Dr Kris Shrishak is a public interest technologist and a Senior Fellow at Enforce. He advises legislators on emerging technologies and global AI governance. He is regularly invited to speak at the European Parliament and has testified at the Irish Parliament.
His work focusses on privacy tech, anti-surveillance, emerging technologies, and algorithmic decision making. Previously, Kris was a researcher at Technical University Darmstadt in Germany where he worked on applied cryptography, privacy enhancing technologies and Internet security.
He enjoys listening, watching films, observing other art, taking photos, reading longform, strolling through towns, and meeting new people (write to me!).
The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Persian, 2024) and Four Daughters (Arabic, 2023): Personal is political. The Seed… of oppression is planted at home and protests do not address it; … Daughters fleeing one form of oppression by their mother, seek freedom, fall into the arms of another oppression by ISIS.
Evil Does Not Exist (Japanese, 2023): Humans who profit on plunder do exist. Evil.. is another Ryusuke Hamaguchi gem, this time seamlessly blending environmental concerns, superficial government public consultations and beautiful scenery.
Pickpocket (French, 1959): Where a Nietzschean fingersmith wonders whether “supermen”, gifted with talent, indispensable to society, should be free to disobey laws.
The Heiresses (Spanish-Paraguay, 2018) and All We Imagine as Light (Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, 2024): Once we get out of our dark tunnel, look around and within, All We Imagine… will be light.
Public consultations, in theory, aim to bridge the gap between the governed and the governing. In practice, as I discussed in my talk at 38th Chaos Communication Congress, they don’t always succeed in this aim.
Consultations in films are sometimes a tragicomedy. In Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s film Evil Does Not Exist, we see this play out. A couple of representatives from a talent agency turn up at a village to “consult” with the locals about establishing a tourist glamping site in their village. Although this is a consultation, the decisions have already been made in Tokyo. The villagers raise numerous objections to the proposal: risk of water pollution, safety risks, and forest fires.
A couple of friends asked me for thoughts on finding great food in Japan. My observations may not apply to Hokkaidō, Tōhoku and Okinawa, which I did not visit yet.
The average food quality in Japan is quite high, be it Tokyo or one of the smaller towns and cities. The average sushi in Japan seemed superior to the best sushi I have had in Germany. The best sushi I had in Japan was also much cheaper than the ones in Germany. When key ingredients are sourced nearby, the prices drop.
Sit-down restaurants are not the only places you can find delicious food in Japan. Hole in the wall shops and food stalls (yatai) are great options. You can find rows of yatai in Fukuoka or stand-alone ones in different places. Some food stalls excel in one dish. Tamagoyaki (Japanese omelet) from a food-stall run by an elderly Japanese near Ōji station in Tokyo was my favourite.
Japanese restaurants specialise in specific genres of food. Prefer a sushi-only place or an Okonomiyaki place over one that offers many different kinds of food.
Climbing up the spiral staircases of Notre Dame de Paris used to be a special experience 1. What made the climb on those narrow and steep staircases special? The view. The chimeras looking over Paris. The Eiffel Tour and Sacré-Cœur Basilica in the distance.
We make many decisions during our lifetime. Some more consequential than others. Some that rely on too few choices. Some where we are overloaded with choices.
There are times when we make a decision and move on. Then there are others when we go back to a decision and regret the road not taken. To decide, what kind of choices do we have?