsi transliterations and “arabeezy”, a portmanteau of A’raby (Arabic) and Ingaleezy (English), that describes Arabic transliteration with numbers that represent letters not present in English.

The talking drum was one of the earliest forms of technology. It was a combination of resources and resourcefulness; It used the means available at that time to increase the efficiency of communication. As we encounter newer standards of technology, we will be faced with similar tasks of combining the history and learnings of communication and the power of technology to advance how information and knowledge are articulated and discoursed in increasingly efficient ways.