The picture that should make us wake up

We need to talk about credibility in the age of manipulation.

The stunning Mother's Day photo of Britain's future Queen and her three children laughing as they enjoyed their royal time wasn't meant to be anything other than a sweet greeting from Kensington Palace.

But then it was withdrawn.

Because it turns out that the photo has been doctored. Photo shop, as it is called. It is supposed to consist of two or more images that have been stitched together via a computer program and then further fixed.

A digital facelift, if you will.

Innocent so far. Something photographers have been doing since the beginning Daguerreotype In the 1830s. Back when images were developed on silver-plated copper plates and not by pixels in a mobile phone. Simply because he will still be two decades ahead of the Italian Antonio Meucci He invented the telephone.

Seriously, though. Without comparison, the image of modern royal happiness in London resembles American misfortune in the White House 55 years ago.

A recently discovered — and never published — televised speech shows President Richard Nixon tearfully lamenting the loss of life associated with the Apollo 11 moon landing attempt on July 20, 1969.

That the supposedly successful spaceflight never happened, as NASA and US authorities have claimed for nearly six decades, is one of the world's most enduring conspiracy theories.

It's been a central argument among Holocaust deniers, anti-vaxxers, QAnons, and truth-mongers about what… In reality This happened on September 11, 2001 or when JFK was shot.

Nixon's address to the nation suggests that the conspirators may have been somewhat correct in their grim assumptions; That Apollo 11 landed on the moon, but crashed during its attempt, and that both the photos of the moon landing itself and the return trip are Cover up.

If so, Neil Armstrong would never have been able to utter the words: “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Because by then he and co-pilot Buzz Aldrin were spent Sea of ​​silence.

President Nixon The dark monologue begins with the words: “It was fate that men went to the moon safely to explore it [den]You will remain on the moon to rest in peace.”

Then he puts his jokes in serious terms that we will become more familiar with five years after the Watergate scandal, and continues:

“These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edward Aldrin, know there is no hope of bringing them home. But they also know that there is hope for humanity in their sacrifice.”

How was it possible to keep this television recording a secret all these years?

Presidential speechwriter and later Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer for The New York Times, William SafireHe has long admitted that he wrote this very letter.

This happened at NASA's request “in case something happens.”

“You have to prepare a surrogate for the president, just as we do with widows,” NASA insisted.

So Safire sat down and wrote the words saying goodbye to Armstrong, Aldrin and Michael Collins.

Richard Nixon's televised speech is real in that way. The manuscript exists. But the words are never read aloud on camera.

The president did not sound the death knell for the nation in July 1969. Quite the opposite.

Television speech that these days is broadcast over a contemporary television screen in a living room furnished in 1960s style Sainsbury Centre In Norwich, a two-hour train ride north-east of London, is an art installation in the gallery «whats the truth?»

Nixon's address to the nation is artificial intelligence. Made by artificial intelligence.

It looks almost real. This is Nixon's voice. It is his mouth and face that express William Safire's text. Beard growth. Sweat on forehead. Expression that changes when the voice cracks.

Everything is Richard Milhouse Nixon, the 37th President of the United States.

But behind it all stands Francesca Panetta of MIT (MIT) and sound artist Halsey Burgund—the goal specifically is to show how manipulated representations of sound and image can change history, also in the past.

See how Nixon's television speech was given here:

The Princess of Wales has already apologized for the edited family photo, and it should be out of the world.

not like that. Because the public can't tell if an Instagram post from the Royal Suites represents a unique case.

If plausible footage is manipulated in this way, and published with court approval, what can be expected from the British royal family in a given situation where something is actually being said?

Could there be a 'Nixon speech' from Buckingham Palace?

The public has no official right to detailed access to the health status of the Crown Prince. We heard that she underwent gastric bypass surgery last January, and has been on sick leave since then. It is completely understandable that the Princess of Wales needs peace and rest after a medical procedure.

At the same time, William, her husband, changed his schedule and duties on short notice. The British royal family, known and recognized for its extensive acting duties, suddenly has two fewer members to live with.

As cancer-stricken King Charles has also scaled back his work during his sick leave, the already reduced pool of working royals has been further reduced.

The absence of facts in such a particular situation creates a vacuum, and this vacuum is now being filled with alternative information. It's unfortunate.

And when it also turns out that the little news running away from the royal family has been manipulated, it becomes doubly unfortunate.

The Royal House is an institution of constitutional importance. In a time of polarization, it is particularly required that what comes from societal institutions be correct and honest.

The picture of Kate and the kids is trashy. It's just an alarm clock.