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Garfield Benjamin

Postdoctoral Researcher, School of Media Arts and Technology, Solent University
Garfield Benjamin's research spans cultural theory and creative media practice, focusing on the relation between humans and (digital) technology. Their work emphasises the future of society, whether that be distant or imminent, in order to inform our understanding of the present. Garfield's creative media practice includes web-based media, computer-generated images/film/sound, interactive and game-based works, augmented reality, and avatars.

Garfield's research interests include:
Media theory
Digital culture
Online privacy
Posthumanism
Utopia
Science fiction
Computer games
Digital art
Literature
Psychoanalysis
Quantum physics

Facial recognition is spreading faster than you realise

Mar 01, 2020 13:15 pm UTC| Technology

The UK is currently witnessing a tug of war over facial recognition. On the streets of London and in South Wales, live systems have been deployed by the police, supported by the UK government. But in the Scottish...

Amazon Echo’s privacy issues go way beyond voice recordings

Jan 21, 2020 01:39 am UTC| Insights & Views Technology

Amazon Echo and the Alexa voice assistant have had widely publicised issues with privacy. Whether it is the amount of data they collect or the fact that they reportedly pay employees and, at times, external contractors...

Social media: should you share pictures of your children online?

Apr 03, 2019 10:28 am UTC| Insights & Views Technology

Gwyneth Paltrow who has 5.3m Instagram followers reportedly ran into a spot of trouble with her daughter, Apple Martin, recently when the 14-year-old called out her mother for posting a picture of her on social media....

Can Britbox beat Netflix? It will need to adapt to changing viewing habits

Mar 06, 2019 14:02 pm UTC| Insights & Views Entertainment

The BBC and ITV recently announced a new joint venture to create a streaming service that they have called Britbox. The focus for Britbox will be to sell British television programmes, old and new, to the UK public, for a...

Blockchain Revolution Series

Deepfake videos could destroy trust in society - here’s how to restore it

Feb 10, 2019 10:57 am UTC| Insights & Views Technology

It has the potential to ruin relationships, reputations and our online reality. Deepfake artificial intelligence technology promises to create doctored videos so realistic that theyre almost impossible to tell from the...

Economy

What should you do if you can’t pay your rent or mortgage?

The cost of living crisis is making it difficult for many people to pay their bills, including housing costs. Private sector rents have increased by an average 9% over the year to February 2024, and rising interest rates...

Reducing energy demand and improving efficiency will help prevent the next gas crisis

Gas prices have relaxed, Europe has come out of the winter with record gas storage levels and a surfeit of liquefied natural gas is set to reach the shores of Europe over the coming years. Many commentators are hopeful...

Minimum wage for South African farm workers: study shows 2013 hike helped reduce poverty even though compliance was poor

Minimum wage policies are typically aimed at reducing poverty. Yet there is little direct evidence of this effect, especially in developing countries. And none for South Africa. In a recent paper, we consider the...

Gas is good until 2050 and beyond, under Albanese gas strategy

The Albanese government is talking up the crucial role of gas as a transition fuel through to 2050 and beyond. In a gas strategy to be released on Thursday, the government envisages the fuels uses would change over...

South Africa’s plan to move away from coal: 8 steps to make it succeed

The South African governments Just Energy Transition Implementation Plan was launched in November 2023. It is a roadmap guiding the country away from reliance on coal-fired power towards renewable energy alternatives by...

Politics

Donald Trump Allegedly Offers Oil Execs a Deal to Scrap EV Incentives for $1B Donation

Former President Donald Trump reportedly proposed a $1 billion deal to oil executives, offering to end electric vehicle (EV) subsidies in return for campaign funding, according to The Washington Post. This move underscores...

US Supreme Court upended decades of precedent in 2022 by allowing voters to vote with gerrymandered maps instead of fixing the congressional districts first

For the 2022 midterm elections, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Alabama to use congressional districts that violated the law and diluted the voting power of Black citizens. A 5-4 vote by the Supreme Court in February...

Germany lowers voting age to 16 for the European elections

Ahead of the European parliament elections in June, Germany has lowered the age limit on participation to 16. This makes it the largest of just a handful of states in the EU to allow people under the age of 18 to vote....

South Africa will be president of the G20 in 2025: two much-needed reforms it should drive

South Africa will play an important international role in 2025 as president of the G20. The G20 is a group of 19 countries as well as the African Union and the European Union. Between them they represent 85% of global...

What early 2024 polls are revealing about voters of color and the GOP

By the end of winter 2024, the return of Donald Trump to the top of the GOP presidential ticket has revealed a surprising trend in the former presidents base of support: his increasing popularity among Black and Latino...

Science

Is dark matter’s main rival theory dead? There’s bad news from the Cassini spacecraft and other recent tests

One of the biggest mysteries in astrophysics today is that the forces in galaxies do not seem to add up. Galaxies rotate much faster than predicted by applying Newtons law of gravity to their visible matter, despite those...

Why are algorithms called algorithms? A brief history of the Persian polymath you’ve likely never heard of

Algorithms have become integral to our lives. From social media apps to Netflix, algorithms learn your preferences and prioritise the content you are shown. Google Maps and artificial intelligence are nothing without...

IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects

About a trillion tiny particles called neutrinos pass through you every second. Created during the Big Bang, these relic neutrinos exist throughout the entire universe, but they cant harm you. In fact, only one of them is...

The Mars Sample Return mission has a shaky future, and NASA is calling on private companies for backup

A critical NASA mission in the search for life beyond Earth, Mars Sample Return, is in trouble. Its budget has ballooned from US$5 billion to over $11 billion, and the sample return date may slip from the end of this...

Dark matter: our new experiment aims to turn the ghostly substance into actual light

A ghost is haunting our universe. This has been known in astronomy and cosmology for decades. Observations suggest that about 85% of all the matter in the universe is mysterious and invisible. These two qualities are...

Technology

Massive SHIB Transfers Occur Despite Sharp Decline in Shibarium Transactions

Shiba Inu (SHIB), a dog-themed cryptocurrency, has seen a startling 3,015% increase in large holder NetFlow, which provides insight into whales changing positions. However, this impressive surge comes with a...

SHIB Whale Activity Surges Amid Plummeting Shibarium Transaction Volumes

While the Shiba Inu developer team continues to work on and implement key updates to the Layer-2 blockchain, Shibarium is seeing a significant drop in transaction volume, which has been ongoing for about a month. This...

AirTag With New Chip and Improved Tracking Due Next Year; No New Mac Studio, Pro Until Mid-2025: Mark Gurman

Apples upcoming AirTag, equipped with an upgraded chip and enhanced tracking, is expected to launch by mid-2025, as detailed by Bloombergs Mark Gurman. He also claimed that Apple will not update the Mac Studio and Mac Pro...

Shibarium Faces 97% Drop in Transactions, Yet Transfers Rise Steadily

High FDVs on Binance Listings Lead to Investor Losses, Analysis Reveals

An analysis of Binance listings over the past six months reveals that high fully diluted valuations often lead to token value loss, adversely affecting regular investors while benefiting insiders. VC-Backed Tokens on...