German artist Simon Weckert created a fake traffic jam on Google Maps by dragging a wheelbarrow with 99 old mobile phones with their location on through the streets of Berlin (Germany). He did so with the intention of demonstrating that we are subject to what Google tells us. and we do not question whether reality is different.
Our relationship with the world has become increasingly digital, we meet people through social networks, we eat at a restaurant ordering through an app and we use a virtual map to get to places.
All this offers us many facilities, however, and as Simon Weckert denounces, there are times in which These digital platforms change our perception of the real worldand it may happen that what they show has been manipulated by someone.
How Google Maps was fooled
YouTube video
The Google virtual map is an interactive map that offers many different functions, including informing users that there is a traffic jam in a certain place. This information is collected thanks to the location of other usersso if it sees that there is a concentration of cell phones in a place, it will mark that place in orange and red, warning of a traffic jam.
Weckert, aware of this, decided to put it to the test in the form of protest and demand. So he took to the streets of Berlin, Germany, walking with a wheelbarrow in which he transported up to 99 smartphones second hand that had the location on.
Thanks to the concentration of telephones and the low speed at which he moved, he managed to Google Maps marked as if there was a traffic jam on the streets where I was going. This caused what the artist was looking for, diverting traffic along other routes because Google said so although the reality was different.
This shows that we are increasingly living in the digital world and that We act based on what our smartphones and other devices tell us. and we never doubt them. Weckert showed that this is a mistake, since this digital environment can be manipulated by another person and although in this case it was only a jam, this can happen in any other situation.
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