When two countries FaceTime each other, this happens.

New York City just tried to FaceTime Dublin, and it failed. The Portal, a 24-hour live stream, was shut down almost immediately after it opened - why did that happen? The hope was to strengthen human connection. Instead, we see people flashing each other, getting arrested, and other inappropriate behavior. If this isn't the plot of a Black Mirror episode, I don't know what is.

In this video, I cover why the idea failed, a design analysis of the portal, psychological concepts that explain people's behavior, and possible solutions. Can we have nice things?

Sources (video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSUVoS6ehQ8&t=2s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gbdx85oSts&t=7s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_8wZhXjAGc&t=4s
https://www.tiktok.com/@melissabecraft/video/7388173277702671658?q=nyc%20portal%20dancing&t=1721568692502
https://www.tiktok.com/@berty1666/video/7367724179107499296?q=nyc%20portal%20marriage&t=1721569202982
https://www.tiktok.com/@njtruckried/video/7368605149771664682?q=nyc%20portal%20gone%20wrong&t=1721568757076
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRvbxiCj79E&t=108s

Sources (articles)
https://www.portals.org/portal/new-york-city
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3510904/#:~:text=Mirror%20neurons%20represent%20a%20distinctive,first%20discovered%20in%20monkey's%20brain
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/17/portal-art-exhibit-new-york-dublin-benediktas-gylys
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1064748118305359?via%3Dihub
https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/the-nyc-dublin-portal-is-back-online-with-some-new-restrictions

You're busy, I gotchu
0:00 - What happened?
1:07 - What was it like to visit the portal?
1:33 - Who owns the Portal?
2:20 - Why did they design it that way?
3:16 - What's the goal?
3:46 - Failure reason 1
5:19 - Failure reason 2
6:11 - Why are humans crazy for it?
7:00 - How can we fix this?
8:48 - How does this impact us?