you are all human

July 22, 2014 8:08 PM

Doing his best Orson Welles impression, Ze Frank administers a Voight-Kampff Test to a Vancouver TED audience.
posted by kliuless (29 comments total)

Came for the snark, stayed for the bittersweet sadness.
posted by saucysault at 10:12 PM on July 22, 2014 [4 favorites]

no to most of them, but then I am more or less fictitious anyway
posted by philip-random at 10:50 PM on July 22, 2014 [1 favorite]

That's some good Ze Frank, but its no Voight-Kampff. Needs more testing for Capillary dilation of the so-called blush response. Fluctuation of the pupil. Involuntary dilation of the iris…
posted by The Legit Republic of Blanketsburg at 12:29 AM on July 23, 2014 [3 favorites]

I wonder if it's cool to like Ze Frank here on metafilter; we're all supposed to be so happening and cutting edge and independent and/or whatever else, and maybe it's not cool to like him anymore, not that I know of but The Cool Police here know, and would be all contemptuous and snippy and finger-wavey if I got it wrong. But I don't give a rats ass. I can't. I love the guy. He gives a lot of himself, he has given a lot of himself. He gives us himself on the stage, on the screen, it's not some part he's playing, he's not distanced as a painter is from a canvas, he's not distanced as a songwriter is from a song -- he *is* the canvas, he *is* the song. Cool guy.

Thx for posting, OP.
posted by dancestoblue at 1:03 AM on July 23, 2014 [9 favorites]

Involuntary dilation of the iris…

Do you like our owl?
posted by Celsius1414 at 1:11 AM on July 23, 2014

That's some good Ze Frank, but its no Voight-Kampff. Needs more testing for Capillary dilation of the so-called blush response. Fluctuation of the pupil. Involuntary dilation of the iris…

We call it Voight-Kampff for short.
posted by monocultured at 2:18 AM on July 23, 2014

TIL I am probably not human.
posted by Decani at 3:23 AM on July 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

I suspect that the humanity Ze was testing wasn't in the audience.
posted by jenkinsEar at 3:44 AM on July 23, 2014

dancestoblue: I wonder if it's cool to like Ze Frank here on metafilter;

You won't get any lip from me. I only clicked on this because I thought it had do with the Disney Junior animated dog chef that makes tasty treats.

Tasty time with.... Ze Fronk!
posted by dr_dank at 4:07 AM on July 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

Ze Frank's bio page on TED ends with a quote from Metafilter, so I think that means you're cool.
posted by drlith at 4:27 AM on July 23, 2014 [4 favorites]

Have you ever come to metafilter with an urge to say something snarky and pointlessly annoying, in a way that lazily mimics the original post, and then realised half-way through the comment that this is the point of the post and in fact - yes - this too is partly what it means to be awkwardly and fundamentally human.
posted by zoo at 4:55 AM on July 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

we're all supposed to be so happening and cutting edge and independent and/or whatever else,

No, those would be the replicants. Relax and like what you like.
posted by aught at 5:12 AM on July 23, 2014

Of course it's not a real snake. Do you think I'd be working in a place like this if I could afford a real snake?
posted by localroger at 5:23 AM on July 23, 2014

I actually get really agitated when my best friend poses me the Voight-Kampff turtle question because I would help the turtle, dammit. It always ends with me shouting in wroth YES I WOULD TOO HELP THE TURTLE and him laughing maniacally.

I would help the turtle! It is a stupid test!
posted by winna at 5:51 AM on July 23, 2014

I would help the turtle! It is a stupid test!

They're just questions, winna. In answer to your query, they're written down for me. It's a test, designed to provoke an emotional response.
posted by Sangermaine at 6:28 AM on July 23, 2014 [5 favorites]

They're just questions, winna. In answer to your query, they're written down for me. It's a test, designed to provoke an emotional response.

ARGLBARGLE THE TEST IS FLAWED I WOULD HELP THE TURTLE! WHY WOULD I NOT HELP THE TURTLE?!

*head asplode*
posted by winna at 6:33 AM on July 23, 2014

Let me tell you about my mother.
posted by maxsparber at 6:36 AM on July 23, 2014

I saw Jerry Voight speak at a conference once, and managed to catch him after his presentation. He was pleasant enough, but he seems genuinely fed up of people only knowing him for that one test. Says it was early work and didn't really lead anywhere, and he's much more proud of what he's done on social signalling in marmosets. I did ask him how he managed that, given that there haven't been any marmosets since the war, but he told me you can learn an awful lot from old David Attenborough films.

I didn't feel able to ask him how he felt about Sandra Kampff getting the Nobel.
posted by Devonian at 6:55 AM on July 23, 2014 [7 favorites]

Is this testing whether I'm a replicant or a lesbian, Mr. Frank?
posted by kirkaracha at 6:55 AM on July 23, 2014

I didn't feel able to ask him how he felt about Sandra Kampff getting the Nobel.

I think he's okay with it. He calls her "Mein Kampff" which I guess is some kind of private joke or term of endearment or something.
posted by The Bellman at 7:43 AM on July 23, 2014

I propose we take a community position that Ze Frank, as an individual performer, is a good thing we can enjoy without irony or snark. But TED, the TED corporation and their bland knowledge-lite brand syndicated to smug people who want to feel smart in 15 minutes, TED should be held in contempt. (With TEDx appreciated in a hipster-irony way and besides since you saw the talk you really do dry your hands that way.)
posted by Nelson at 7:48 AM on July 23, 2014

zeFrank and Mat Howie would both be on my Mount Rushmore of the Internet

If that makes me uncool, it can join the rest of my goddamn life.
posted by DigDoug at 8:45 AM on July 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

zeFrank is awesome.
posted by xarnop at 9:19 AM on July 23, 2014

I don't watch Ted talks generally, but it sounds like a good concept in theory if the right people were giving the talks. Most people don't specialize in science/theory and are busy contributing to the world in other ways. It should be ok to want short informational updates for people to have a small portion of time to devote to science/news/technology/theory when that is not needed for their work and a lot of people have important obligations to attend to or needs for rest/down time/recreation other than just absorbing important science information.

I think the concern to me is who controls the quality of this platform and are people actually being educated vs mislead when they don't have the background to evaluate the credibility of the speaker or what they are being presented with. If people are devoting their time to becoming educated it's not bad that it's only 15 minutes a few times a week, it matters whether they are now pretending to be informed when they are even further from the truth than before. I don't know how credible zeFrank is and I'm pretty sure I've disagreed with his slant on a few things, but he does have a degree in neuroscience, and we need more people in the arts and entertainment who DO have credible education and interesting ideas to disperse among the people using their charisma and entertaining personas.

I do think that people who are not specialists on a topic should have a voice to share ideas on such topics too (sometimes it actually does take an outsider to see some blind spots that became entrenched in an entire field), however some demonstration the information is credible and not simply made up while you were stoned and presented as breaking new science theory about the universe is probably a good idea. Creative thinkers can have important ideas to share but we are all better off when there is communication between the creative thinkers and the critical thinkers. And it's awesomesauce when some people can do a good bit of both.

I also like the idea of communities sharing ideas and growing consciously and Tedtalks has a "reflect about the meaning of life and human relationships" bent that it's hard to know who the "expert" would be, so again, not bad to have diverse voices and backgrounds in those community discussions but sometimes it seems like it just takes a person who claims a privileged identity to begin with and presents their ideas as more meaningful based on who they are, than actual expertise on the specific subject or actually making sure it's diverse voices get to play expert on the meaning of life/the universe/philosophical concepts for 20 minutes. However that's just from glancing at their website and seeing a few videos here or there so I could be wrong.

If we could create a platform with accurate information (as per current understandings in respected fields) on new developments in our understanding of important fields of study for human welfare put together in concise bites for the general public without a science background, it would be great and gather that's sort of how tedtalks wants to work, but maybe some improvements could be made there or a whole new platform that's designed and managed better with a more concise goal of accurate and critically evaluated information could develop.
posted by xarnop at 10:02 AM on July 23, 2014

On TFA: it was okay. The format of "monologue that strikes a self-conscious balance between lighthearted and wistful" is a little too NPR for me.

On Ze Frank: his True Facts are hilarious. Formulaic, yeah, but I still laugh at every one. Nothing wrong with formula as long as it still works.

His broader identity as Internet do-gooder / "creator" / self-appointed emissary of digital culture doesn't particularly bother me, but nor does it particularly interest me.

On TED talks and "knowledge lite": there are plenty of TED talks that are Malcolm-Gladwell-style "counterintuitive idea baldly asserted as world-changing fact", or similarly tedious exercises in self-aggrandizement. There are also a lot of TED talks that are good and interesting and informative. Giving a broad outline of something, in terms that a general audience will understand, is not a bad thing. That's how you begin learning about a thing. I don't know why anyone would hate on that.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 10:22 AM on July 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

To me he's still the guy that makes those neat Java applet toys.
posted by CaseyB at 10:50 AM on July 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

To me he's still the only guy in the world who knows how to dance properly.
posted by flabdablet at 5:11 AM on July 24, 2014

zeFrank is awesome.
posted by xarnop

I am seriously not seeing it.
posted by Decani at 7:08 PM on July 24, 2014

I am seriously not seeing it.

What do you find awesome? Perhaps I can direct you to a thread that you would prefer.
posted by maxsparber at 9:56 PM on July 24, 2014 [2 favorites]