But what if fake news doesn't mainly affect
our relationship to the truth, but our relationship
to each other?
Definition of an Echo chamber
An environment or ecosystem in which participants encounter beliefs that amplify or reinforce their preexisting beliefs, by communication and repetition inside a closed system and insulated from rebuttal.
We all live in echo chambers.
Some we know and some we don't.
In these chambers, we get bombarded
with fake news.
Fake news so real that the facts of them
no longer matter.
Because, how should we understand each other when we no longer share any truths?
Chamber Obscura is my attempt to create a physical representation of an echo chamber.
This to guide and help us understand how we should talk to each other when our experience online is so personalized. By manifesting it as a physical object we get something to talk around and figure out strategies to understand each other when we no longer get the exact same information
What it is
Chamber Obscura is a wooden box measuring 21 by 21 centimeters. When you peek in, you become the first and final viewer of an artificially generated image, as long as you're looking at it. The box contains a Raspberry Pi (small computer), a screen and a proximity sensor. It uses a prompt with randomized elements that generates an image.
A new era of truths
The project came about as a way to explore and speculate about the future of realities and truths. 100 years ago, it was a true manual and intensive task to explore and report on the world. Today, anyone can create information, propaganda and proof of world views with a single finger tap.
In this new era of truths, it takes enormous fact-checking skills just for something you see for five seconds or hear in passing. How do we, together, help understand the world and make sure we don't become victims of misinformation and division?
We as a society need to find new ways to talk and debate. My hope is that this project will become a springboard for these discussions. I don't have any answers, but I want to find them together with you.
This project is just the beginning. I want to explore this topic together with you. What this can become, and how we can find a way to discuss these topics.
Therefore, I'm looking for an organization and people interested in talking and working together to figure out what this can become.
So if you want to try Chamber Obscura, or continue the discussion.
Feel free to reach out to me at hello@rasmusbengtsson.com