{"id":282945,"date":"2024-03-05T08:12:43","date_gmt":"2024-03-05T08:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=282945"},"modified":"2024-03-07T07:49:57","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T07:49:57","slug":"this-week-in-the-new-normal-84","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=282945","title":{"rendered":"This Week in the New Normal #84"},"content":{"rendered":"

Off-Guardian \u2013 March 3, 2024<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Our successor to This Week in the Guardian<\/em>, This Week in the New Normal<\/a><\/em> is our weekly chart of the progress of autocracy, authoritarianism and economic restructuring around the world.<\/p>\n

1. Yet another \u201conline harms\u201d Bill<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Just a few weeks since the UK passed its new \u201cOnline Safety Act\u201d, the Canucks are joining the party.<\/p>\n

The new \u201cOnline Harms Bill\u201d looks near identical to the UK version actually, which you\u2019d expect given that both are influenced by UNESCO\u2019s \u201cguidelines for regulating digital platforms\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, the draft law has already been given the media thumbs up<\/a>, and called \u201cone of the best\u201d by the Facebook whistleblower<\/a> (you can read what we think of here here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Expect a longer article on this subject during the week.<\/p>\n

2. The Bechdel Test\u2026for climate change<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I genuinely thought this story was a joke when I first heard it, which I\u2019m surprised can still happen to me. Sadly, it is real.<\/p>\n

The Hollywood Reporter<\/a> published a story this week detailing a new \u201ctest\u201d for \u201cclimate change depiction\u201d, and claiming the Oscars will be testing movies against it.<\/p>\n

The Climate Reality Check<\/a> will ask writers and directors two simple questions: Does climate change exist in this work? And do your characters know it?<\/em><\/p>\n

Answering \u201cno\u201d to either will mean your movie fails the test. It\u2019s billed as the \u201cBechdel Test for Climate Change\u201d. Which is absurd on several levels.<\/p>\n

For those who don\u2019t know, the \u201cBechdel Test\u201d (or Bechdel-Wallace Test) is a thought experiment meant to test how \u201crepresentative\u201d or \u201cfeminist\u201d a piece of media is. It asks three simple questions: 1) Are there 2 or more female characters, 2) Do they talk to each other, 3) About something other than a man.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a joke. I\u2019m not being disparaging, it was just a little joke in a comic strip from the 1980s, the author Alison Bechdel has said it a hundred times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t stop people like Anna Jane Joyner, founder and CEO of the company who developed the Climate Reality Check, telling the Hollywood Reporter:<\/p>\n

The Bechdel-Wallace Test debuted in a 1985 comic strip. Four decades later, it still resonates as one of the most effective tools for measuring female representation in film and television.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s wrong. It was a joke. The new \u201cBechdel test for climate\u201d is a joke too, of course, but a less intentional one.<\/p>\n

3. The Future of Driving<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In Australia this week, Mitsubishi announced the release of their first Utility Vehicle (\u201cUte\u201d) with an onboard \u201cdriver monitoring system\u201d, a mix of AI sensors and cameras designed to detect if a driver is sleepy or losing focus:<\/p>\n

\n

One of Australia's best-selling utes, the Mitsubishi Triton, will soon come equipped with an AI camera to stop drivers falling asleep at the wheel. It's part of a growing trend, spurring debate about reliability, as well as privacy. https:\/\/t.co\/VZ3A1cHvFd<\/a> @Sacre88<\/a> #7NEWS<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/iuMzGU2pSN<\/a><\/p>\n

— 7NEWS Brisbane (@7NewsBrisbane) March 2, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n