Extropy
How did life arise? What is information? In his recent dispatches from The Technium, Kevin Kelly would say extropy (cf. negentropy & Prigogine). [previously 1|2]
posted by kliuless on Sep 20, 2009 - 70 comments

"Hoarders is a fascinating look inside the lives of two hoarders per episode. Tivoids set your season pass here, or watch complete episodes online. Kind of a mix between the documentary "Possessed" (previously) and A&E's Intervention. Discussion board includes some drama between the hoarders on the show and the production staff.
posted by basilwhite on Sep 16, 2009 - 126 comments

Ctrl is an NBC webseries starring Tony Hale (Arrested Development's Buster, Chuck's Emmett Milbarge) as an office drone who suddenly finds that, thus far, CTRL-Z lets him undo recent events in his own life, and CTRL-B emboldens him to stand up to his boss and confess his love to the source of his crush. It was based on a short film, Ctrl-Z, starring Hale's Chuck co-star Zachary Levi as the boss. Not exactly a new concept, but nonetheless well-executed by a fairly good comic team ... [more inside]
posted by WCityMike on Jul 18, 2009 - 38 comments

Ok, stop me if you’ve heard this one: an ex-cop accused of killing his fourth wife gets engaged a fifth time and tries to get a job in a brothel on a reality t.v. show (video), but before he can, he's arrested today for killing his third wife. [more inside]
posted by Smedleyman on May 7, 2009 - 40 comments

Haven't you always secretly wondered what would happen if a ninja accidentally stumbled into, say, Bill and Ted's time traveling Phone Booth and ended up somewhere around 7th century BC, only to come face-to-face with a feisty Spartan? Have you not pondered what would happen if you locked up an Apache with a Gladiator inside some sort of 21st century battle dome? Are you frustrated because you feel like there's nobody doing proper scientific studies to see what would happen when you pit two historically violent warriors that could have never actually met in real life? Worry no more people - I present to you Spike TV's newest offering - Deadliest Warrior! [more inside]
posted by Bageena on May 5, 2009 - 110 comments

Everything you know about Alternate Reality Games is wrong
posted by nthdegx on Dec 27, 2008 - 31 comments

A news segment on StreetWars: the 24/7 watergun assassination game.
posted by rageagainsttherobots on Nov 24, 2008 - 40 comments

Overcoming Bias [via]
posted by fantabulous timewaster on Sep 10, 2008 - 26 comments

Mr. Show skits that became reality . (Warning: mature language)
posted by boost ventilator on Feb 6, 2008 - 43 comments

A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila. MTV made a show out of her because, amongst other reasons, she has over 2.5 million friends on myspace and she claims not to discriminate. The cast bios are interesting fucking ridiculous. The latest has her and some dude named Bobby breaking up. Fan sites are abuzz.
posted by gman on Jan 11, 2008 - 103 comments

Still no takers? But it's a proven success.
posted by gman on Dec 3, 2007 - 10 comments

Atom. -- The Clash of the Titans -- The Key to the Cosmos -- The Illusion of Reality
posted by empath on Nov 24, 2007 - 20 comments

Artag: Augmented reality on your desktop. via Digital Urban, with a HowTo.
posted by signal on Jul 13, 2007 - 11 comments

Gamers and their avatars
posted by CunningLinguist on Jun 17, 2007 - 85 comments

Are You Living In A Computer Simulation? The Simulation Argument is a regularly-updated site, organized by Nick Bostrom, examining the hypothesis that we are currently living in an "ancestor simulation" run by a future "post-human" society.
posted by amyms on May 21, 2007 - 165 comments

Reality Sandwich is a new web magazine whose subjects "run the gamut from sustainability to shamanism, alternate realities to alternative energy, remixing media to re-imagining community, holistic healing techniques to the promise and perils of new technologies." Daniel Pinchbeck, the author of Breaking Open the Head, is the editorial director of the site. [Via Disinformation.]
posted by homunculus on May 11, 2007 - 16 comments

The Hamster Ball for Gamers
The VirtuSphere is a fully immersive virtual reality sphere that enables free movement in any direction for military and first-responder training (gaming), tourism (gaming), education (gaming), real estate walk-throughs (gaming), the possibilities are only limited by your imagination (gaming). You can run, jump, walk or otherwise locomote (i.e. roll a wheelchair) through an endless virtual world. And look like a total dork doing it but who cares? The videos make it look totally badass and fun and great exercise too! Though I do wonder what happens if/when you trip and biff.
posted by fenriq on Feb 19, 2007 - 15 comments

Global warming is to blame for the disapearing act of Polar Bears in the arctic. After years of so called "Scientific proof" the Bush administration finally admits they were wrong.
posted by PreteFunkEra on Dec 28, 2006 - 52 comments

Being and Seeming: the Technology of Representation an essay by novelist Richard Powers
posted by MetaMonkey on Sep 24, 2006 - 11 comments

Pentagon to Soldiers: Don't Post those Trophy Videos Online ... another said it made him feel good to bring the gruesome reality of a soldier's life in Iraq to those living safely behind their "clean, white picket fences at home". ...the taking and posting of trophy video served as some kind of relief from the psychological stresses of serving as a soldier in such a violent and acutely dangerous place. ... and from PBS' Mediashift: Your Guide to Soldier Videos From Iraq
posted by amberglow on Aug 5, 2006 - 13 comments

[NSFW] Heavy Rain From Quantic Dream Sets a new standard for realism in interactive cinema... I found this to be really creepy. I have a hard time looking into their eyes. Something about it is just...well, see for yourself. Anyway the flash technology is getting better and better. Along with what has become know as augmented reality. Pretty amazing stuff.
posted by Unregistered User on Jul 25, 2006 - 61 comments

Writing has been around for a long time, but that doesn't mean we've mastered it yet. Want to make fiction? Perhaps it makes itself, perhaps it makes you... Self reference breeding infinite hyperrealities. Which world will you choose?
posted by 0bvious on May 10, 2006 - 9 comments

Researchers have found that prolonged concentration on a difficult task actually switches off a person's self awareness. Fancy experiencing this sensation for yourself? That would be an oxymoron in existence. Just lay back and let the orgasm take hold.
posted by 0bvious on Apr 20, 2006 - 31 comments

As the Pentagon ousts plans to turn insects into cyber war machines you'd be forgiven for asking the question: Where does the real digital end and the faked life begin? Are we simulating life synthetically? or just speeding up an entirely natural process? Technologically engineered life is here to stay. Its not far fetched to speculate that simulacra may become all there is.
posted by 0bvious on Mar 15, 2006 - 13 comments

Who wants to be a superhero? Forget Survivor. Forget Beauty and the Geek. This is the ultimate reality show. Who wouldn't want to see a middle-aged comic-book geeks decked out to fight crime? Apply now! Our safety depends upon it! (Maybe Peter Pan would be interested?)
posted by jdroth on Mar 15, 2006 - 22 comments

' "Predictive programming works by means of the propagation of the illusion of an infallibly accurate vision of how the world is going to look in the future". Through the circulation of science "fiction" literature, the ignorant masses are provided with semiotic intimations of coming events. Within such literary works are narrative paradigms that are politically and socially expedient to the power elite. Thus, when the future unfolds as planned, it assumes the paradigmatic character of the "fiction" that foretold it...........' The Illuminati: an all encompassing conspiracy stranger than any fiction
posted by 0bvious on Dec 11, 2005 - 17 comments

Does God Play Dice?
posted by Gyan on Dec 3, 2005 - 104 comments

If the universe is a hologram and the healthy human brain a valve of consciousness then where'd this mental infinity come from? Are we simply living the simulacrum? Or does Pi protect us all, forever, infinitely?
posted by 0bvious on Nov 22, 2005 - 39 comments

So You Wannabe A Shaman, Huh? Or got a Spiritual/Shamanic Crisis? Trouble with Mystical and Psychotic Perceptions of Reality? Some tips on How To Build A Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later may help. Maybe just go watch Predator, with a Shaman's view. Or skip the lot and Transcend Duality.
posted by MetaMonkey on Nov 21, 2005 - 33 comments

I want your child ... and nothing else! The newest reality show from billionaire, and Big Brother creator, John de Mol about a woman looking for a sperm donor to conceive a child. Sounds like more great programming.
posted by benkolb on Aug 24, 2005 - 30 comments

What's the difference between reality and unreality? In real life you have no options. It's like when JFK is assassinated and you're in a method acting class, trying to become a mourning American citizen. Thomas De Zengotita's (reality is so passé) new book is out.
posted by prozaction on Apr 12, 2005 - 8 comments

Augmented Reality at the Media Lab. Via Bruce Sterling.
posted by signal on Apr 4, 2005 - 19 comments

Inside the mind of a paranoid schizophrenic. Memorize the keywords with which the lizards of the stage world will attempt to distort your reality. Can you accept your own vampirism? Are you familiar with the most common reality fishing techniques and horse movements? This is the painstaking record of a man for whom delusions have completely overtaken reality. Spend some time with it - the detail is mind-numbing and the reality he has created is utterly insane... and occasionally convincing. Mirror in case Geocities croaks.
posted by BlackLeotardFront on Mar 17, 2005 - 45 comments

Reality's Apprentice Reality TV may seem a world away from real life, but what happens when Donald Trump’s The Apprentice moves in upstairs? Worse, what happens when it seems to be a sham? Keith Hollihan reports with a fascinating account of his life’s surreal intrusions.
posted by konolia on Apr 13, 2004 - 25 comments

Boy Meets... Boy?!!?

NBC-owned Bravo will court viewers this summer with American television's first primetime gay-themed reality dating series. But in a twist worthy of the bogus baron on Fox's "Joe Millionaire," some of the suitors are actually heterosexual men who were paid by the program to pretend to be gay -- unbeknownst to the eligible bachelor.
I'm not sure whether this will be an example of a leading broadcaster leading the sociological agenda, or of another chance to humiliate folk on TV for entertainment, but with a heterosexist flavour:

FOUND VIA SAFERSEX.ORG (THX, filchyboy)
posted by dash_slot- on Jun 5, 2003 - 35 comments

Revoke the Oscar. Should "Bowling For Columbine" be considered non-fiction if it manipulated scenes and knowingly left out key information? Would a new category be better, like say adjusted documentary or propaganda? Or is it impossible to make a documentary without some point of view?
posted by destro on Apr 18, 2003 - 53 comments

Yesterday's NYT magazine section (reg req'd) featured a profile of Jack Osbourne---whose family's show premieres its second season tomorrow---and discussed the unpleasant repercussions of his new fame: a prescription to Zoloft, a discontinued high school education and severe threats that warrant his own eye-patched bodyguard. Is this kind of exposure (especially in a reality TV context) too much for a 17 year old kid to handle?
posted by adrober on Nov 25, 2002 - 17 comments

Indecent proposal? "People usually find love and marriage in the traditional way. You meet, fall in love and tie the knot...What if there's a better way? MARRIED BY AMERICA (tentative title) is a groundbreaking reality-based show that invites the viewing audience to be your personal matchmaker." How else would you expect beautiful people to meet?
posted by boost ventilator on Nov 16, 2002 - 7 comments

Real reality tv. OneWorld TV has launched. "The site features short, Video Nation-style contributions from film-makers, both amateur and professional, from around the world. Subjects range from Aids and global warming to the conflict in the Middle East and the plight of child gold miners in Burkina Faso". You can create your own story line, with different perspectives and sources.
posted by papalotl on Jul 29, 2002 - 4 comments

The Age of Simulation. Do we live in Reality or do we live in a Simulation? Following themes most popularly found in movies like The Matrix or in books like Stanislaw Lem's Futurological Congress, we are being told via email and even by philosophers at Yale, that what we perceive is not what is. Is this merely paranoia?
posted by vacapinta on Jul 1, 2002 - 31 comments

The East Coast knows... Survivor Africa is over. You may not have noticed it ever starting... But Kim, Lex, Ethan, or Tom won. I'll let someone else spoil the surprise for those West Coast viewers.
posted by jacobw on Jan 10, 2002 - 11 comments

Deconstructing Deconstructionism: "It is based on the proposition that the apparently real world is in fact a vast social construct and that the way to knowledge lies in taking apart in one’s mind this thing society has built." (via Reductio ad Absurdum)
posted by Steven Den Beste on Nov 29, 2001 - 46 comments

Are you looking for a new religion? Why not try Church of Reality? The Church of Reality is an alternative religion that is based on the dedication to seeing reality the way it really is. Our motto is, "If it's real, we believe in it."
posted by Rastafari on Nov 3, 2001 - 33 comments

Question concerning the notion of the social construction of reality. If enough people cease to believe in the Holocaust, or if enough of them have just never heard of it, as detailed in another MeFi thread, does that mean it didn't happen?

If it only means "well, as far as those people are concerned it never happened" then that's a truism and hardly worth any hoo-hah. But does social constructivism, if I can call it that, go on to make the much stronger claim that if the millions cease to believe in it, or forget about it, then it reallyo-trulyo never happened?
posted by jfuller on Jul 12, 2001 - 9 comments

Silicon Graphics announces the end of reality. (Via Segfault) Where will we all live now?
posted by Steven Den Beste on Jul 5, 2001 - 8 comments

Survivor begat SurvivorBlog, which begat SurvivorCam!
posted by owillis on May 15, 2001 - 7 comments

As a struggling ex-smoker, I applaud these people for the effort. But part of me still wonders if Unfiltered (a "reality TV" webshow about 5 teenage smokers) is going to have any impact on teens who smoke.
posted by Reggie452 on May 9, 2001 - 3 comments

Last One Standing. Now this is reality tv. Just came on at 8PST on USA. About 10 people have to keep a hand on a car in order to win it. After 3 days awake, they started losing their wits and begin to imagine that they're being plotted against. What Big Brother should have been.
posted by owillis on Aug 13, 2000 - 11 comments

Big Brother, around the world... Like Survivor, it started in Holland and Germany, then spread across continental Europe, and finally to the UK and USA. And like Millionaire, the duplication of the format is a good way of distinguishing cultural differences. The British version seems more candid than its American cousin, in keeping with Channel 4's character; it's also a lot less chummy. Anyone else keeping track of the two different houses?
posted by holgate on Aug 7, 2000 - 11 comments