Power of Numbers: Pokemon Go!
Sandra Az Blocked Unblock Follow Following Feb 24, 2018
Numbers
Metrics play a powerful and intensifying role in ordering and shaping our everyday lives. David Beer (2016), in his book, discusses some ways in which metrics exert power on humans and play a vital role in adjusting their social behaviours.
To start with, metric power is capable of giving values to some things and not to other things by rendering them visible or invisible. Metrics have the tendency to show and to hide. “Metrics allow some things to be seen and others to be hidden” (Beer, 2016, p.173). Consequently, leading to some things being important and others not. However, Beer explained that visibility and invisibility might both be empowering or dis-empowering. Empowering in a sense that causes behaviours and actions to become valued since they’re visible and dis-empowering in the sense that things are ignored and not highlighted (invisible). “ Metric power works through this complex interplay between the visible and the invisible” (Beer, 2016, 173).
Also, “Metrics have the capacity to order and to divide, to group or to individualize, to make-us-up and to sort-us-out” (Beer, 2016, p.174). It has the power of ordering, sorting and categorizing which also gives it the power to divide people into groups and sort-us-out in specific ways. For example, how did race create distinct hierarchies between people and cultures. One could wonder where terms like racism, niggers, Arabs.. etc came from. Beer continued to explain that this process is the reason why lives and opportunities are vulnerable to judgements. Metric power sets desired aims and outcomes. In this context, it’s a matter of capturing, producing, thinking and measuring in order to reach the desired outcomes. Metric Power sets up a model, a material reality that put’s the future into the present. Therefore, Metrics produce both the model and the means for people to be an “entrepreneur of the self”.
All those powers that metrics exert change the social world thus become the mean of verification and Beer mentions that the systems of measurement is what makes metric power a possibility. It decides what is acceptable, and what is not. Beer argues that metrics shape our decisions, even though it can’t be said to completely and utterly control our decisions. Still, it has the power to present a certain case to an audience, and shape how they respond to it.
Power of metrics can be proven through many examples. However, what really caught my interest is a tracking application called “Pokemon Go!”. Pokémon Go is a free-to-play, location-based augmented reality game developed by Niantic for iOS and Android devices. It was initially released in 2016, created by John Hank.
Process of Data Collection:
Initially, the application asks about the gender and the age in addition to one’s gmail that is most probably linked to Facebook, Twitter and other identity revealing platforms. In addition, the application asks for acceptance on the terms and condition and the direct access to your camera thus it records your geospatial data: where you’ve been, how long you’ve been there, and at what speed you are moving.
Pokemon Go and the CIA
CEO, John Hank, has connections to the state department and the CIA. He found keyhole (which is a company specialised in geospatial data visualisation applications). In 2004, Google acquired the company and many others by keyhole being instrumental in Google maps and earth.
To make it clear how the game is tied to the CIA we should first have a look on CIA’s website under its contribution to technology so we find:
In the 7th line, the contributions CIA did to technology are surprisingly identical to Pokimon Go. And going to what’s more interesting is Pokimon Go’s privacy policy. If we want to look in details, we find that the game is cooperating with the government. See the pic:
Pokemon Go shaped people’s behaviours and action
Pokemon Go went viral when it was released. The goal of Pokémon Go is simple: catch as many Pokémon characters as possible (Pokémon GO, 2016). But the reality behind this app is much more dangerous… Hundredth of Americans in the US were using the app, and it changed people’s actions and behaviour in a strange way below is a video that shows how they acted to raise their scores on Pokemon Go and to find more pikatchus..
A simple game that is driving people to move in the direction it wants, is clearly a sign of power. It became a trend everyone was concerned about and not using it would make the person outdated. The measurement here is the tracking of your movements where you go. So the app collects data about the places it sees on your camera. As we see in the video people are very overwhelmed and focused on the screen to the extent that they lose concentration in real life as if they are immersed in a new life in the game. Independent gives a brilliant example about a criminal “Mr Wilcox” who was caught because of playing