It is uncanny, the development is still unfolding. After I learned about the inverse tie knots, invented by edeity, and clearly transcending Fink & Mao’s 85 ways, I made some calculations—of course by means of the formulas devised by Fink … Continue reading →
manuscript-day 209 of 100 The history of mechanical calculators is far more outbranching, and the whole story is important for understanding, that what a computer does and is based on, is mathematics, and mathematics only. The devices presented so far—from … Continue reading →
Superheroes are the new gods, and they come with a vast mythology. The two main universes, Marvel and DC, are huge accumulations of concepts, ideas, and narrative content, close to unmanageable. When you have played, or want to play ‘Batman: … Continue reading →
La jetée (English: The Jetty or The Pier) (1962) is a 28-minute black and white science fiction film by Chris Marker. Constructed almost entirely from still photos, it tells the story of a post-nuclear war experiment in time travel. It … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
More water on my mills, this time from an Op-Ed out of yesterday’s New York Times on Watson, IBM’s AI which will compete in Jeopardy! on Valentine’s day: It’s remarkable how much of the digital revolution has been driven by … Continue reading →
It’s 20 years ago that Bruce Sterling drew a connection between ↑cyberpunk in the nineties and Jules Verne: ‘↑Captain Nemo was a technical anarcho-terrorist.’ (Sterling 1991: 39) By chance last night I stumbled over a passage in Verne’s ‘↓20,000 leagues … Continue reading →
my first ↑vig! The good Evil Doctor to be seen here just recently found out that his newest invention, the death-ray, is just perfectly suited for joining aquatic cartilage and human tissue. While welding the head of a ↑Galeocerdo cuvier … Continue reading →
“↑Billion Dollar Brain” (Russell 1967) is a cold war spy thriller movie based on the ↑novel of the same name by British writer ↑Len Deighton (1966). Said novel is one of a series starring an unnamed secret agent, working for … Continue reading →