Tartle Best Data Marketplace
Tartle Best Data Marketplace
Tartle Best Data Marketplace
Tartle Best Data Marketplace
June 10, 2021

Ready Player One And TARTLE

Ready Player One And Tartle
BY: TARTLE

Ready Player One and TARTLE

Ready Player One is a movie that flew under the radar a couple of years ago. That’s surprising given that its source material is a well-known novel, it was directed by Steven Spielberg, featured appearances by a number of iconic fictional characters and was full of action and top-notch special effects. More importantly, it has themes that are relevant to today. 

In it, most people interact with each other through a virtual world called the OASIS. This OASIS can either be used to manipulate people and get them to behave however the person in control would like or it could be used to allow people to connect with friends around the world, or to create and collaborate, helping each other to solve problems and improve the world for everyone. 

That might sound a little familiar, especially if you’ve been following TARTLE for a while. Social media is much like a proto-OASIS in that many people form some of their deepest friendships with people they first meet on their phones. In fact, there are growing numbers of people who get married after first getting to know each other through social media. And there are numerous collaborations that are possible only because of social media and the internet. This runs the gamut from media companies, to music, to research. Just a couple examples include the band Gorillaz. Its members never met in real life before making their first album, they made their music by sharing files on the internet. In the world of research, people can literally donate processing power on their computers to process data for NASA, including information from the SETI program (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). TARTLE itself couldn’t exist without the internet since much of our team works remotely. 

Unfortunately, just as with the OASIS, there are plenty of people interested in using social media and all aspects of the internet as a tool for manipulation. Such people only see others as part of the system, a part to be bent to their will and for their own benefit. They see data points instead of fellow humans. And these – let’s call them controllers – have a vast amount of control over everything that we see and hear in addition to being able to observe from afar everywhere we go online, and even much of what we say if we speak within range of a smart device.

In Ready Player One, there is a simple plot device – whoever finds a mysterious Easter egg will gain control of the OASIS. If the right person finds it, the OASIS will be what it was meant to be, a tool to lift people up. In the real world it isn’t quite so simple. Restoring the internet to its original promise will be much more difficult than just finding a convenient Easter egg. It’s going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of people supporting each other. 

That’s more than a policy, or even an outlook, it’s a movement. TARTLE’s purpose is to build, support and propel that movement. We are more than just a way to get paid for sharing your data, we’re a way to encourage companies and even governments to remember that there are real people behind all those data points. That happens when they approach you, the individual instead of just sifting through a sea of anonymous data. 

None of this is to say that companies shouldn’t be using these tools to make an honest buck. Obviously, equipment and labor need to be paid for, and the people putting up the resources deserve something back for taking the initial risk. Profit itself isn’t the problem, the problem is a mentality that sees only profit, that sees everyone as a lever to pull or a button to push to increase that profit. 

TARTLE seeks to recruit people into the movement to take back the digital realm from the controllers, to reclaim our OASIS as a means to improve the lives of everyone instead of just a few. In this movement, you are the key, you are the Easter egg that can save the OASIS. So, are you ready to play?

What’s you data worth? Sign up and join the TARTLE Marketplace with this link here.

Summary
Ready Player One And TARTLE
Title
Ready Player One And TARTLE
Description

Ready Player One is a movie that flew under the radar a couple of years ago. That’s surprising given that its source material is a well-known novel, it was directed by Steven Spielberg, featured appearances by a number of iconic fictional characters and was full of action and top-notch special effects. More importantly, it has themes that are relevant to today. 

Feature Image Credit: Envato Elements
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For those who are hard of hearing – the episode transcript can be read below:

TRANSCRIPT

Speaker 1 (00:07):

Welcome to TARTLE Cast with your hosts, Alexander McCaig and Jason Rigby, where humanity steps into the future and Source Data defines the path.

Jason Rigby (00:18):

Alex.

Alexander McCaig (00:26):

Jason, tee me up.

Jason Rigby (00:26):

Yes, here we go. Are you ready?

Alexander McCaig (00:28):

Yeah.

Jason Rigby (00:28):

Ready Player One.

Alexander McCaig (00:29):

Oh, that's great [crosstalk 00:00:30]-

Jason Rigby (00:30):

... movie. I want to ask you a question related to Ready Player One.

Alexander McCaig (00:32):

Spielberg, right?

Jason Rigby (00:33):

Yeah, I think it was Steven Spielberg. Underrated movie. He should have gotten a little more.

Alexander McCaig (00:37):

Totally. Totally, underrated.

Jason Rigby (00:38):

So, question on Ready Player One. Because I think people have seen that movie, so they can relate to this. And I want you to tie this in, in a philosophical way. The question is this, why are companies valuing people's data more than they're valuing the person?

Alexander McCaig (00:55):

Oh, why'd you ask me something so heavy? The mindset that we currently have, and it's a lot like the IRS, which you and I both love, is that people are nothing but a number that's feeding their system. So, the mindset that we've had this collection of information that companies have been doing on their clientele, I guess you would call it. They've looked at these clientele as clientele, not as human beings.

Alexander McCaig (01:37):

So, when you look at the concept of Ready Player One, it's like, I want to, if I'm going to this place called the OASIS, which is this virtual reality world, one of the companies is saying on one side, "Well, how do we continue to buy this virtual ad space in front of their eyes?" Because they know that people are just money, right? It's like, "How do we take it out of the user's pocket, the person's pocket, they've worked hard for this money, and how do we then channel it back to us?"

Alexander McCaig (02:06):

That's all it is. It's like, "How do we move the wash back to us?" It's like a bad mob story. And on the other side of it in the film, it's like, well, we're here because it's more of a community thing. We're here because this is just how people choose to interact in this day and age. It doesn't mean it needs to continue to be abused and people should be looked at as a number.

Alexander McCaig (02:27):

Because when you do that, it removes the human sense. And at the same time, how are you supposed to uphold any quality morals or ethics? As a technology company, or anybody that services large groups of people digitally, how are you supposed to say that you're operating in a manner that's for the benefit of the people that you've created this product for.

Alexander McCaig (02:49):

You've created a product to give it to people so that you can come back and help yourself. That's what that mindset looks like, that's the number mindset. But the person mindset is we've created a tool that's here to help you, and let's continue to elevate you with that tool.

Jason Rigby (03:03):

Because it's just a crazy dichotomy, because when you look at COVID that we're experiencing right now and the [inaudible 00:03:09] people where they have to stay home, especially people that have underlying conditions. I was talking to somebody the other day and they have heart issues. You know what I mean? They don't want to get COVID.

Alexander McCaig (03:18):

No.

Jason Rigby (03:18):

I mean, if they've had heart surgeries and stuff like that. So, the reality is they're staying home. So having this Oasis for them to be able to participate in and create community in a safe environment, you need that. I mean, because people would just go crazy in their homes.

Alexander McCaig (03:36):

And we got to make sure that if that's the only outlet that people have at this moment, that we don't, not us TARTLE, but collectively, we don't commoditize people because people are not a commodity. It's a shame that it's called the labor force and they track it with the same sort of metrics that they use on cattle. I mean, seriously, think about it for a little bit, but...

Jason Rigby (04:04):

It's the same as the factory farming and all that. It's the same type of-

Alexander McCaig (04:09):

That factory farming be like, "Oh, the cattle's up, blah, blah, blah." It's like, same things with human beings, how many people are in a job? How many are out of a job? They look at you strictly as an asset for the system. It's like, how many human beings are healthy, living, breathing, happy human beings today?

Jason Rigby (04:23):

Yeah, in our nation, if you want to [crosstalk 00:04:26].

Alexander McCaig (04:25):

In our nation. If people are going to operate in that old realm, let them. But just be aware, consciously aware that if you're going to spend your time from a connectivity standpoint in a digital realm, make sure that you're doing that through platforms that respect you for being a human being rather than just a number.

Jason Rigby (04:45):

Or be the cause for that. I mean, put information like... Make a podcast, do videos, whatever, call out. I don't know. I'm not saying they are, but Twitch is this huge game community where everybody goes on there. And they may be an awesome company, I don't know, but if they're starting to commoditize things... I understand you need to pay for the platform and we need ads and all that stuff, I get that.

Jason Rigby (05:09):

But it's that psychographic side of things that is, if I'm just looking at you, like you said, as a data set, as a one or a zero, and can I profit from you or not, that focus can change a company. You know as well as I do, we both hike. You can start off thinking you're on the right path, and then you go 10 miles in, you could be way off. I mean, just a couple of steps.

Alexander McCaig (05:36):

All you had to shift was a quarter of a degree and I am way off of my path. I'm so lost, I'm in a really bad spot. So, we really do always have to make sure that you're on track, you don't treat people like a number, you treat them like a human being. And the people using those systems, just be aware of how that information does get used, [crosstalk 00:05:58] they're not telling you, "Red flag."

Jason Rigby (06:00):

Yes, exactly. And I want to bring it back to TARTLE. So when we look at TARTLE and we look at the community that you've created, I want people to understand the intent and the heart. Because yeah, they may say, "Oh, okay, cool. Yeah, I'm going to get paid for my data finally, awesome." TARTLE's more of a movement than it is an exchange, philosophically.

Alexander McCaig (06:22):

Listen, it's fantastic to get paid for your information, as you should. You put labor into something, you should be paid for it, right? But the real beauty of what we created is collective human power. Information, even though we've created so much of it, we've had a bad job of facilitating it where it needs to go, and especially getting it truthfully.

Alexander McCaig (06:45):

And TARTLE has the ability to collectively bring us all together as a community to focus on things we care about like COVID, heart disease, whatever it might be, pipelines. I don't care what it is, but now we have the ability to take all of our data, our thoughts, our behaviors, all those actions and collectively put them together, because there's great power when we come together and focus on one specific thing. We can get those answers solved, right? We can create a vaccine for COVID because everybody focused on it.

Alexander McCaig (07:17):

And so, if we do that same sort of model over and over and over again with the proper tool that elevates people, ask them to come together, cooperatively put their data together to create this collective power to solve problems for the greater good, now you're doing something really special. That's a real tool.

Alexander McCaig (07:34):

That's a tool that treats people as people and says, "Us coming together with our data, look at the collective power and good we could do. Awesome that we got paid, but look at the problems we solved. Look at the lives that were saved." Right? "Look at the waste that is no longer there anymore. Look at how bright our future looks for coming together and working as a group."

Jason Rigby (07:57):

Yeah, that's awesome. And I think that's why it's so important and we encourage everyone that's listening to this, be a part of the movement. They can go to tartle.co, sign up, it just takes a few-

Alexander McCaig (08:07):

It's free.

Jason Rigby (08:08):

... minutes. It's free to do, it's a new platform, so don't expect miracles in the very beginning.

Alexander McCaig (08:14):

Yeah, don't expect miracles in the beginning. And also, listen, we hear you. So, your feedback does not fall on deaf ears, and it takes time for us to iterate on this stuff. And so we just want to make sure we're giving you a tool with the highest amount of value possible, so that it always accrues back to your benefit.

Jason Rigby (08:30):

But every meeting we have, everything is about valuing humanity, everything's about making sure the person's a human. This is not about creating a company to create something that just-

Alexander McCaig (08:40):

It's not a profiteering effort.

Jason Rigby (08:41):

Yes, exactly, 100%.

Alexander McCaig (08:43):

No, our focus, if it does not unify, if it does not elevate, we do not do it.

Jason Rigby (08:49):

Yes. And if it imposes on anyone's free will-

Alexander McCaig (08:52):

That's a hard line, total hard line right there.

Jason Rigby (08:54):

I love that. Well, cool. Well, thanks, Alex.

Alexander McCaig (08:56):

Thank you for asking.

Jason Rigby (08:56):

Ready Player One.

Alexander McCaig (08:57):

Ready Player One. Back to the OASIS.

Speaker 1 (08:58):

Thank you for listening to TARTLE Cast with your hosts, Alexander McCraig and Jason Rigby, where humanity steps into the future and Source Data defines the path. What's your data worth?

Speaker 4 (09:23):

One of the comments-