The Upload

The Upload is a serialized podcast found in Watch Dogs: Legion.

Episodes

Opting Out of Optik

Matt and Vicky discuss Blume's Optik Device. Is it a game-changing convenience or just an invasion of privacy?

Vicky: "Hello and welcome to today's episode of The Upload. We're talking about the OPTIK, and how it's changed our lives. Now as you remember, BLUME announced a new version of the OPTIK at the recent TOAN conference. But we haven’t heard too much about that since due to the dramatic events there. Let’s cast our minds back and consider the technology. I mean, the OPTIK changed everything. It lets you see things in AR – you no longer need a smartphone! You just have a small implant that sends signals to your optic nerve and lets you see your emails, take calls, and browse the internet directly as if the screen was in front of your eyes. Instead of having to carry around a phone, you’ve just got the small handheld unit. So much lighter, and so much more convenient – it’s great!"

Matt: "Vicky, you sound like you absolutely love the OPTIK. Do you actually think that it’s made our lives any better?"

Vicky: "I mean sure, it’s definitely made things a lot easier! It’s so simple to call someone now, all you have to do is choose who you want to chat to and they’re there, ready to talk. And browsing the web is so much easier. I remember when you used to have to sit down at a computer, with an actual keyboard and mouse, and type everything out. My favourite feature is public transport – with the OPTIK you can just walk straight onto the tube! It even acts as a passport, no longer do I have to dig around and try and find my old paper passport just to travel somewhere. Also, I thought that the OPTIK’s marketing strategy – making it free for people – was a stroke of genius."

Matt: "Genius? BLUME was really calculated when it was doing that. It was pushing this draconian device on us, at all. Sure everybody flocked to it – there was free WiFi, and phone plans. That definitely helped, but it wasn’t a case of “this is a product that you need in your life”.

Vicky: "Why do you hate it so much?"

Matt: It’s just the worst because you have to give up your privacy expectations and accept surveillance. It was almost like the government and BLUME didn’t even need to make the OPTIK mandatory. Making it mandatory was -- only to get the last holdouts across the line. If free data didn’t convince you – fines and arrest from the state for not having the OPTIK would pretty much be enough."

Vicky: "I mean, what do you mean by privacy problems? Nobody really talks about that anymore."

Matt: "They don’t talk about it because we don’t have any choice when it comes to the OPTIK. Yes it’s convenient, and mandatory, but everybody’s forgotten what it really means. Here you’ve got a whole company owning basically all the data about your life. BLUME can see everything that you can see, nothing is private anymore. There are so many times when I don’t want anyone to have a clue about where I am, who I’m chatting with, what I’m doing – it’s not even dodgy stuff, but I just don’t want anybody to blackmail me in the future by hacking it. And because of BLUME’s contracts with the government, it isn’t just BLUME that can see everything I do, it’s the government. The UK as a state has become a complete surveillance paradise."

Vicky: "I think you’re painting a bit of a bleak picture, it’s not all that bad."

Matt: "No, you’re completely wrong on this. I don’t want everybody tracking me wherever I’m going around London."

Vicky: "Well in that case you might be interested in some rumours I heard. Did you hear that some DedSec hackers have found a way to bypass the OPTIK’s connection with BLUME?"

Matt: "Are they actually making it better, or usable, or actually friendly for anybody?"

Vicky: "Well, word on the street is that they’ve been able to create an encrypted signal, which means that your world might have a chance of becoming a bit more private again, so you can go back and enjoy all the great things about OPTIK without that fear of surveillance."

Matt: "With the OPTIK, privacy is dead."

The Upload: Eyes on the Skye

Super-fan Matt shares his views on Skye Larsen, the founder of Broca Tech. Vicky remains distrustful towards the renowned tech expert.

Vicky: "Coming up today on The Upload, we’re talking about Skye Larsen, the enigmatic founder of Broca Tech."

Vicky: "Everyone knows her name, but no one knows too much about her. We only really see her these days as a hologram."

Vicky: "She was pretty young when she launched Broca Tech, the company that is best known for introducing -- Bagley to the world. Nowadays it’s hard to remember a world before Bagley."

Matt: "And I think that what Skye Larsen’s done with Bagley is absolutely incredible. Bagley is the most advanced, significant AI of our time, and it’s really blown all other AI’s that were created out of the water."

Vicky: "Yeah I mean, I can’t really imagine the OPTIK without it. But what do you know about Skye Larsen herself?"

Matt: "Um, not a lot, other than that she’s actually pretty incredible. I followed her work for a long time, and she’s always been a pretty private person."

Matt: "I know that she supposedly grew up in the countryside, but there isn’t actually that much more we know about her other than this tech that she’s put out into the world."

Vicky: "I’ve always found it a bit creepy that she’s so obsessed with this idea of transhumanism."

Matt: "Why wouldn’t you be, when you’ve got a mind as amazing as Skye’s, why wouldn’t you want to take what you’ve got?"

Matt: "And actually augment it, by working with technology, by improving your physical self, changing your body and the world around you, implementing more technology to extend your life and really sort of extend human capabilities?"

Vicky: "You sound pretty much in love with Skye Larsen, I have to say."

Matt: "I can’t comment on that, but I am a big fan of her work. She’s been one of these people that has transformed the world around us, and just watching how her mind works from afar is pretty incredible, because some of what the technology she’s introduced has changed how we all live our lives, and Bagley has been this really incredible assistance to humanity as a whole."

Matt: "Did I ever tell you that I actually interviewed Skye Larsen once?"

Vicky: "Really? I thought she never spoke to the media or anything."

Matt: "So, this was a long time ago, back in the day when she was a little bit more accessible."

Matt: "And she was one of these people that just had an amazing presence. You were inspired by her very being, and she was just incredibly talented and knowledgeable, and one of possibly the best living people that I’ve ever met."

Vicky: "Not sure you’re being too objective there, I mean, I imagine she’s not very likeable as a person."

Matt: "She obviously despises humanity in some way. I think she believes that becoming data is preferable to being human."

Matt: "She’s one of these people who’s extremely methodical in everything that she does. And she does everything to perfection, and really tries to change the world around her, make it a better place for us to live in."

Vicky: "If you say so..."

The Upload: CTOS 3.N0

Matt and Vicky criticise the bountiful issues of London's CTOS. A single system to control everything, what could go wrong?

Vicky: "Hello and welcome back to The Upload! In this episode, we’re talking about CTOS 3.0. The city operating system that’s now powering all of London."

Vicky: "For those of you who need reminding, as if anyone does at this point, CTOS was first used in Chicago in 2014 and then San Francisco in 2017 before coming here to London."

Vicky: "And every time it’s been rolled out, it’s been pretty much an unmitigated disaster."

Matt: "For those of you who are listening who are lucky enough not to be here in London’s chaotic scenes, it’s worth remembering that the Telecoms Tower is now owned by BLUME."

Matt: "The Tower looms over Northwest London, it’s always been a communications hub, acting as part of the UK’s television and communications network."

Matt: "Although there’s been some secrecy around its use. And now that BLUME owns it, it’s only even more secret."

Vicky: "Yeah now everything that’s part of BLUME’s city surveillance operation is run through the Telecoms Tower."

Vicky: "And I have to say it looks completely ridiculous – it’s got that silly crown thing at the top, and all the blue light?"

Matt: "What’s that even about? What does it do? I don’t see that there’s any purpose to that at all."

Vicky: "It’s a blight on the skyline if you ask me. And it’s become the main point of control for millions of people. The system network and Bagley are both operated and streamed from there too."

Matt: "And don’t forget about the self-driving cars too."

Vicky: "I always thought they were just running on their own."

Matt: "No, CTOS is the big control system behind the cars."

Matt: "There was a point back in the earliest days of self-driving car technology that they operated by themselves, they used to use a series of sensors to see the world around them."

Matt: "Radar, for instance, would look far off into the distance, while Lidar would detect objects nearby."

Matt: "And while these cars still use, uh, some of this technology, BLUME’s CTOS and its detailed maps and data that it has on London really makes BLUME be able to take control of it."

Matt: "And CTOS can take control of your car if you’re parked incorrectly. There’s no surprise that it was made mandatory to have a self-driving car."

Vicky: "The system is so bad though, it’s so annoying, whenever I try to use one of the shareable self-driving cars, I always find myself stuck in traffic jams, or roadblocks."

Vicky: "Not to mention the accidents – I’ve heard so many stories of cars shunting into the back of others. I think they’re worse than human drivers sometimes."

Matt: "The technology was meant to make things better, but BLUME has made it so bad that it just makes London even more chaotic than it was before."

Matt: "I’m giving up on the cars, I’m only using the bikes which are not self-driving, at the moment at least."

Matt: "And don’t even get me started on the data."

Matt: "Everything that BLUME sees from your movements around the city and the self-driving cars is collected and feeds back into its big information control system."

Vicky: "Oh not you and BLUME and privacy again – you’re a broken record."

Matt: "Not as broken as our city’s cars."

The Upload: From Cash to Crypto

Matt and Vicky dissect the history of cryptocurrency and its uncontested spread throughout the UK. Let's get nostalgic about cold, hard cash.

Vicky: "Welcome back to The Upload! Today we’re talking about cryptocurrency."

Vicky: "Crypto now seems like it’s been around forever, but it’s really quite a new invention."

Vicky: "Were you an early adopter?"

Matt: "I was one of first that was in this market. That seemed to be a new way of financial transactions, a new way of money."

Matt: "It’s something that we could completely reinvent and change some of the legacy financial systems around the world and really give power back to the people."

Vicky: "Yeah, it was a real shift in the way that the world works. Let’s recap the basics."

Vicky: "Central to cryptocurrency is the distributed ledger technology – the tech that keeps track of all transactions."

Vicky: "And what this means is you can have a decentralized system without having to trust any one party... Like old-fashioned banks."

Matt: "One of the reasons why I got involved so early was that you could stay anonymous."

Vicky: "Yeah, the features of cryptocurrency very much fit into that early mindset. It was all about finding an alternative to centralized systems. It was kind of a counter-cultural punk ethos."

Vicky: "The whole point of the distributed ledger, is you’re not trusting any one person to keep track of who has what money or how they’re spending it."

Vicky: "It’s all out there in the open for anyone to see, and yet you can remain secretive."

Matt: "But not everybody now wants to keep up this crypto legacy. They don’t share this attitude anymore."

Matt: "We’ve seen institutions, businesses, even governments experimenting with crypto which doesn’t really fit into its original, radical, counterculture mold."

Vicky: "Yeah it’s kind of weird today to think of people not using cryptocurrency. It’s so mainstream now."

Vicky: "You know, I’m almost nostalgic for the feel of cash. Good old-fashioned paper and coins."

Vicky: "First they changed the paper notes to plastic notes, and now it’s just all digital – there’s nothing to hold on to."

Matt: "It was great just to be able to have a little bit of money to carry around with you."

Vicky: "I think the turning point in the UK really came a few years ago, when the pound dropped 10% over just one season."

Vicky: "People living off-grid started using crypto, and just as everyone was losing faith in the pound – they were gaining it in cryptocurrency, which turned out to be much more stable."

Vicky: "Kind of the opposite to what people thought in the beginning."

Matt: "And then, of course, there was the recession."

Matt: "It didn’t take long for startups to see an opportunity in this new way of doing finance."

Matt: "A lot of traditional money was converted to crypto and it really shook up the financial sector."

Vicky: "Can you remember when they first introduced crypto cashpoints?"

Matt: "That was really sneaky. It was a classic startup behaviour. They just installed them everywhere."

Matt: "No consultation with the government, no approval or anything. But people immediately started to use them."

Vicky: "It kind of reminded me of how Blume put out the OPTIK. They just made it free and flooded the streets with these devices. Suddenly, everyone had them."

Matt: "If there’s this great option of tech, people are just going to start using it. No matter the cost."

Vicky: "Parliament actually tried to put a stop to the cashpoints but people were using them so much already – there was outrage! I mean, some parts of London were already using crypto as their primary currency by then."

Matt: "And now, apparently, or at least in theory, crypto is illegal!"

Vicky: "Yeah, in May this year economists found that crypto was being traded more than the pound and banks were not happy."

Vicky: "They basically forced the government to ban cryptocurrency in a last ditch effort to save the pound."

Matt: "But it’s not like that’s worked."

Matt: "People are still using crypto. And it’s being pushed further, deeper underground."

Matt: "Things used to work fine with crypto and it was just a peer-to-peer sharing economy style system."

Matt: "Now it’s all on the dark web and wrapped up again in organised crime."

Vicky: "Yeah if you wanna make something thrive on the black market, just make it illegal."

The Upload: Bagley

Matt and Vicky brainstorm the reason behind the success of Bagley. How does it outperform (and outwit) every other AI on the market?

Vicky: "Coming up in today’s episode of The Upload... We’re talking about how Bagley managed to conquer London. Pretty much my favourite topic, I could talk for hours about the rise of the AI system. It’s easy to forget about its origins, it’s so present everywhere we go now. Bagley just kind of blends into the background."

Matt: "Bagley is the service AI that’s present in every OPTIK device. Whether you’re using an OPTIK, Bagley will be there. The AI is streamed to your OPTIK from BLUME’s central command center and it was first created by Skye Larsen, our tech hero, as part of her techno-utopian idea for the world. Why do you think it grew so quickly?"

Vicky: "In my mind it’s no surprise that Bagley became so popular. It’s funny, useful, fast. It’s a great companion and really just makes life so much easier. I mean, when you look back at all the service AI’s that used to exist, they just can’t compete! When you ask Bagley anything, there’s a quick answer and loads of information available to you. One day, I let Bagley answer all of my messages for a whole 24 hours, and no one even noticed the difference."

Matt: "The other competitors really just couldn’t compete with Bagley, their answers were so much worse. They didn’t understand anything. Bagley pretty much gets everything right, first time. Do you have any idea why Bagley really beat all the competition?"

Vicky: "Well it’s really the data isn’t it? Ever since Broca hooked up with BLUME, that’s when things changed."

Matt: "And really, that’s not actually that great. BLUME has data on everybody, they collect information about everything you’re doing across the web through your OPTIK headset. Isn’t the AI only good because of BLUME’s surveillance?"

Vicky: "Well I suppose so, but I’d prefer not to talk about that side of things. Bagley is so special because it’s been trained on this huge cache of information. That’s how these AI systems work. Or at least used to work. I mean, we don’t really know that much about the latest version because there’s so much secrecy around the tech. But they’ve given this huge amount of training data. It’s basically a huge database that’s used to teach the AI about patterns in behaviour. You know, so if you always travel the same way to your house, it can predict when you’re going to go, and get a self-driving car ready for you before you even ask for it."

Matt: "That’s pretty terrifying. In some ways I don’t want this data to drive my life. It understands too much at times. Have you heard some of the rumours around a hacked version of Bagley?"

Vicky: "I’ve heard mutterings, yes."

Matt: "I’ve heard it’s been used by DedSec."

Vicky: "I wouldn’t put it past them. It’s pretty well-known that they’re not fans of BLUME."

Vicky: "But the idea of a souped up version of Bagley, given it’s already so intelligent, is a bit terrifying."

Matt: "I wonder what they can actually make it do."