This is one of my favorite bits of incredibly clever fuckery that goes on behind the scenes of 3D modeling, and I have an intense compulsion to talk about it right now.
If you’ve never seen the true geometry of the merc models, you’re probably wondering what the hell is going on with the one on the left. Minecraft Steve 3D-printed looking motherfucker.
Believe it or not, it’s the exact same model as the one on the right. The light is just being instructed to interact differently with its polygons! The one on the left is being given flat shading, while the one on the right is being given smooth shading.
The mercs have far fewer polygons than you probably think they do. And that’s not just because the game was made in 2007! Most stylized faces probably aren’t going to have many more polygons than this, especially faces designed for video games. Thanks to the magic of smooth shading, they don’t need more than that.
even if you care deeply about some specific kind of suffering you do not have to fill your life with as many upsetting stories of that type of suffering as possible. that is just signing up to have a bad time.
does you absorbing this information help you benefit a cause? and even if you are benefitting a cause, are you doing something productive with more of these stories or are they just making you feel bad? are you taking more effective action or just getting overwhelmed with sadness? is surrounding yourself with stuff that upsets you helping you more than it hurts you?
KOKOBOT - The Airbnb-Owned Tech Startup - Data Mining Tumblr Users’ Mental Health Crises for “Content”
I got this message from a bot, and honestly? If I was a bit younger and not such a jaded bitch with a career in tech, I might have given it an honest try. I spent plenty of time in a tough situation without access to any mental health resources as a teen, and would have been sucked right in.
Chatting right from your phone, and being connected with people who can help you? Sounds nice. Especially if you believe the testimonials they spam you with (tw suicide / self harm mention in below images)
But I was getting a weird feeling, so I went to read the legalese.
I couldn’t even get through the fine-print it asked me to read and agree to, without it spamming the hell out of me. Almost like they expect people to just hit Yes? But I’m glad I stopped to read, because:
What you say on there won’t be confidential. (And for context, I tried it out and the things people were looking for help with? I didn’t even feel comfortable sharing here as examples, it was all so deeply personal and painful)
Also, what you say on there? Is now…
Koko’s intellectual property - giving them the right to use it in any way they see fit, including
Publicly performing or displaying your “content” (also known as your mental health crisis) in any media format and in any media channel without limitation
Do this indefinitely after you end your account with them
Sell / share this “content” with other businesses
Any harm you come to using Koko? That’s on you.
And Koko won’t take responsibility for anything someone says to you on there (which is bleak when people are using it to spread Christianity to people in crisis)
They also use the data they gather from users to conduct research and publish papers. I didn’t find them too interesting - other than as a good case study of “People tend to find what they are financially incentivized to find”. Predictably, Koko found that Kokobot was beneficial to its users.
So yeah, being a dumbass with too much curiosity, I decided to use the Airbnb-owned Data-Mining Mental Health Chatline anyway. And if you thought it was dangerous sounding from the disclaimers? Somehow it got worse.
(trigger warning / discussions of child abuse / sexual abuse / suicide / violence below the cut - please don’t read if you’re not in a good place to hear about negligence around pretty horrific topics.)
There are young people on tumblr that actively seek support from KokoBot right now, if you check the tag for recent posts. Those people did not get paid to promote it, so do not harrass them. If you can, direct them towards resources about Kokobot (like this post) that are more transparent about what this company is up to.
I’m getting genuinely emotional y’all don’t understand how ISOLATING it can be when cultural dress for most other Asian countries are popular and represented and Filipino clothing barely is, LET ALONE PRE-COLONIAL?!
I- 🥹
I hope to find the time and energy to fulfil my dream of making the clothes and dressing like this
