Adam Aleksic discusses 'Algospeak' and how social media is changing how we talk

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 1:51: Clanker, robots, Gen X, internet meme

Notable quotes from "Adam Aleksic discusses 'Algospeak' and how social media is changing how we talk"

• It's kind of a speculative slur for robots. So, the idea that they would become more sentient in the future and they could be treated as a human minority today.

  about robots · at 0:03

• Internet meme where people are speculating about your daughter bringing home a clanker in the year60.

  about Clanker · at 1:17

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Senator Ruben Ggo — Person · 1 mention · first at 1:05
  Some people are I think the representative Ruben Ggo tweeted about clankers taking our jobs. and there's a lot of people sort of starting to intersperse this into their everyday conversations, but I think the main form.

Concepts & topics

• Clanker — Concept · 2 mentions · first at 0:00
• robots — Concept · 2 mentions · first at 0:05
• Gen X — Concept · 1 mention · first at 0:01
• internet meme — Concept · 1 mention · first at 1:17
  Conversations, but I think the main form that it's spreading right now is as an internet meme where people are speculating about your daughter bringing home a clanker in the year60.
• year60 — Concept · 1 mention · first at 1:21
  Internet meme where people are speculating about your daughter bringing home a clanker in the year60.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 Do you know about Clanker yet? No, I have no idea. I'm Gen X. It's kind of a speculative slur for robots. So, the idea that they would become more sentient in the future and they could be treated as a human minority today.

0:11 Wait, so you mean like they'd be treated as like a lower class? Exactly. So, the the idea is a derogatory play on the idea of clanking as a robot, but also the n-word itself. Um, and it comes from Star Wars where robots are seen as sort of a secondary race. And there's a lot of sort of ideas about clankers being a lower class but sort of anthropomorphized citizen in the future.

0:37 I mean, I think in some ways that makes sense. Like they're not humans, so shouldn't they be treated as clankers?

0:44 Well, you know, it's just the idea that in the future they would become conscious and we aren't recognizing that. It's sort of an online meme that's playing into that idea of what if they are sensient and then we don't recognize them that way.

0:56 Okay. And so meanwhile are are are people using this word like in normal conversation?

1:03 Some people are uh I think the representative Ruben Ggo uh tweeted about clankers taking our jobs. Um, and there's a lot of people sort of starting to intersperse this into their everyday conversations, but I think the main form that it's spreading right now is as an internet meme where people are speculating about your daughter bringing home a clanker in the year60.

1:23 Oh, okay. So, like60, my daughter's going to bring home a robot who is really, really nice to her, therefore a nicer boyfriend than a real human, but he's kind of a clanker,

1:36 right? Well, the idea is you don't want your daughter dating a robot. Amen to that. Well, in60 that might be racist.

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "Adam Aleksic discusses 'Algospeak' and how social media is changing how we talk"?

In order: 0:00 Clanker, robots, Gen X, internet meme.

What is mentioned in this NPR episode?

6 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Clanker, robots, Gen X, Senator Ruben Ggo, internet meme, year60. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Adam Aleksic discusses 'Algospeak' and how social media is changing how we talk"?

The episode runs 2 min; the transcript is about 329 words in 8 timestamped sections.

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