Monthly Archives: January 2011

cccp

Posted on by November 4, 2011
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cosmic communist constructions photographed Until recently I never was aware that the cyberpunkish movie ‘Rollerball’ (Jewison 1975) was mainly shot in my city, but Wikipedia wisened me up: ‘Among the filming locations used was the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle as arena, the then-new BMW Headquarters and Museum buildings in Munich, Germany, appearing as the headquarter buildings of Energy Corporation and the Olympiapark, Munich.’ Fittingly enough the latter today is the base for Munich’s Parkour-practitioners. Back in the early ’70s all those buildings were brand new and deemed to be futuristic—in a strange way they still are today. And that is the link to … Continue reading →

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final problem

Posted on by March 1, 2011
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‘Of late I have been tempted to look into the problems furnished by Nature rather than those more superficial ones for which our artificial state of society is responsible.’ (Doyle 1893) DOYLE, Sir ARTHUR IGNATIUS CONAN. 1893. The adventure of the final problem. The Strand Magazine 6(36) [December 1893]. … Continue reading →

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games spillovers

Posted on by March 1, 2011
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Spillovers from the computer game industry include technological spillovers from games into other industries, impacts on education and impacts on learning and social interaction. It provides an ongoing example of the development of new business and payment models which may have applications in other content sectors […]     Technology originally developed for games is increasingly used in other applications. Games developments in computer images, graphics resolution, high-speed interactivity, and touch feedback are used in other applications. Many of these technologies had theirs origins in defence (e.g. flight simulators, pilot helmets, etc.) and medical imaging where virtual modelling developed for … Continue reading →

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manchurian boeing

Posted on by March 20, 2014
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Last Wednesday, in a New York Times article on President Hu Jintao visiting President Obama, I read the following: ‘Among the deals announced on Wednesday morning was one in which the Chinese government authorized Chinese companies to buy 200 airplanes from Boeing, worth $19 billion.’ The sentence reminded me of a scene in the cyberpunk-novel ‘Interface.’ One of the protagonists, Floyd Wayne Vishniak, watches William A. Cozzano—a 21st Century manchurian candidate running for president—on television: Cozzano looked snappy in his homburg, the sort of old-fashioned men’s hat that had gone out of fashion when JFK had refused to wear one, … Continue reading →

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robotopia nipponica

Posted on by March 1, 2011
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WAGNER, COSIMA. [in print]. Robotopia Nipponica – Recherchen zur Akzeptanz von Robotern in Japan. [Robotopia Nipponica: Research on the acceptance of robots in Japan]. Marburg: Tectum. [English abstract] WAGNER, COSIMA. 2010 “”Silver robots” and “robotic nurses”? Japanese robot culture and elderly care,” in Demographic change in Japan and the EU: Comparative perspectives. edited by Annette Schad-Seifert and Shingo Shimada, pp. 131-154. Düsseldorf: Düsseldorf University Press. WAGNER, COSIMA. 2009a ““Tele-Altenpflege” und “Robotertherapie”: Leben mit Robotern als Vision und Realität für die überalterte Gesellschaft Japans [“Tele-care for the elderly” and “robot therapy”: Living with robots as a vision and reality for Japans … Continue reading →

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2012 scorcher

Posted on by February 8, 2011
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‘Apocalyptic blockbuster absurd, say NASA scientists‘—thus headlines an article by John Harlow in ‘The Australian’, published yesterday. NASA is very unhappy with scientifically overflawed science-fiction movies like Roland Emmerich’s ‘2012‘ of 2009 (which they deem to be the worst), or Michael Bay’s ‘Armageddon‘ (1998). But they are quite fond of the cyberpunk genre. Here’s some water on my mills: NASA and the SEE [Science & Entertainment Exchange, a group of physicists and others campaigning for more authentic science fiction] also praise “good” science fiction films such as Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner [1982], which convincingly portrayed a futuristic Los Angeles now … Continue reading →

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