Jumbo Lobster Spa and Juxtaposition
A few weeks ago, our family was driving past a strip mall that had a number of shops and restaurants. One restaurant was called “Jumbo Lobster”, probably referring to the size of the crustaceans they serve. The other, for a non-Chinese speaker, just said “Spa”. It immediately blended together and I completely ignored the “Water Cube” written in Chinese.
Could this be a spa where they use jumbo lobsters as a treatment? Hmm — hot rocks? Seaweed wrap? No… I’ll take jumbo lobsters.
Or, could this be a spa for plus-sized lobsters?
What it made me think about is how we try to weave together meaning of things that are adjacent to each other, even if the placement is random. Many times, it’s not and it is worth us to think about this. Why are ads placed around a particular article? What about one article next to another.
Juxtaposition is a subtle tool that editors can use to play with our desire to understand and complete a story. But sometimes, it’s also random. Intentions are almost always hidden so analyzing juxtaposition requires coming up with a balance of probabilities.
As we face more AI-generated content and even more AI-curated content, we need to tools to separate the random from the intentional, so we’re not manipulated beyond an acceptable threshold. While some analyzing services like Ground look at articles and bias, the next realm might be in understand the order and proximity of how we consume media and warning us when we’re being led down a rabbit hole.
