On updog (AI, Law, and Otter Things #31)
In today's issue, I speak about books, films, and TV shows. I also give an overview of what has been going on in DigiCon. Plus, of course, the usual dog and otter pictures.
After almost a year of sticking to my schedule, it has been almost a month since I've last written a new issue. This does not mean I am giving up on this newsletter, just that I've been biting off a bit more than I could chew. Because of that, I had quite a few deadlines converging in a month, plus some new projects and the tasks involved in educating a dog.
As of the beginning of this week, things are a bit lighter. So I thought of speaking a bit about what I have been reading and watching in my leisure time and sharing recent posts from The Digital Constitutionalist. Other serious stuff will have to wait until the next issue (hopefully in a week or two).
WARNING: Mild spoilers might follow
Fortunately for my rest & relaxation needs, the last few weeks have been quite forthcoming with new sci-fi content. First, we have a new season of For All Mankind, an AppleTV+ show that I mentioned in one of the very first issues of this newsletter. The show is set in an alternate universe, in which the Soviets managed to land the first astronaut on the Moon a few weeks before the Americans.
Season 1 is quite irregular and deals with the immediate aftermath of the Moon landing, in which the US attempts to reclaim leadership by establishing a Moon base and recruiting female astronauts. The show improves a lot in season 2, which covers the 1980s and takes more liberties in speculating how that world would develop. Season 3 is set in the 1990s and has as its overarching theme the race to Mars. Only one episode has been released so far, but I wonder if other players, such as China and Europe, will finally play a role in this new space race.
Another show that might have escaped your attention is Our Flag Means Death. David Jenkins created this show, which features Taika Waititi as one of its executive producers and a main character. The show follows Stede Bonnet, a rich Englishman who abandons his comfortable life to become a pirate in the 18th Century Caribbean. However, Bonnet adopts a...modern, enlightened view of leadership, which is considerably at odds with the reality of piracy. Hijinks ensue, especially once the crew meets the fearsome Blackbeard. This is an incredibly tender and funny TV show, which has been fortunately renewed for a second season. You should check it out.
Habitual readers might be aware that I am not exactly fond of cinema. Still, I really enjoyed watching Everything Everywhere All at Once. This film has much to enjoy: Michelle Yeoh, alternate universes, family conflict, tax issues, shout-outs to Wong Kar-wai, and a beautiful message about kindness. The plot is absolutely chaotic, in the best of ways, but one that might not please people who don't have patience for narrative hijinks. But, if you like time travel stories or even narratives in which you have to go with the flow, definitely check this one out.
Unfortunately, I have not read much over the last month or so (at least for fun). But one book that stuck with me is Terry Pratchett's Nation. This is a non-Discworld book set on an alternate version of Earth in the 19th Century. It follows the story of a boy who loses his entire family—indeed, his entire world—as a tsunami hits the island he lives in, and of an English girl who gets stuck on said island because of the tsunami. It tells a story of grief, trauma, cultural barriers...and learning to live with those obstacles and move forward. Nation is among Pratchett's most beautiful books—in the same tier as Small Gods or Night Watch—and it was a good companion to an exhausted me.
On a somewhat different note, I would like to conclude this pop culture excursus by speaking about the recent TV shows in two of the biggest sci-fi franchises: Star Wars and Star Trek. Obi-Wan Kenobi is following a weekly release schedule, starting from 27 May, and it has so far delivered on its promise. Ewan McGregor plays a good, grumpy Obi-Wan, and the plot that gets him back into action is somewhat forced but not excessively so. The newcomers to the show—and the obvious return—are also working for the most part, but I am definitely glad it is presented as a limited-run show rather than something that might be renewed for a new season.
Unfortunately, the showrunners of Picard did not have the same common sense. After a first season that flirted with something interesting before giving up on offering anything beyond fanservice, the first three episodes of Season 2 promised to take Star Trek somewhere new. Instead, we got a lukewarm exploration of Picard's childhood—get in the robot, Jean-Luc—and a wasteful development of the only interesting new character the show had managed to create, which also creates problems for Star Trek lore. Does this mean I will not watch Season 3? Of course not, given how many cast members from The Next Generation will be there. But, if you have not succumbed to the power of fanservice, I recommend you stay clear of this show.
Fortunately, there are other sources of Star Trek-related joy in current television. I never got into Discovery, as the first season felt a bit too grimdark for me to care. However, Lower Decks is a delightfully fun show, especially if you have spent too much time watching the various Trek shows and movies. And Strange New Worlds has been very good so far: it manages to do both serious and whimsical episodes, all with this huge "The Original Series, but less problematic and with actual funding" vibe. If you want to watch some new Star Trek—or even check what Trek is all about—this new show is as good as it gets. At least judging by its first six episodes.
Meanwhile, in DigiCon
This next Friday (17 June), DigiCon will join the "Connected Life" conference organized by the Oxford Internet Institute. First, our editors Francisco de Abreu Duarte and Giovanni de Gregorio will present their work on online content moderation in a cross-Atlantic context.
After that, a collaboration by DigiCon will appear in the art exhibition: "Law is Art: A Metaverse Exhibition of Constitutional Values". This metaverse art exhibition will present works by contributors to our sci-fi section, presenting the interfaces between science fiction, art, and the law. Hats off to Francisco and Yeliz Figen Döker for their fabulous work in curating and setting up the virtual environment for this presentation, and I encourage everybody to join it.
Connected Life | Agenda — connectedlife.oii.ox.ac.uk
In addition to this event, we also published quite a lot of interesting material since mid-May. On substantive legal matters, there were the following posts:
A progressive view of digital constitutionalism, by Rachel Griffin (Sciences Po)
Dispelling the ‘Digital Enchantment’, by Karen Yeung (University of Birmingham)
Constitutional Safeguards in the “Freedom of Expression Triangle”: Online Content Moderation and User Rights after the CJEU’s Judgement on Article 17 Copyright DSM Directive, by Christophe Geiger (LUISS Guido Carli University) and Bernd Justin Jütte (University College Dublin)
A Health-Oriented Approach to the Declaration on European Digital Rights and Principles, by Hannah van Kolfschooten (University of Amsterdam) and Sofia Palmieri (University of Gent)
Fundamental rights and artificial intelligence in the social, democratic, and digital state under the rule of law, by Miguel Ángel Presno Linera (University of Oviedo)
Words don’t come easy: Biometric terminology and its relevance within the AI Act, by Natalia Menéndez González (EUI) and Ernestina Sacchetto (University of Turin)
In the same period, the sci-fi section published an artist showcase, a review (by Yeliz and Natalia) of a digital art expo in Florence, and two essays: one by Jorge L Contreras (University of Utah) on what the law can learn from science fiction and another by Christine A Corcos (Louisiana State University) on human/artificial hybrids in science fiction and law.
I am somewhat biased, but I dare to say that you have missed quite a bit if you haven't been following DigiCon recently. And some nice stuff is on our publishing pipeline, so stay tuned!