Monthly Archives: June 2020

The guy he told you not to worry about

General Information:

  • Type of folklore: Internet folklore/meme
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: USA
  • Informant: Tracy Mutoni
  • Source: Twitter
  • Date collected: 20 May 2020

Informant Data:

  • Once a universal microblogging, Twitter has evolved into a social networking platform in the past 14 years. Today twitter has become the most popular medium for celebrities and politicians to communicate with the public. Still, the founder, Jack Dorsey, and twitter at large advocate for censorship, safety, and nonviolence. Twitter seldom becomes boring due to constantly generated memes.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: As the environment evolves, innovative strategies and ideas emerge. For each new device, there is one faster and more effective imagined in the future but a slower version in the past as well This comes with a prize—especially on the environment. The faster and more efficient devices under deep learning emit increasingly toxic gas than simple model cars created a long time ago.
  • Social Context: This specific item contains three different eras of AI. Each era is representative of the field’s progress and challenges. A device from a past era could still get the job done, agreeably. It is just that the new guy emerging from within Deep Learning is much faster and more suitable for the new era.

Item:

Transliteration:

  • Your novel research idea. Some guy in the 1980s. Republishing the idea, but with Deep Learning.

Context(free translation):

  • Any kind of novel research ideas in AI is exciting. Under zero competition, one can often feel they have thrived. It is easy to compare especially with previous work like that from years ago. Sadly, some guy out there will come up with an idea, whether totally different, almost similar, you name it. Given new emerging technology, ideas from a long time ago can be revisited and used to develop totally cool and new complex models.  AI does not still well with old and boring. And that seems to be the message of this item.

Collector’s name: Tracy Mutoni, Russian Lit 013, Dartmouth College. (faithfully translated to my best of skill)

Tags/Keywords:

  • #AImemes #DeepLearning #machinelearning #oldFashionAI, #research
Link

General Information

  • Type of folklore: Internet folklore/meme
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: USA
  • Informant: Tracy Mutoni
  • Source: Twitter
  • Date collected: 20 May 2020

Informant Data

  • Formerly a microblogging platform, Twitter has evolved into a social media network since being founded in 2006 by Jack Dorsey. The platform attracts everyone—regardless of their age, gender, race, religion, class, ideology, or educational background—to share or vent via tweets no matter how mundane they are.

Contextual data

  • Cultural context: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is that distant fantasy you’ve probably heard pro-AI guys speak about; that machines are so smart they can take over the world. Training models are constantly averaged with human brains. It is true that supervised training allows models to learn complex relationships and patterns required to process routine tasks, faces, words like human brains do. However, this still requires massive computing power, hard-coded rules, and updated algorithms literally every second new data emerges up.
  • Social context: This specific item challenges the credibility of pro-AI claims. One time OpenMind, AI text generation, used huge data that it took all Reddit. Unlike models, humans can learn from very limited data give that we must come with a built-in structure; that’s why there is, agreeably, machine intelligence still has a long way to go towards human intelligence.

Item:

 

Transliteration:

  • A given model overfits on training data. But when new data is observed in the world. The model is unqualified.

Free translation:

  • This item symbolizes an extraordinary challenge for AI. Contrary to humans, machines cannot independently observe and take in new information and update their network accordingly. Therefore, one can be assured that a robot-governed world is nowhere near us.

Context:

  • This piece is a good mockery and a joke and might elicit comebacks from pro-AI guys.

Collector’s information: Tracy Mutoni, Russian Lit 013, Dartmouth College.

Tags/Keywords:

#AImemes, #AImemeforconvultionalteens, #overfitting #undefitting #trainingdata #models #machinelearning

La leyenda de las víboras y la lumbre

Title: La leyenda de las víboras y la lumbre

General information about the item:

  • Myth
  • Language: Spanish
  • Country of Origin: México
  • Informant: B.G.
  • Date Collected: 20 May 2020

Informant Data: B.G. was born on May 20, 1974 in Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo, México. He is 3rd generation Otomí. He learned about his culture from his grandparents and parents.

Contextual Data: The piece of folklore that BG shared was a story his grandparents shared with him which they assured him was true. BG mentioned that as a child he and his family members would sit outside and listen to stories about Otomí culture that his grandparents would share. He states that the story has impacted him emotionally because first, he didn’t know whether to believe it or not, but he did choose to believe it because his grandparents said it was true. He felt he needed to share the story to pass along his culture. This particular story he shared was about magical snakes and fire which guides people to treasures buried in the ground. Note: B.G. was given information about the collection project and how the purpose was to collect folklore on indigenous plant and animal origin myths. Although this is not an origin myth, this is the myth B.G. chose to share about his Otomí culture.

Item:

“Hay otras historias, y eso sí se han transmitido, no se si tu sepas que los antepasados no gastaban el dinero, siempre lo tenían guardado o lo tenían enterrado. ¿sí ha escuchado eso? Y han pasado muchos casos allá en el pueblo que se han encontrado dinero y la gente no sabe cómo sacarlo. Y el dinero tiene– [B.G. hace mociones con sus manos para emfasis], ya ves que está enterado, tiene mucho como, sucre, o no sé lo que tiene, adentro, pero está todo ahí. ¿Imagínese cuánto tiempo está enterrado? Y a la hora de abrirlo todo el olor, ellos lo absorben. Entonces la gente que lo saca casi normalmente se enferma y se mueren. Ya me ha tocado mucho en mi pueblo, como una vez, era un niño yo creo, tendría como unos 14 o 15 años, los papás de él se encontraron dinero, pero ellos, los papás, no lo quisieron sacar. Entonces mandaron al niño que lo sacara– el dinero. Entonces a la hora de abrir, eran ollas de barros, a la hora de sacarlo y abrir la tapa, todo el olor se le, se le transmitió. Entonces el muchacho se enfermó y se murió. Quedó bien seco, seco, seco y al final se murió. Y todo el dinero se quedó con el papá y los hermanos y el pobre muchacho se murió. Y esto pasó en mi pueblo. Pero últimamente la gente ya sabe, entonces van y investigan primero y ya saben qué hacer. Entonces ya usan más, como equipos, como ropa para que no pueda entrar o cubre bocas con el oxígeno, y no sé qué tanto, para que no respires todo lo que se suelta. No sé si sepas, pero si ves una víbora y bien grande y como que te anda viendo y de repente así que la ves, como que te está dando una señal de que ahí está el dinero. O si ves que algo se está quemando y no es cierto, cómo lumbre, pero no se está quemando nada, o sea, eso significa que ahí hay dinero. Le voy a decir un caso. Mi esposa cuando tendría unos 8 o 9 años, ella miró. Y como nosotros somos del mismo pueblo, ahí del cerro, del monte. Entonces ella andaba así en el cerro y [ella] mira una víbora, pero bien grandota, y con diseños de monedas y se sorprendió. Pero ella no sabía de qué se trataba, y ya hasta que fue y llegó a su casa le platicó a su abuelita y a su mamá. Y ella le dijo, ¡‘qué, pues, te estaba diciendo que ahí había dinero!’ Y sí pasó tiempo y cuando se dieron cuenta, habían sacado un barril de allí de donde estaba ahí la víbora.” * Note this is transcribed exactly as it was spoken to me during the interview, including grammatical errors.

 

English Translation; the brackets signify edits made for clarity, i.e. [edited for clarity]:

“There are other stories, that [have] been [told], I do not know if you know that the ancestors did not spend [their] money, they always kept it, or buried it. Have you heard that? And many cases have happened where money has been found and people don’t know how to get it out. And the money has–, [motions with his hands], you see, it was buried, it has a lot of like, sucre [toxic particles], I don’t know what it called, inside, but it’s all there. Imagine how long [it has been] buried? And when it comes to opening it, all the smell, they [the people who discover the money] absorb it [the toxic particles]. So, the people who take it out almost always get sick and die. It has happened a lot in my town. Like once, there was a kid, I think he was about 14 or 15 years old, and his parents found money, but they, the parents, did not want to take it out. So, they sent the boy to take it out, – the money. So, when it was time to take out the money, [it was kept in] clay barrels when it was time to take it out and open the lid, all the odor was passed on to [him]. So, the boy got sick and died. He became very dry, dry, dry and in the end, he died. And all the money stayed with the parents and the brothers and the poor boy died. And this happened in my town. But lately, people already know, so they go and investigate first and they already know what to do [if they believe money is buried]. So, they use more protective equipment, such as protective clothing [where] it [the toxic particles] cannot enter or masks with oxygen and I don’t know what else, so that you do not breathe anything [toxic] which is released. I do not know if you know, but if you see a viper and it is very big and it looks like it is looking at you and suddenly you see it; it is giving you a sign that the money is there. Or if you see that something is burning and it is not true, like a fire, but nothing is burning, that means that there is money [there]. I’m going to tell you a case. My wife, when she was about 8 or 9 years old, she saw it [as in she saw a magical snake]. We are from the same town, there from the hill, from the mountains [in Ixmiquilpan Hidalgo México]. So, she was walking on the hill and she sees a viper, a very big viper with coin designs, and she was surprised. But she did not know what this meant until she arrived at her house and she talked to her grandmother and her mother. And her grandmother told her, ‘What the snake was telling you was that there was money there!’ And some time passed and by the time they realized it, [someone] had taken a barrel from [the spot] where the viper was. ”

Notes about the item:

Notes on the item: B.G. referred to the mysterious toxic particles which were released upon opening the buried money barrels as “sucre”. Sucre, in Spanish, translates “coin, penny or cent”, but what BG was referring to was the toxic particles that are found in buried and confined places that get released through decomposition. He did not know what these particles were called and called them sucre. This may be an error because sucre directly translates money, but he was referring to were the toxins released when a buried item is uncovered.

Additionally, our project was to collect origin myths related to the Otomí culture, but B.G. relayed this piece of folklore instead. Not wanting to disrespect him, I still collected the myth. B.G. said he didn’t know a lot about the Otomí culture, except for what his parents and grandparents told him as a child and what he himself has experienced, and could only say as much since he is 3rd generation Otomí. But, and I quote, “I assure you this is true”. B.G. has a lot of respect for his culture and made sure to let me know he was proud of his indigenous heritage. B.G. also spoke to me in Otomí and taught me some phrases, such as, “Jamadi”, which means thank you. The interview was conducted in Spanish, as this was the language B.G. was most comfortable speaking in, and I then translated the text to English making edits for clarity using square brackets. However, his Spanish was not perfect and contained various grammatical errors which I corrected when translating to English.

Collector’s name: Rosa Mendoza

Tags/keywords:

  • Myth
  • Snake
  • Otomí

AI and the Media

Info about the item:

  • Genre : AI Memes
  • Informant : https://devrant.com
  • Location Collected : Hanover, NH
  • Date Collected : 20 May 2020

Informant Data

https://devrant.com is an online community where tech developers and programmers share their daily life experiences and bond over successes and frustrations with code, tech and life as programmers. The platform members post jokes, meme’s, legends and stories about their daily work life in the tech industry. The site describes itself as a place where programmers share their war stories about life behind the keyboard. The platform members have a deep understanding of computer science and their content is always aligned with their common CS background.

Contextual Data

The real Artificial Intelligence consists of tedious mathematical models that are usually presented in form of academic research papers and rigorous code. This meme is an inside joke within the developer community about the exaggeration of AI by the media. The media tends to present any simple piece of code as AI for marketing and click baiting people because AI sells. The selling phenomenon of AI can be evidenced by big Hollywood movies such as the Terminator and the Matrix. The media takes advantage of the selling point of AI to make profits although it doesn’t even understand the real AI.

Item

 

Collector’s Name: Louis Murerwa

Tags/Keywords:

  • Machine Learning
  • AI
  • Media
  • Meme

AI : Statistics reframed as AI

Info about the item:

  • Genre : AI Memes
  • Informant : https://devrant.com
  • Location Collected : Hanover, NH
  • Date Collected : 20 May 2020

Informant Data

https://devrant.com is an online community where tech developers and programmers share their daily life experiences and bond over successes and frustrations with code, tech and life as programmers. The platform members post jokes, meme’s, legends and stories about their daily work life in the tech industry. The site describes itself as a place where programmers share their war stories about life behind the keyboard. The platform members have a deep understanding of computer science and their content is always aligned with their common CS background.

Contextual Data

This meme makes fun of the origins, existence and attention given to Artificial Intelligence. The basic components of Artificial Intelligence are Statistics and Mathematics but since Statistics and Math are old terms that are associated with Academia, the tech industry has rebranded them as Artificial Intelligence. Statistics was originally framed as Machine Learning then as Artificial Intelligence so as to gain more audience and attention.AI is basically Statistics since it depends on probabilities to make decisions. The tech industry is just reframing the same old ideas so as to gain an audience and sell products.

Item

Collector’s Name: Louis Murerwa

Tags/Keywords:

  • Machine Learning
  • AI
  • Media
  • Statistics
  • Meme

Las brujas que le chupan la sangre a los niños o los recién nacidos

Title: Las brujas que le chupan la sangre a los niños o los recién nacidos

General information about the item:

  • Myth
  • Language: Spanish
  • Country of Origin: México
  • Informant: B.G.
  • Date Collected: 20 May 2020

Informant Data: B.G. was born on May 20, 1974 in Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo, México. He is 3rd generation Otomí. He learned about his culture from his grandparents and parents.

Contextual Data: The piece of folklore that BG shared was a story his grandparents shared with him which they assured him was true. BG mentioned that as a child he and his family members would sit outside and listen to stories about Otomí culture that his grandparents would share. He states that the story has impacted him emotionally because first, he didn’t know whether to believe it or not, but he did choose to believe it because his grandparents said it was true. He felt he needed to share the story to pass along his culture. This particular story he shared was about witches, which his grandparents encountered, who would suck the blood from babies and newborns, killing them. Note: B.G. was given information about the collection project and how the purpose was to collect folklore on indigenous plant and animal origin myths. Although this is not an origin myth, this is the myth B.G. chose to share about his Otomí culture.

Item:

“Bueno me contaban los abuelitos, pero según que, si pasaban en la vida real, acerca de unas señoras ya ancianas que en la noche salían, según ellos, se sentaban en la lumbre y, alrededor de la lumbre hay unos tipos de piedra que se llaman fogón. Y entonces ahí se sentaban, se quitaban de la rodilla para abajo, [apuntó a su rodilla y para abajo a los pies], y salían en la noche para chuparle la sangre a los bebés. A los recién nacidos. Según era lo que me contaban. Mucha gente cuando se daba cuenta, las señoras, o las, les decían brujas, no vivían en el pueblo, sino venían de otros pueblos. ¿Sí me entiende? Entonces, la gente ya se daba cuenta y cuando se daba cuenta– normalmente ellas siempre salían en la noche, en la noche. Entonces cuando llegaban, los señores, los abuelitos, este, se ponían de acuerdo, y ellos miraban a donde se iban a sentar, porque según ellos, se sentaban arriba de la casa en busca de los recién nacidos. Entonces los abuelitos se daban cuenta y ellos iban y se zafaban los calzones. En esos tiempos se usaban calzones de manta. Entonces ellos iban y zafaban los calzones y los volteaban. Entonces, la bruja ya no podía, o la señora ya no podía regresar al lugar de donde venían. Que, porque eso era una creencia qué con quitarse los calzones y voltearlos y déjarlos ahí al lado, que ellos ya no podían levantarse y regresarse a la casa de dónde venían. Entonces, este, ellas suplicaban que no hicieran eso. Que les dejarán regresar de dónde venían. Pero los abuelitos decían, “Sí te vamos a, te vamos a regresar las piernas, digamos así. Pero con una condición de que ya no te queremos volver a ver acá en nuestro pueblo.” Porque, ellas, según, ya después del amanecer, antes de salir el sol, ellas ya no podían regresar. Entonces tenía que ser antes de amanecer. Mhm. Antes de amanecer. Mucha gente cuando se daban cuenta de eso–, también la gente le ponían unas tijeras o un cuchillo abajo de la almohada del bebé, de la cabeza del bebé. Según eso, no sé si serán creencias, pero con eso, según, no les hacían nada a los bebes. Pero si la, la, señora o la bruja, [unintelligble], que no, no le hacía nada al niño. Sí. Y sí, dicen que sí hubo muchos casos en el pueblo. Que al otro día encontraban al niño a un lado a la mamá ya muertos. Y que sí, como veían que venían las luces. Ellas traían unas luces que se prendían y se apagaban y se prendían y se apagaban. Entonces la gente ya sabía. Dicen que sí, que mucha gente, con muchas de las señoras, sí los agarraron.” * Note this is transcribed exactly as it was spoken to me during the interview, including grammatical errors.

 

English Translation; the brackets signify edits made for clarity, i.e. [edited for clarity]:

“Well my grandparents told me, [that] according to [them], [it] happened in real life, about old ladies who came out at night, according to [them], they, [the old ladies], sat on the fire and, around the fire there are some types of stone that they are called a fogón. And then they would sit there, take [their legs] off from the knee down, [B.G. pointed at his knee and down on his feet], and [would] go out at night to suck the blood from the babies. Newborns. [This is] what they told me. Many people when they realized, [who the ladies were], the ladies, or the–, they called [them] witches, did not live in the town but came from other towns. [Do] you understand me? So, people noticed and when they did – [the witches would] usually go out at night. So, when they arrived, the gentlemen, my grandparents, agreed and looked [for the location] where they [the witches] were going to perch, because according to them, they [the witches] sat [on top of] houses looking for the newborns. Then when my grandparents noticed [the witches], and they [would go] and [take] their undergarments [take the witches’ undergarments]. In those times mantas were used. So, they would go and undo the breeches and turn them over. Then, the witches could no longer return to where they came from. Because that was the belief, [that when you] take off the undergarments and turn them over and leave [them] there, that they [the witches] could no longer get up and go back to where they came from. So, they [the witches] begged [B.G.’s grandparents] not to do that. [So B.G.’s grandparents stated] that they [would] let them [the witches] return to where they came from. And his grandparents said, “Yes, we are going to return your legs. But on the condition that we no longer want to see you here in our town.” Because, according to them, after sunrise, they [the witches] could no longer return [to their place of origin]. So, [this interrogation] had to be before dawn. Mhm. Before dawn. A lot of people [would] also put scissors or a knife under the baby’s pillow, [near] the baby’s head. With that, according to [B.G.’s grandparents], they [the witches] did nothing to the babies. [By placing the knives or scissors under the newborns’ pillows they would stop the witches and nothing would happen to the babies]. Yes. And yes, they say that there were many cases in my town. That the next day [the townspeople would find] the child next to the mother, dead. And yes, they [the townspeople] saw the lights coming [alerting the townspeople of the arrival of the witches]. They [the witches] brought lights with them that went on and off and on and off. Then people knew [that the witches were coming]. They say yes, that many people had encounters with the witches and did kill them. [As in many people did encounter the witches and they did kill the babies, although some people would stop them].”

Notes about the item: B.G. referred to the subjects of his story as both “old ladies” and “the witches” and used both titles interchangeably. Additionally, our project was to collect origin myths related to the Otomí culture, but B.G. relayed this piece of folklore instead. Not wanting to disrespect him, I still collected the myth. Additionally, B.G. said he didn’t know a lot about the Otomí culture, except for what his parents and grandparents told him as a child and what he himself has experienced, and could only say as much since he is 3rd generation Otomí. But, and I quote, “I assure you this is true”. B.G. has a lot of respect for his culture and made sure to let me know he was proud of his indigenous heritage. B.G. also spoke to me in Otomí and taught me some phrases, such as, “Jamadi”, which means thank you. The interview was conducted in Spanish, as this was the language B.G. was most comfortable speaking in, and I then translated the text to English making edits for clarity using square brackets. However, his Spanish was not perfect and contained various grammatical errors which I corrected when translating to English.

Collector’s name: Rosa Mendoza

Tags/keywords:

  • Myth
  • Witches
  • Otomí

Synonyms of AI

Title: Synonyms of AI

General Information

  • Type of folklore: Internet folklore
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin:
  • Informant
  • Date collected:

Informant Data: 

  • Reddit is an online website with a huge database of public forums. Founded in 2005 by several students from the University of Virginia, it has grown to have millions of users today. In fact, Reddit is the 19th most visited website in the world with the large majority of its users coming from the United States of America. On the website, people can post images, videos, text, and more as they are upvoted by other users.   

Contextual Data:

  • Social context: Artificial intelligence is one name for a part of technology to have machines be able to think for themselves. It can also be called machine learning and a technique used in the process is called linear regression. These techniques are used to actively predict outcomes and then be able to act on them. Society as a whole sees artificial intelligence as a sexier term than their more technical terms and they gravitate towards this. This is why they are expressed in greater amounts of times than linear regression or machine learning. 
  •  Cultural context: The backdrop of this meme is from a english comedian’s youtube show. The comedian basically makes this pose to imitate thinking in a smarter or more intuitive way than most. In this case, the meme implies we should be thinking smarter about how we phrase linear regression in order to gain more attention. In most western cultures, there is a residual fear that technology innovation is moving at a faster pace than humans really want. The fear is surmounted by the possibility that automation could take over people and begin to think for themselves. If this happened, there would be little hope for humanity because robots would be able to communicate and function well beyond our control. This attention leads to more people gravitating towards the topic and more hype in the end. 

Item: 

Meaning and interpretation: This meme in particular is a joke that explains how artificial intelligence is more attractive to the public than the more technical words associated with the type of functions used in the function. 

Collector’s Name: Max Holden

Tags/Keywords: 

  • Artificial Intelligence 
  • Memes
  • Linear regression 
  • Machine learning 

 

How the Bear lost his Tail

Title: How the Bear lost his Tail

General information about the item:

  • Myth
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: C.W.
  • Date Collected: 26 May 2020

Informant Data:

C.W. was born in Sioux Saint Marie in the Upper Peninsula Michigan and is a member of the Bay Mills Indian Community and which is a band of Ojibwe people.

Contextual Data: C.W. told me that this is a story she heard through her mom. It was significant to her personally because she is Bear Clan and, in her clan, there is a kinship relationship between humans and bears in her culture. She stated that “Bears are supposed to be like protectors and healers in my culture.” She first learned about the story when she was a teenager. She wasn’t sure about the circumstances for where the story was told but she found about the story by asking her mom questions about her culture. She did mention that her people are very seasonal and so usually stories such as these are told in the winter because different seasons have different activities associated with each season. She stated, “Summer would be for picking berries and fishing, in the fall you would be harvesting maple syrup, the winter you would tell stories and, in the spring there was usually jobs to do and that’s why winter is a good time for stories.”

Item: “Long, long ago there were only creatures on the Earth, and there were birds, bears, deer, and mice everything but people. And this time long ago, all the animals spoke the same language and just like people they play tricks on one another. They also helped each other, so it was with all the animals. One day, in the winter, when the lakes were frozen, but before the winter’s, but before the winter was upon us, Bear was walking along the lakeshore. When he was walking, he came upon the Otter sitting near a fishing hole with a pile of fish. ‘You’ve got a big pile of fish there,’ Bear said. ‘How did you get those fish?’ But instead of telling him how he drove into the water and caught the fish, Otter decided to trick the Bear. You see back then Bear had a very long, bushy tail, and he was proud of his tail and all the animals knew it. ‘The way I catch my fish is by putting my tail in the ice hole.’ Otter explained. ‘I wiggle around once in a while, so the fish see it. When a fish bites into my tail, I quickly pulled out of the water.’ ‘That sure is an easy way to catch fish!’ Bear said. ‘Do you mind if I use your fishing hole?’ Otter, laughing behind the Bear’s back said, ‘I have enough fish. Use my fishing hole, as long as you like.’ Then Otter picked up his fish and walked away. Bear carefully poked his tail into the ice hole and waited. He waited and waited. Once in a while, he’d wiggle his tail so the fish could see it. Bear waited until the sun began to set, but not one fish even nibbled at his tail. At last, he decided to go home, but when he tried to stand up, his tail had frozen into the ice. He couldn’t move. He pulled and pulled at his tail, but it was stuck tight. Finally, he pulled with all his strength, and half his tail ripped off. Now you know why the bear has a short tail. And remember, don’t always believe what people tell you.”

Collector’s name: Rosa Mendoza

Tags/keywords:

  • Myth
  • Bear
  • Ojibwe

AI in Art Gallery

General Information about Item:

  • Internet Folklore/Meme
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Archie Shahidullah
  • Date Collected: 03-27-2020

Informant Data:

  • Archie Shahidullah is a male California Institute of Technology (Caltech) student in the class of 2022.  He was born in Scotland and raised in the Tucson, AZ.  During his time in Caltech, he studies Computer Science with a focus in Machine Learning.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Modern art can result in the framing of something simple and an extravagant name can draw the attention of the media. This is applied to how the Machine Learning uses statistics and once shown as Artificial Intelligence, it gathers a lot of attention from the media.
  • Social Context: This meme was collected in a dedicated Facebook Meme page “Nondeterministic Memes for NP Complete Teens”and has sent it to several of his peers that also study Machine Learning.

Item:

Source: “Nondeterministic Memes for NP Complete Teens” Facebook Page

Informant’s Comments:

  •  “all the glamour behind machine learning is not accurate….the mathematics behind it have been around for decades”

Collector’s Comments:

  • The name of “Artificial Intelligence” is really a misnomer for Machine Learning because it is mathematics at its core and it is shown as something superior in Technology.

Collector’s Name: Yunive Avendaño

Tags/Keywords:

  • Machine Learning
  • AI
  • Media
  • Meme

This is Your Machine Learning System?

Title: This is Your Machine Learning System?

General Information about Item:

  • Internet Folklore/Meme
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Archie Shahidullah
  • Date Collected: 03-27-2020

Informant Data:

  • Archie Shahidullah is a male California Institute of Technology (Caltech) student in the class of 2022.  He was born in Scotland and raised in the Tucson, AZ.  During his time in Caltech, he studies Computer Science with a focus in Machine Learning.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Machine Learning is the foundation of Artificial Intelligence. Machine Learning is built upon Linear Algebra and trial and error. To achieve an accurate model one must change constants to receive the desired results.
  • Social Context: This meme was collected in a dedicated Facebook Meme page “Nondeterministic Memes for NP Complete Teens”and has sent it to several of his peers that also study Machine Learning.

Item:

Source: “Nondeterministic Memes for NP Complete Teens” Facebook Page

Informant’s Comments:

  •  “there’s a lot of glamour going in with machine learning. They think it is some magical thing like an actual artificial brain but when you actually study the subject, it’s not nearly as glamorous. It’s sort of is… a pile of algebra.“

Collector’s Comments:

  • The name of “Artificial Intelligence” is really a misnomer for Machine Learning because in fact it’s not really intelligent but in reality a function that inputs/outputs information that is manipulated by humans.

Collector’s Name: Yunive Avendaño

Tags/Keywords:

  • Machine Learning
  • AI
  • Meme