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...]
Dragon Con Has That… Je Ne Sais Quoi
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...]
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Robots and Cats
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 Stoically 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 … [Read more...]
I Brought a Damselfly to Show and Tell
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...]
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...]
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