There is a time before Ophelia and there is a time of Ophelia. The time before Ophelia meanders between the names and surnames of a Colombian family with political roots. In the time before Ophelia there is an unsafe Colombia with an anti-violence plan that only exacerbated the violence. There, what was resolved was resolved with shots. The alternative: the exodus and the search for new spaces. In the time before Ophelia, there are academies of Science, Physics in Florida and Econometrics in Sydney. There are also times for crises, for searching, for the need for change. Of many changes. And there is also a trip to Mexico in which the time of Ophelia, the Red Queen, the Explainer finally arrives. “A title that I invented because I do many things,” he says.
Youtuber, tiktoker, instagramer, but also business advisor, speaker, comedian… Ophelia Pastrana, the first transgender woman to become Mexican national, is one of the most influential personalities in the digital universe in Spanish and an indispensable voice for the LGBTI+ community. But above all, Ophelia talks about science, technology, philosophy, social networks, new forms of digital communication, so in crisis today.
Finding Ophelia Pastrana requires patience and voice recordings. The communicator divides her day-to-day life into a frenetic schedule that takes place between recordings, live shows, consulting for companies and a few classes. pole that are marked deeply in the muscles of his arms. It also requires a journey through numerous interviews, shorts, reels or tiktoks, in which he always explains that those who should stop worrying are those on the other side of the screen. Those who give their opinion, those who deny and shout that “things are not like that” or “that is not natural.” Don’t worry. What’s more, let them not suffer. Ophelia is here to help them out of their mistake.
This interview has been edited for easier reading.
WIRED: You studied physics and economics. What is the point of intersection of these two already complex disciplines that are part of your academic career?
Ophelia Pastrana: The intersection is in an interesting place. What they have in common is that you don’t see them. Physics focuses on two things. Everything big – planets, galaxies and cosmic energies – and everything small – quarks, atoms and very high energies. Both offer data and you should try to infer something with them. In economics you also have a series of data that, in addition, are often impossible to reproduce. You can’t do an experiment on the data of the causes of the Great Recession because there was only one Great Recession. So you become an expert in mathematical linear regression, which is essentially trying to predict futures. Hence my interest in networks. Social networks are the deepest and most complete collection of data on human behavior that exists. If you want to try to predict what people are going to say about a topic, how they are going to talk about it, or how they are going to behave, the best place to get that data is social media.
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