Prometheus, Caprica, Facebook & Me

What happens to your Facebook profile when you die? If I’ve understood Caprica correctly, then it gets downloaded into a giant robot’s brain.

Caprica is a prequel series to Battlestar Galactica (that show with the sexy robots at war with humanity), which is supposed explain how those sexy robots came to be. In the first episode, Zoey, the daughter of the inventor of the internet, gets killed in a terrorist attack and her dad misses her so much he finds her online avatar (her conscious Facebook profile), and installs it into a giant warrior robot he’s building for the government.

Horrifying, isn’t it? The idea that the information we leave of ourselves on the internet could be rolled together like a ball of yarn to form a working consciousness, and then used to animate an abominable being like Frankenstein’s monster.

But it’s almost believable. After all, social networks make it entirely possible to keep track of friends, family, and perfect strangers down to the excruciatingly shameful and mundane daily details. FOR EXAMPLE, I’ve been made aware of all the disgustingly private details of what giving birth is like because a friend of mine just had a baby this week (SHE POSTED HOURLY UPDATES AND LEFT NOTHING OUT, SHUDDER).

Google, Amazon, and Facebook already have sophisticated algorithms to take your personal information and show you individualized advertisements. How far of a leap will it be to take that same information and create a replication of your consciousness and put it in a robot? And since the Caprica/Battlestar universe is kind of a parable for our own, this suggests that the perversion of intelligent life rooted from taking our perverted internet personalities and creating a new race out of them will kill us all.

Well, I’m sure as long as the robots are sexy no one will actually mind. Amen.

Oh, and I want their electronic paper. Like right now. Now.

7th Annual Smithsonian Photo Contest

I missed out on entering this contest so I'll have to wait for next year, but here are a just a few of the incredible finalists for the 7th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest. Click here to see all of the finalists and vote for your favorite.

(all photos courtesy of smithsonianmag.com)

I'm In The Motherboard

Sometime last year Motherboard.tv was launched by VBS.tv, the internet video station of Vice Magazine. It is "an online video network and community focused on the exploration of the nature and culture of technology, as viewed through the lenses of curated editorial content, community, and dialogue."

Anyway, I joined the Motherboard.tv community and dialogue last month. Hell, it seems right up my alley and covers many of the same topics I cover on this blog. I've only made a few posts so far, mainly of recycled material I've already posted on this blog. But it's kind of fun for me to participate in something that is almost a social network/community blog for people interested in new media such as myself.

Plus, I like Vice, particularly VBS.tv (the interface they set up to make it seem like its own television channel is very similar to what I had in mind when I designed NinjaPancakes.com).

Although all those damn American Apparel ads are really fucking annoying. And they also are too often twisted perverts.

Anyways, check out my Motherboard profile.

Digital Magazines Are Cool Again

This is a concept video for the Mag+ project, a nifty device and interface that shows a fun way to read digital magazines. Looks like finger-scrolling in a way that appears similar to the swiping thingy on iPhones/iTouches/iPads, and also like Google’s Fast Flip. Pretty neat, eh?

I'll be honest, I hadn't been too impressed by the prospect of reading digital magazines on tablets or any of Apple's little iPhones. The demo for the iPad was pretty boring, I got claustrophobic trying it on the iPhone, and other tablets just feed what you get from the magazine's actual webpage. The only aspect I remotely like is Google's Fast Flip dealy. I actually enjoy perusing the news much better that way. Much more visual, fun, and you get to preview the actual layout of each source. Much more like going through an actual newspaper.

This Mag+ dealy looks a lot more fun though, even though it is conceptually so close to what the iPad is supposed to give. I know it's just a concept video, but this looks a lot more interactive and fluid and textural, much like I want digital magazines and tablets to eventually be-- just like holding a piece of paper. Kind of as demonstrated in the new show Caprica this:

By the way, that new show Caprica is awesome. You should watch it.

The Future is Mouse-Free

Here's a nifty video demo of a spatial operating system, AKA that hand-wavey computer Tom Cruise was using in Minority Report.

This gesture-based interface is made by a company called Oblong, founded by the same guy who consulted with Minority Report's producers for far-off computers. Looks fun.

Some folks argue this is a lazy way to interact with a computer. Well, I think it looks a lot more physically involved than a god damn mouse. So to hell with those folks.

g-speak overview 1828121108 from john underkoffler on Vimeo.

News that Makes No Sense: Google, Cheney, and Killer Whales

Is it just me, or are things more screwy than usual this week?

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GOOGLE CONVICTED IN ITALY

I've mentioned quite a few times that governments the world over are starting a systematic rebellion against Google. Well, score one for the bad guys (or are they the good guys...?), because Italy convicted a Google Executive of violating privacy laws. Lots of folks are riled up by this, claim it is an outright threat to the freedom and sanctity of the internet and free speech, that it is like killing the mailman for bringing you a bad letter. Blah blah blah.

The context of the court case is quite silly actually. A couple Italian kids uploaded a video to YouTube that was rather embarrassing to a fellow student. The video was reported by the school, and the video was removed two hours later. Ahh, reminds me of high school...

Anyways, bottom line, Italy is claiming Google is legally responsible for all the idiots on YouTube. If that is the case, then Nuremberg-esque trials aren't too far behind....

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DICK CHENEY SURVIVES FIFTH HEART ATTACK

It is now clear that former Vice President Dick Cheney defies all laws of medicine. Having suffered his fifth heart attack and walked away, I think he has evolved beyond the need for a human heart. Perhaps he survives off broken dreams and the tears of school-children.

I have another theory that he is really a robot of an alien or deviant race, like the Terminator or a Decepticon, and has planted itself within our world to rise to power and enslave us all. But that is so obviously ridiculous, because he already was Vice President and... um... oh no... he's already done it, hasn't he...? But we're not even aware, are we....?

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KILLER WHALE KILLS SEAWORLD TRAINER

One of SeaWorld's trained orca whales played a bizarre role in the death of a SeaWorld trainer. And the shifty thing is that the alleged whale, Tilly, has a sordid past: In 1999 a naked dude was found dead on Tilly's back. And then there was this odd incident in Canada where Tilly and a few other hooligan orcas beat the crap out of another trainer.

Whether or not you support or oppose the captivity of these humongous mammals for entertainment purposes, everyone has to admit: all this press will probably swing in the favor of the upcoming Free Willy 4: Tilly's Revenge.

Sharktopus Will Devour Us All

I can't stop thinking about Sharktopus. This sucka's in my dreams, man (which is odd, because the above design is also by Matt Leach).

Roger Corman, championed director of the straight-to-SciFi-Channel B-movies, is directing this movie. If there's nothing better than SciFi--ahem, sorry, SyFy--Channel movies, it's science fiction B-movies.

Honestly, why can't all science fiction movies be made as B-movies? I would enjoy them so much more.

Also keep your eye out for Dinoshark. Which looks almost as cool as Sharktopus. But ultimately tentacles always prevail.

I don't exactly know why I like poorly made science fiction/horror movies so much. But they feel very closely related to drunk stories. Think about it: both are told with so much gusto and inflated emotions that ultimately fail because the integrity of the surroundings are lackluster. Just as the authenticity falls short in a drunk story because, well, you were drunk, B-movies fall short because, well, you can see right through those silly special effects and set design.

But I love me some drunk stories, because I find that failure hilarious. Which I suppose is about the same reason why I love B-movies.

I love you, Sharktopus. I love you...