My AI-moderated video chat with strangers gave me hope

In 2017, artists and filmmakers Lauren Lee McCarthy, Grace Lee and Tony Patrick were tasked with dreaming up the "future of work" for a residency at the University of Southern California. As part of a 3-month process of exploring ideas for the betterment of Los Angeles, the trio had to imagine what 2020 would look like. They predicted that the election year would bring about, among other things, "massive civil unrest," "a second civil war" and "a massive data dump," Lee said during a panel at Sundance 2021. "We called it the Breakdown 2020." The residency brought the trio together as they "tried to figure out what the hell world-building is," Patrick said.