glasshouse
1
Just in case you think that I am not doing anything sensible—here’s my house in ↑Minecraft … quite a mad-scientist hideout, isn’t it? … Continue reading
zephyrin_xirdal
radium age sf
While reading ↑Brian Aldiss‘ ‘Billion Year Spree: The True History of Science Fiction’ (1973) [a revised and expanded edition was published as 'Trillion Year Spree' (Aldiss & Wingrove 1986)] Joshua Glenn thought that Aldiss unfairly neglected the period from 1904 to 1933: I’ve concluded that it’s an era of which science fiction historians and fans ought to be proud, not ashamed! I’ve dubbed this unfairly overlooked era ↑science fiction’s “Radium Age” because the phenomenon of radioactivity—the 1903 discovery that matter is neither solid nor still and is, at least in part, a state of energy, constantly in movement — is … Continue reading
jet age machinery
With all the hype around information technology in all its guises as our times’ core technology, about virtual worlds and social media, Tim Heffernan’s ‘↑The machines that made the Jet Age‘ (a follow-up to his ‘↑Iron Giant‘ in the Atlantic) comes handy as a healthy reality check. Heffernan explains and stresses the role of gigantic forging presses as the machines that made the jet age possible. ‘This is the ↑story of the birth of the Jet Age—but it’s anchored firmly to the ground:’ Isn’t it a wonderful irony [pun not intended] that in order to make machines as light as … Continue reading
plug & pray
Computer experts around the world, like Raymond Kurzweil and Hiroshi Ishiguro, strive towards the development of intelligent robots. Will man and machine merge as a single unity? Rejecting evolution’s biological shackles dangles the promise of eternal life for those bold enough to seize it. But Joseph Weizenbaum, a pioneer of the computer age, counter attacks against society’s limitless faith in the redemptive powers of technology. Filmed in the U.S.A., Japan, Germany, Italy. Since antiquity, humankind has dreamed of creating intelligent machines. The invention of the computer and the breathtaking pace of technological progress appear to be bringing the realisation of … Continue reading
what counts down?
zeph’s pop culture quiz #15 As there were requests for more recent movies as the subject of the quiz, here you are: What does the countdown in the screencap indicate? What is expected to happen when it is at zero? Just leave a comment with your educated guess—you can ask for additional hints, too. [Leaving a comment is easy; just click the ‘Leave a comment’ at the end of the post and fill in the form. If it’s the first time you post a comment, it will be held for moderation. But I am constantly checking, and once … Continue reading
smart bulletts
The picture shows a cut-open smart bullett which homes in on a person’s individual unique heat pattern or signature. The screencap is from ‘↑Runaway,’ a 1984 cyberpunk flic directed by Michael Crichton, starring Tom Selleck and Kirstie Alley. And this is a promotional picture of Sandia National Laboratories’ self-guided bullet prototype from a 30 January 2012 ↑press release. It’s not heat seeking, but a kind of miniature laser-guided rocket fired from small-caliber, smooth-bore firearms. Mr. Roboto over at ↑cyberpunkreview immediately remembered the bullett from the 1984 movie, when he saw Sandia’s prototype. Additionally he had the ↑fine idea that the … Continue reading
amazing stories online
The first six issues (vol. 1 no. 1 through vol. 1 no. 6 [April to September 1926]) and the December 1926 (vol. 1 no. 9) issue of the legendary science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, edited by Hugo Gernsback, are—legally and for free—↓online at The Pulp Magazines Project! via ↑entry at ↑kueperpunk … Continue reading
cyberpunk shanghai
Canadian photographer ↑Greg Girard has a nice collection called ↑Phantom Shanghai online. Girard’s pictures perfectly catch the cyberpunk ambience and æsthetics and remind me very much of the photographies my pal ↑2R took in China years ago: ↵cyberpunk china and ↵more cyberpunk china. See also Mike Doyle’s ↵abandoned homes. via ↑entry at ↑kueperpunk … Continue reading
cyberneticzoo
Reuben Hoggett’s ↑cyberneticzoo.com is a true treasure trove of the ‘history of cybernetic animals and early robots.’ via ↑entry at the ↑clockworker … Continue reading
hartmann the anarchist
‘↑Captain Nemo was a technical anarcho-terrorist.’ wrote Bruce Sterling (1991: 39) about the main protagonist of ↑Jules Verne‘s ‘↓20,000 leagues under the sea‘ (1870). The same can be said about the character Robur appearing in Verne’s ‘↓Robur the Conqueror‘ (1886) and its sequel ‘↓Master of the World‘ (1904). By way of his submarine ‘Nautilus’ Captain Nemo rules the oceans. Robur rules everything above through his vessels, the ‘Albatross’ and the ‘Terror.’ Just recently I learned that around the same time yet another literary ‘technical anarcho-terrorist’ appeared: ‘↓Hartmann the Anarchist‘ by Edward Douglas Fawcett (1893): ↑A sensational tale of the evil … Continue reading