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News Briefs 21-01-2010

You know my name. What you don’t know, is the news:

Thanks to Rick, Kat, Marcus & Moezilla.

Quote of the Day:

“And all my days are trances,
And all my nightly dreams
Are where thy dark eye glances,
And where thy footstep gleams —
In what ethereal dances,
By what eternal streams.”

Edgar Allan Poe. “To One In Paradise”, st. 4

  1. iPhone savior
    I personally stopped using a cellphone last year, felt it only added to the hustle-bustle of life in the 21st century. I only had phone capabilities, but this use of a handheld device is really exciting! Don’t get me wrong, AR is cool, but this shows the true power of constant internet connection. Can’t wait until we have direct brain feed and neuronal download functions a la The Matrix!

    1. I agree
      Like BigDog in the other comment I wrote, the tech that is wasted in either mindless entertainment (or to keep an insane arms race) can be put to use in more important endeavors.

      Problem is, companies prefer to focus their R&D in the entertainment industry. It’s where the $$$ is.

  2. Big dog
    Interesting explanations for why we find things creepy, but IMHO its BS for 2 reasons:

    1) Creepy is as creepy does. Who cares how the mind makes ‘creepy’ out of creepy stuff? It’s like saying Michael Jackson was only creepy because he was too close to human. Oh, wait, scratch this one.

    2) What’s really creepy is WHY anyone would make such a thing. Saying it’s to carry a soldier’s pack seems to be BS – you could breed and raise 10 mules for the price of one of these – and then eat them if you had to as well. After they put machine-gun lasers on the heads of these things, and teach them to hunt humans, then they’ll be really creepy – the hounds of Sky-net! Dr. Evil will prevail!

    1. BigDog’s less nefarious uses
      Regardless of the fact that watching this thing move is somewhat more repulsive than watching a CGI futuristic robot in a Hollywood movie —could be the “Uncanny Valley” thing; could be the mind reacts to it because it *knows* this is not an special effects trick— I do find some benefits from designing these machines.

      Your mules wouldn’t be smart enough to take a wounded soldier out of harm’s way directly to the nearest med camp.

      Just imagine if we had 10 of these helping in the rescuing operations in Haiti.

      I know DARPA likes to explore tech that can weaponized. But that same tech can be used to save lives. It’s just a matter of choice and priorities.

  3. Cryptoterrestrials
    I thought Mac Tonnies’ manuscript had been lost and we’d never see it in print. I’m grateful that’s not the case because I was eagerly looking forward to his book. Keep us posted on the publication date. Thanks.

    1. Coming soon!
      From what I read and heard, the manuscript was salvaged from Mac’s computer by one of his friends, alongside a print copy full of Mac’s hand-written footnotes.

      Expect to see it coming this Spring *crossing fingers* 🙂

      PS: Mike Clelland, the artist doing the illustrations for the book, was a friend of Mac, and often seeked his thoughts & council when trying to make sense of his own fringe experiences. He has a blog named Hidden Experience, and I strongly recommend it.

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