Robots and Sentience

I found this short animated video on You Tube and it has an Isaac Asimov feeling to it if you combine his stories on Robots with various robots in shows and movies such as C-3PO from Star Wars and Data from Star Trek:TNG.
The video is interesting and very well done, kudos to the animator.

Star Trek or "1984" in our Future?

I read an article that the Irish National Bank will no longer handle cash but will instead handle debit cards and are dubbing this new style of banking "cashless banking." So one has to ask himself, are we going to see this trend spread to other banks ? The Irish Bank is using a Danish bank as its model. In the Star Trek universe, they live in a cashless world on planet Earth. The difference is that people are not homeless, there is plenty of food, and people work, produce food, and study, all for the betterment of the human race. Well, I think we have quite a while to reach that stage in human development, the maturity it would require to have a work ethic, produce not only for yourself, and not expect monetary compensation . The other alternative is the George Orwell 1984 version in which humans become controlled by the government, need RFID chips in order to conduct any type of transaction, work and live in deplorable conditions, and are unable to think for themselves and instead are brainwashed by the government and watched by Big brother. Since more people are homeless than reported in the mainstream media, my feeling is we are heading into a bleaker way of life for a while. I have hope that people will wake up and see that they need to think for themselves, become less materialistic, and truly work for the betterment of themselves and others, not just for greed. As I said, this may take time. Max Keiser is an economist who usually tells it as it is with a sense of humor. I included one of his videos and his views in general on the current economic situation. Enjoy.

Astrogeology and the Messenger

There has been a lot of talk about returning to the moon or finding life on Mars ( all of which is important) but the Messenger was launched in 2004 to map and study Mercury. From the article:

MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on August 3, 2004. It returned to Earth for a gravity boost on August 2, 2005, and flew past Venus twice, in October 2006 and June 2007. The spacecraft uses the tug of Venus' gravity to resize and rotate its trajectory closer to Mercury's orbit.

Three Mercury flybys, each followed about two months later by a course correction maneuver, will put MESSENGER in position to enter Mercury orbit in March 2011. During the January 2008, October 2008, and September 2009 flybys, MESSENGER mapped nearly the entire planet and imaged most of the areas unseen by Mariner 10.

It is amazing to me that the Messenger has been on and off its mission for so many years and will continue to work into the next few years.

In combining MDIS (Mercury Dual Imaging System) images collected from these three MESSENGER flyby's with those from Mariner 10 data from the 1970s, we now have a global mosaic of Mercury covering ~97.72% of the planet's surface.

If you click on the link there is an interactive map of Mercury if you are into that kind of thing.

On television or in the movies, everything in space happens so quickly, in an episode of Star Trek, the crew of the Enterprise can fix the geologic problems of a planet they have just encountered! I know it is fiction and enjoy the interpersonal aspects of the show, I also realize that any work in space takes time. The Space Shuttle has to spend time on the International Space Station installing new parts.

I wish the news would cover more stories about spacecraft that has been dispatched to study different aspects of our solar system, but I guess that would be too boring for people.

Anyway, here is the link the the article and map.

Japanese Robot Suit

This is a truly cool invention, it could really help physically disabled people suffering from hip, knee, or foot problems to name just a very few. From the article:

HAL, which weighs 23kg, is comprised of robotic 'limbs', and a backpack containing the suit's battery and computer system. It is strapped to the body and controlled by thought. When a person attempts to move, nerve signals are sent from the brain to the muscles, and very weak traces of these signals can be detected on the surface of the skin. The HAL suit identifies these signals using a sensor attached the skin of the wearer, and a signal is sent to the suit's power unit telling the suit to move in unison with the wearer's own limbs.

It seems a little heavy but with a battery and computer system that lasts for 5 hours, a person will be capable of much more activity and much more strength. It could aid a person in lifting heavy objects, getting out of a wheel chair, and many other tasks. Plus I am sure there will be many refinements to this suit as time goes by.
The exo-skeleton is named Hal and I cannot help but feel very excited about this creation. Getting older can be a bitch, a car accident can bring life altering injuries and now there is going to be a solution to those physical problems. It really feels like science fiction is merging with real life. Sometimes it feels like we are going backwards when I see so many wars, cruelties to plants, animals, and humans, and then I read a story like this and get excited that we are moving ahead and trying to make life better for everyone!
Here is a LINK to the story and enjoy your weekend.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Robo Muscle Suit: Japan continues to work on fully motorized humans (video) (crunchgear.com)

Whose Line Is It Anyway, Sci Fi Version

I enjoyed watching the television show, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, for many years because it was clever, silly, and just plain fun. They did all sorts of skits and all of them mostly ad lib. I found a very silly video in which they make up songs that have to do with science fiction. I wish there were still shows like this one today because it did not require super special technical effects, a lot of money, but it did require a lot of brain power and a great sense of humor.
Enjoy the clip.

Blindness (2008) The Movie

In 1995, the Portuguese writer Jose Saramago wrote a novel entitled Blindness in his unique style of writing that uses punctuation sparingly and often times his sentences and paragraphs can extend for pages. His novels are also unique in the aspect that his characters have no names and he writes allegorically about the human condition, one of my favorite topics. He finally agreed to have his novel Blindness made into a movie in 2008 under the condition that it follow the setting of his novel in an unknown city and the characters have no names.
The movie was amazing to watch and I had to keep reminding myself of the author's intent, to explain to us his vision of the human condition and not in a literal fashion. In my opinion, the characters did not go literally blind by some mysterious infectious illness that suddenly struck the population of this city, but it was symbolic of the blinders we put on in our daily lives. I feel that the wife of the doctor was not blind because she was aware in her life, thought for herself, and did not believe everything she was told, she seemed more aware of human behavior, and the cruelty that exists in the world. The plot of the story shows how fear and lack of education can lead to a total breakdown in society, violence, lack of compassion for others and oneself. The movie is well made, great acting, and the location could be any city in the world, pointing out to us that this could happen anywhere in the world because after all is said and done, we are all human beings despite our different races and cultures. When it comes down to survival, the human condition shows its ugly side. I have commented on this in the past, if people are willing to trample and kill others to get into a store to buy unnecessary things because it is on sale, what would happen in a food and medicine shortage? This movie spells it out pretty clearly and graphically. This movie is not for the faint of heart and remind yourself it is an allegory.
Here is a clip of the movie.

Avatar (2009) to See or Not to See

The movie Avatar is due out in the theatre this December and I usually watch all types of sci fi movies but I have my doubts about seeing this particular film for two reasons. First, it looks like a video game and I have nothing against video games, I like them, but I would play one if that is what I wanted to do and not watch one in the theatre where I cannot make decisions. You can create believable aliens with excellent make-up instead of relying heavily on CGI, but that is my opinon. The second reason is this appears to me to be the same old story of one culture or race feeling superior to another and trying to conquer them and exploit their resources. I could watch the evening news for that instead of going to the theatre for the fancy version. I hope that science fiction movies in the future do not take this direction of an "us" vs "them" mindset and instead explore relationships between humans and aliens. I guess that is why I am a huge fan of the Star Trek Franchise and Stargate Franchise because they both explore relationships that are positive and negative, there are disputes, but for the most part, diplomatic solutions are sought, the suffering of war is exposed and how fighting should be the very last option. Well, I am still on the fence about this movie but here is a trailer to get an idea of what the film looks like.

Do You Live in the Real World Part Two

I have blogged on this topic in the past and will include those thoughts here once again in this post. I talk to a lot of different people because I live in a border town so I hear points of view from people who live in many states of the United States and various states in Mexico. Some people tell me they expect the worst next year in terms of job loss, standard of living, more store closures, etc. Others tell me California has a lot of jobs and money and people are just lazy and do not want to work and this whole crisis is a lie ( I am not making this up, someone told me this earlier in the week), and someone else told me yesterday they just lost their house in Las Vegas. The news paints a rosy picture and acts like the recession is over, well as I said before, it feels like science fiction. It reminds me of my favorite episode of Stargate Atlantis in which Dr. Weir is in a psychiatric hospital being told she is basically crazy and convince her to take her meds and move on with her life until the medical team on Atlantis is able to immobilize the nanites infecting her brain and thus influencing her thoughts. When she is revived, she cannot believe she is back in Atlantis and not on Earth and her entire view of what is real vs what is not is put into question. Do we all have our own unique points of view about the world, yes, but are they realistic?
Here is my previous post on this topic:
There are days when I feel as if I am living in a science fiction novel. I do not mean that people have been "body snatched" or I see flying saucers landing on my roof, although, one day a neighbor told me a UFO had landed on his roof and the last I had heard of him was that he is in a mental institution, but I digress.
What I see are distinct groups of people who appear to be living in alternate realities. In my line of work, I have the opportunity to talk with all kinds of people and the current economic crisis has amplified the differences in the way people see the world.
There is one group of people who say the economic crisis is fake because they are doing just fine in their lives and they don't know what all the negative news is about. It is as if they have closed their eyes to what is going on around them.
The other group of people I have encountered have lost everything: jobs, houses, cars, etc. For them, the crisis is very real.
The other group of people I talk with own their homes, have jobs and cars but know this crisis is not a fantasy because they are willing to see that stores have closed, "For Rent" signs are everywhere, empty houses and tent cities are real.
It is interesting to me to see how some people distort reality for whatever personal reason they may have. They seem unaware or unwilling to accept certain situations and to be truthful with themselves.
I think it is best to be as aware as possible of all situations in life and especially these troubled times and even though I love to escape for a while into my science fiction world, I also know when I need to be aware of reality.