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You are here: Home / Archives for science fiction

This One Broke My Brain

August 19, 2019 By Walker McKnight Leave a Comment

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...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: AI, Buddha, futurism, Japan, Kannon Bodhisattva, robotics, science fiction, Walker McKnight, writing

Dragon Con Has That… Je Ne Sais Quoi

September 12, 2018 By Walker McKnight 4 Comments

Dragoncon

Dragon Con is over. Long live Dragon Con. The 2018 con is in the books. 80,000+ attendees, over a thousand panels and events, and exactly one Ewok/Thanos cosplay mashup (that I saw). For those of you who don’t know, Dragon Con is a pop culture convention that combines artists, makers, and fandom from just about every conceivable media and gaming iteration in history. Four days across multiple massive buildings and several city blocks that dominates a fair chunk of downtown Atlanta and utterly baffles the random unaffiliated drivers who find themselves stuck behind colorful human traffic … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fiction & SciFi, Geek Love, Life Among the Living Tagged With: Atlanta, Dragon Con, Dragoncon, fandom, fantasy, pop culture, science fiction, Star Wars, Walker McKnight

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Robots and Cats

August 20, 2018 By Walker McKnight 4 Comments

It's the roundup—all the happenings that sparked enough of my interest this week to inspire a blog post. I wage a constant battle NOT to notice things so that I can get more novel-writing done, so this list represents a tragic defeat by the forces of fascination. The war against distraction is real, my friends. Walking Stoicly Through a European Rave I saw the new Mission Impossible. I think this installment is called…Falling from High Places Really Fast While Fighting? It was fantastic, a great time, highly recommended if you are a fan of fun. I like fun. The film hooked me early … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Brain Whimsy, Finding the Weird, Geek Love Tagged With: cats, fantasy, futurism, jetpacks, robots, rooks, science fiction, Walker McKnight

I Brought a Damselfly to Show and Tell

July 5, 2018 By Walker McKnight Leave a Comment

damselfly, dragonfly

Breaking news: I took a picture with my iPhone. I’ve brought it to class today in hopes of making you like me more. I loved show and tell as a kid. I once heard Kristen Lamb say blogs are “show and tell for adults,” and I definitely took it to heart (possibly a little too much). Last Sunday, I went on a solo hike in North Georgia on the Pine Log Creek Trail, a 4.5 mile loop hike that features a small abandoned quarry reclaimed by nature in a particularly lovely way. Here’s my orientation-flipped pic of the reflective water effect at the quarry: I’m always hoping for a glimpse of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Finding the Weird, Life Among the Living Tagged With: damselfly, dragonfly, fantasy, Guillermo del Toro, hiking, insects, science fiction, Walker McKnight, wildlife

This Robot Cuttlefish Taught Me How to Love Again

June 21, 2018 By Walker McKnight Leave a Comment

robots, robot, cuttlefish, robotics

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...]

Filed Under: Coffee and Chaos Theory Tagged With: AI, anthropomorphic, artifcial intelligence, robot, robotics, science fiction, scifi, Walker McKnight

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About

Walker McKnight writes about worlds of the now, tomorrow, and Other while plotting future crime with his asthmatic house panther, Bullet.
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Recent Posts

  • Big Talky Stuff January 16, 2020
  • News From the Corner of Screen and Writing… October 17, 2019
  • This One Broke My Brain August 19, 2019
  • 1999 May 2, 2019
  • Red Poppies, Green Fairies, and Drones for What Ails You November 20, 2018

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Background art by the wonderful Richard Dorran. Check out his great work!