Why the ‘Queen of Shitty Robots’ Renounced Her Crown

December 16, 2019 8:41 AM

“One of the things that I've been trying to figure out is: Was building shitty robots in some way a method for me to minimize myself, to make myself smaller?” Giertz says. “Because that's what I notice—a lot of women being really scared to step up and be an expert.” Giertz's older videos are full of congeniality and persistent self-deprecation, which doesn't feel so charming to Giertz anymore. “I think that's one of the reasons that a lot of male audiences didn't really come after me,” she says. “Because I wasn't puffing up my chest and saying, ‘I know what I'm doing.’ In some ways that makes me really sad.”
posted by clawsoon (31 comments total)

The more I read about Simone Giertz, the more I like her, and this is the most I have ever read about her, so right now I like her rather a lot.

Also, I want one of those habit tracking calendars.

And one of those all-white puzzles with the piece missing, which would be the perfect crazy making gift for both my old coworkers and a good friend.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:04 AM on December 16, 2019 [7 favorites]

I love Simone and I also love Naomi Wu, who ventured onto the same horrifying battleground with a different strategy and in some ways succeeded much more, and in some ways got hurt much more. Basically anyone who is swimming against the tide of toxic masculinity in the maker realm I am going to be in favour of, but these two are A++.
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:06 AM on December 16, 2019 [14 favorites]

I haven't run the numbers, but I'm pretty sure Simone Giertz is the best.
posted by aubilenon at 9:18 AM on December 16, 2019 [10 favorites]

the same horrifying battleground

iirc she was talking about a stalker almost finding her houseboat, in the video where she talked about selling it
posted by thelonius at 9:24 AM on December 16, 2019

I wonder if Musk was salty when Giertz put together Truckla. Truckla looks so much nicer than the monstrosity that Tesla's trying to foist off on people.
posted by cowcowgrasstree at 9:25 AM on December 16, 2019 [9 favorites]

Musk invited her to the Cybertruck unveiling, so nope.
posted by Horkus at 9:27 AM on December 16, 2019 [3 favorites]

Yeah, so about that unveiling...
posted by hangashore at 9:50 AM on December 16, 2019 [12 favorites]

yawtch
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 10:15 AM on December 16, 2019

We don't know how to talk like men do about our work and our experience and our expertise. I'm learning now in University at age 53.75
posted by Mrs Potato at 10:21 AM on December 16, 2019 [16 favorites]

**OR** men could be LESS overconfident, confrontational, and self-aggrandizing. OR both.
posted by amtho at 10:46 AM on December 16, 2019 [31 favorites]

Yes. Both is what seems to have worked with the current crop of twenty somethings in Uni.
posted by Mrs Potato at 10:49 AM on December 16, 2019 [3 favorites]

Giertz (pronounced “Yetch”)

hwut

"Yetch" is great. I could never talk about something like Brian the way she does.
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:52 AM on December 16, 2019 [2 favorites]

I watch these videos with my girls, they're 6 and 10. The oldest wouldn't say sh+t if she had a mouthful, while my youngest likes leaning over to her friends in class and whispering "peeennniiissss" (along with other less clinical terms, unfortunately). Both are going to be just fine, thank you very much. I love Simone.
posted by hilberseimer at 11:14 AM on December 16, 2019 [4 favorites]

Or … at least a TV show about space. Giertz alternates between saying “about” and “in” when she's talking about the show she wants to make. I point out that the preposition matters. Will she film this TV series from orbit? Or would the videos just chronicle what it might take to get there? Hopefully both, she says.

I don't want to derail the OP focus but Giertz in space. yes please universe make her the next Sagan and the next ... er, better Musk? ... rolled into one amazing person.
posted by Tess of the d'Urkelvilles at 11:35 AM on December 16, 2019 [7 favorites]

What an inspiring human being.

I understand her point about the shitty robots maybe being something to hide behind, but I always found a lot of freedom in them. Like early punk rock. "You don't need to be a virtuoso to play music; just play music." They reminded me of some of my brother's inventions when we were kids (like the bedmaking machine that would strangle you in the middle of the night if you didn't sleep completely still). But... she IS a virtuoso, and I'm glad she's finding the courage to embrace that.
posted by queensissy at 11:49 AM on December 16, 2019 [19 favorites]

my brother's inventions when we were kids (like the bedmaking machine that would strangle you in the middle of the night if you didn't sleep completely still)

Does your brother have a fondness for cheese, especially Wensleydale?
posted by 445supermag at 12:22 PM on December 16, 2019 [18 favorites]

I would just like to say that the "Shitty Robots" series was really inspiring to me. Prior to watching the series I'd been really secretive about my own failures, which kept me from really examining and learning from them. And the reason I'd taken strides to always seem competent was that I was often one of the few or only woman in the room at tech functions, meaning that I don't get to be myself; I'm a larger symbol of an entire gender.

I was really tired of random tech people (usually young men) testing my knowledge during a conversation and then mentally upgrading me or downgrading me based on how well they thought I answered the question. It is deflating and is seemingly inevitable. So, thanks to Giertz, I decided to lean into embracing my imperfections. Talking about my mistakes and failures was really liberating and I turned it into my own tech speaking series where I tied personal lessons learned in my software career with historical engineering incidents like Soyuz 1 or the Mars Observer.

Reading Giertz's comments on women hesitating to be experts is disheartening, but after some self-reflection, I think I've had a different outcome. I think my talks have overall helped my career.
posted by Alison at 12:26 PM on December 16, 2019 [29 favorites]

Survival Research Lab remains the epitome of shitty robots for me, but these are neat.
posted by aspersioncast at 1:02 PM on December 16, 2019 [2 favorites]

I assumed "Shitty Robots" was her teaching herself how to make things, even if they are bad, and being open about it. Obviously with practice and assistance and new partnerships and whatnot, she's improved her skills.

Anyway, love this chick forever, she's hella inspiring, and god, I hope she beats the hate monsters that eat so many other ladies of YouTube. And Brian.
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:37 PM on December 16, 2019

Talking about my mistakes and failures was really liberating and I turned it into my own tech speaking series where I tied personal lessons learned in my software career with historical engineering incidents like Soyuz 1 or the Mars Observer.

See, this is what I'm talking about! There needs to be a NEW standard for talking about technical things -- we don't need to imitate the practices of historic blowhards. The cult of confidence needs to die.
posted by amtho at 2:11 PM on December 16, 2019 [6 favorites]

@Alison: “... tech people (usually young men) testing my knowledge during a conversation and then mentally upgrading me or down...”

Agreed fully on how annoying, frustrating and disheartening this can be. But as an older tech person who used to be such a young man, and no doubt acted in similar ways, I recommend the response of quietly or distractedly inferring that you have zero fucks to give for whatever stupid assessment-making they undertake.

It may take awhile for them to learn to change their behavior. And, some may not. For the latter, fuck them. But in any event, not a single of anyone’s unused fucks-to-give should be used on them.
posted by armoir from antproof case at 3:43 PM on December 16, 2019

I mean... all robots in 2019 are shitty, right? Roomba is as good as we've got. I'm not a Youtube watcher but I liked her channel and I never took her title as anything more than a comment on where we're at robot-wise right now. That's too bad a certain segment of young men had to take it so literally and be such dicks. The internet is giving these people too much of a voice, far more than they'd have in a real social group.

I was really tired of random tech people (usually young men) testing my knowledge during a conversation and then mentally upgrading me or downgrading me based on how well they thought I answered the question. It is deflating and is seemingly inevitable.

You are nicer than me because whenever that happens I use my superior social skills to eviscerate them as publicly and messily as possible.
posted by fshgrl at 3:53 PM on December 16, 2019 [3 favorites]

I also found 'shitty robots' inspiring, and absolutely a freeing thing. Not just because it's a ju-jitsu move against judgement, but also it made it all seem so much more accessible. Also, funny.
posted by rmd1023 at 5:31 PM on December 16, 2019 [3 favorites]

amtho: See, this is what I'm talking about! There needs to be a NEW standard for talking about technical things -- we don't need to imitate the practices of historic blowhards. The cult of confidence needs to die.

Related, from a study released yesterday:

The researchers analyzed more than 6 million peer-reviewed clinical and life-science publications and found that papers with male lead authors were up to 21 percent more likely to use positive framing — language that casts the findings as highly significant — in titles and abstracts than those with female lead authors.

The study, which used natural language processing to parse the papers’ language, found that the titles and abstracts of research led by men were likelier to use words such as “excellent,” “novel,” and “unique” than papers led by women. The research also showed that studies using such framing had up to 13 percent more citations by other researchers than papers without the positive spin.

posted by clawsoon at 5:16 AM on December 17, 2019 [8 favorites]

clawsoon beat me to the punch.
posted by Mrs Potato at 5:47 AM on December 17, 2019

Clearly my comment was the novel, exciting, and groundbreaking one.
posted by clawsoon at 6:17 AM on December 17, 2019 [5 favorites]

My 15 y.o. son loves her, and we watch everything she puts out. Loved her bit in Adam Savage's show as well. The mark of her influence in my realm is that my cousin, who's a bit (but getting better) of a grumpy ol' misogynist, respects the hell out of her. In fact, the whole world of female makers that fill a certain corner of youtube et al have definitely made their mark on his view of how awesomely competent women can be. Never too late to get woke.
posted by OHenryPacey at 8:05 AM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

I mean... all robots in 2019 are shitty, right?
Consumer robots are, yes. But also Boston Dynamics exists, and we've had pretty damn precise and advanced robot arms on eg automotive production lines for a good while now. But comparing them to Giertz's robots is a bit unfair, like comparing a 747 to somebody's backyard superlight. Yes, the multi billion dollar engineering company can do things a backyarder can't. But it's fucking impressive to even attempt to solo design and build something that flies, regardless.
posted by Dysk at 10:03 PM on December 17, 2019

wapo writeup of that bmj study...
Men are more likely than women to call their science 'excellent' (also wsj)
posted by kliuless at 10:10 PM on December 17, 2019

I'm quite cynical and think that still, today, women must be self-deprecating of their work, talent and worth to avoid being unfairly treated and smacked down. The article linked above gets to this as well:

"Are women submitting papers that use the words less frequently? Or do women face different editorial feedback when their papers are under review?"

I totally hear what Giertz is saying and she is probably right that she was underselling herself in an effort to avoid the additional scrutiny and judgement as well as the overt misogyny and bullying that comes with being an accomplished woman or girl. I'm glad that she has been able to get where she is going and so grateful that she made her shitty robots and put them out there. Representation matters and she has absolutely opened up a world to women and men about the cool things you can make if you commit to puttering, learning and being open to failure. (And her collab with Laura Kampf...I just am bowled over by the two of them.)
posted by amanda at 12:03 PM on December 18, 2019

I'm quite cynical and think that still, today, women must be self-deprecating of their work, talent and worth to avoid being unfairly treated and smacked down.

Absolutely! Women with egos are despised, y'know?

Also that I/women have to apologize constantly so as to soothe the rage I bring out in people just by existing. Every time someone tells me to stop apologizing so much, I want to smack them and say, "You don't live my life, I will apologize for any damn thing no matter what it is and even if I didn't do a damn thing to harm them, if it just gets someone to not rage out at me for being female."
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:22 PM on December 18, 2019 [3 favorites]