The BLT Episode 26: Being Human, Infinite Possibilities
We all want to feel special. But this week’s news has us wondering if the lines separating humans from animals, and even machines, are increasingly blurring.
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The Movie that Won Everything Everywhere
The Oscars celebrated Everything, Everywhere All At Once: The metaverse movie that calls into question the meaninglessness of our reality. Featuring hot dog fingers, talking rocks, and the raccoon version of ratatouille, the bonkers love-it-or-hate-it movie made headlines with the most acting wins for a single film.
It’s full of wisdom under the surface, profound in its silliness, and different people have taken different meanings from it, like finding empathy in shared mortality, embracing absurdity, and being grateful for our reality.
And the news in the real world was pretty absurd, too, calling into question the lines between humans, robots, and animals as they display behaviours we typically consider human.
Robot Heart-to-hearts
We hear of robots stealing jobs, but what if they’re the answer to workplace happiness instead?
Imagine you’re struggling with your workload, and feeling micromanaged by a pushy boss, and work is getting you down. So, to make things better, you’re assigned some time with a well-being coach in the form of a toy-like robot.
A tech consultancy firm participated in a trial of exactly that, ran by the University of Cambridge. The research compared different robot aesthetics, and participants found they preferred a pep talk from a toy-like robot over a humanoid bot with arms and legs.
Clumsy… Or Calculated?
Disney introduced their latest robot to an audience at the SXSW media festival.
The demonstration went wrong when the child-size bot with the head of a bunny tripped up. Or so you might be led to think.
But Imagineer Tony Dibani said it was all part of the plan. You see, she was designed to fall out of a box before roller skating on, finishing with a forward roll. She was built to be friendly and flawed in an effort to form emotional connections with Disney guests.
Blended Families
And she’s not the only rabbit displaying human-like behaviour.
Today, there’s increasing acceptance that modern families can come in all forms; gone are the days when the nuclear family was the only acceptable model. And the word has spread to the animal kingdom too, it seems.
A rabbit and a cat shocked farmers at their animal rescue centre in North Carolina by teaming up to co-parent their litters together. They gave birth to the litters just days apart and share parenting responsibilities – even the feeding!
Workers at the rescue centre took to TikTok to ask whether the ‘cabbits’ should be separated.
On Wednesdays, We Wear Pink
They say birds of a feather flock together, and the adage is now backed by research. A study found that flamingos form like-minded cliques according to their personability types. Bolder birds stict together, as do more submissive types.
So, it turns out complex social life isn’t unique to humans either.
Escaping Reality
Viral videos have shown gorillas and other apes spinning around in circles, either spinning in a pool or hanging from vines.
The peculiar behaviour became the focus of psychologist, Dr. Adriano Lameira’s research. The research from the University of Warwick concluded that they are spinning to achieve an altered mental state and feeling of euphoria, not unlike children playing on a roundabout.
Well then, does anything set humans apart and make us special? As a rock in Everything, Everywhere All At Once says, “every new discovery is just a reminder we’re small and stupid.”
We’re always amazed at how many links form between the random selection of stories brought to the meeting each week! Which story is your favourite? We’ll see you next week for another delicious visual sandwich.
We love using visual thinking and visual storytelling to create connected and layered whiteboard animations like this. We’re always here to talk to you about how your message could look as a whiteboard animation, contact us today!
Give us the week’s offbeat news stories, and we’ll sum them up in an image, bringing them into the same universe.