I haven't posted in ages. Been busy writing, aging, shouting at clouds, exploring exciting new donut flavors, writing, thinking about writing, writing, and not posting. Then a friend passed along a real head-kicker, and I had to share. Tokyo's A-Lab Co and the Kodaiji Temple in Kyoto unveiled a robot modeled after Kannon Bodhisattva, designed to educate visitors to the temple about Buddhism. The video below sent my brain spinning in a way few bits of futurism news do these days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKhgSCc6OAE The video shows monks bowing to a robot as it explains the … [Read more...]
This Robot Cuttlefish Taught Me How to Love Again
My emotional relationship with our robot future is ever changing. On the whole, I’m skeptical that rapid robotic advancement is going to be net positive in the long run (and I’m far from alone on that score). However…we don’t seem to be doing a great job with decision-making on our own these days, so who knows. Sometimes, however, I toss the deep thoughts (it’s easy—I have television and internet) and base my emotional responses to new robots exclusively on the following metric: are they cute? I’ve recently fallen in love with this adorable and not-yet-terrifying underwater robot that mimics a … [Read more...]
The Future is For Optimists
Optimism is hard. For most of us, thinking good thoughts about the future doesn’t come naturally. Even trying to be optimistic about the next few months feels like running uphill (and I hate running). These days, optimism in one particular subject—the effect of technology on our collective future—can feel downright impossible. There’s a good reason you don’t see happy movies about the future. Off the top of my head, the only one I can recall is The Fifth Element, and that’s more fantasy than sci-fi. Even the new Star Trek (from what I’ve read) has traded cerebral hope about the good of … [Read more...]
The Uncanny
Facebook drops a lot of creepy things into my feed because it knows me (unfortunately). Usually I glance, chuckle, and move on, but this one STAYED with me, so I had to share it. It’s a kinetic sculpture by artist Tim Lewis. He calls it “Pony,” but I’ll just show it to you so we can all live the same wonderful nightmare. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJhYIzJrbaE How perfect is this? Bird and human and transportation device all at once. I know it’s not cool to ask for the commercialization of an art piece, but I really want one of these. The use of human hands for both feet and … [Read more...]
Meet Sophia, Your Adorable Overlord
When I started this blog, I promised myself never to post more than one futurism story per week. It's an important rule. Futurism (i.e. the present) can be dangerous in high doses. As a constant consumer of the best of the worst of what is to come, I’ve learned that consuming futurism more than once per week can result in all of the following ailments: Night Terrors Day Terrors Sweat Neck Expanding Waistline Head Sadness Irritability Swimmer’s Hip Canine Madness The Vapors Scurvy Brain Softening Spontaneous Leg Dancing Summer Complaint Grocer’s … [Read more...]