The phenomenal human drive to overcome our biological limitations is one of those things that can induce a simultaneous gag reflex and mental pause. It is a part of our own evolution, a process that we have, in certain respects, taken into our own hands. There is an itch, a tick, that has driven us to grasp for more. We have invented a slew of things that participate in our own, human remodeling of self to create a better, fitter organism.
A few months ago, the NY Times featured an
article about a woman who had lost her arm in a car accident. I would have brought it up right when I read it, but I didn't have a blog then. Now I do. So, suck on this with your brain lips. Human beings have developed a neuron-machine interface that has given this woman her arm back. The science behind it isn't all that extraordinary: a neuron, when told to fire by whatever brain process, makes a small electro-chemical potential that a little metal sensor could easily record. Think of the
Saw Stop, which can translate the slightly charged surface of human skin to a STOP! command, which is sent to a rotating saw blade before too many layers of skin are removed. Skin. Not bone. Not fat. Skin. Likewise, a flood of ions from neuron A can induce a mechanical, electrical circuit that can tell a robo-bicep to flex or robo-pinky to wiggle within milliseconds.
Let that sink in.
To illustrate why you should take a second to think about the implications of this stuff, I am going to interpret our most basic drives to be the product of natural selection and evolution, a glacial force that has been directed by the simple, viral command, "SPREAD YER GENES!"
to be continued...
There's a good chance that you happened upon this little, underused blog because you saw a box covered in aluminum foil and a silver notebook next to it at one of the coffee houses in Rochester, NY. If that is the case, thanks for checking it out. Here's a little more background on what I'm doing:
The techno-future project is modernized form of a photo project I worked on last year, named Metallic Memories of the Future. I took the evil robots from the Hannah Barbara cartoons I adored during my youth (and continue to adore) and archived them by making models and photographing them. What I found beautiful in these silly machines was the relentless imagination in how technology could be implemented and manipulated during an age when technology could absolutley become anything. Compared to what we are surrounded by today, it was a fantasy world full of science-inspired magic and life.
Shown above are three of my images. The topmost is the Incredible Magnetroid, the middle is the Cannon Rocket Robot, and the bottommost is the Rock Thrower Robot. The IM is from a Birdman episode in which he causes havoc, steals some titanium from the military, and puts Birdman in a tight spot with his magnetic beams. The CRR and RTR are from a Space Ghost episode in which the evil Metallus uses his robot army to attack Ghost Planet and destroy Space Ghost. I am currently in the process of reshooting the little robots in color, which I hope will yield something a bit more finished looking.
This brings us to the aluminum foil robo-boxes you saw. I want to understand what is in our heads these days. Is technology still a fantasy world? Or has it become too real, too tangible in a time when computer chip technology is advancing at a quite exponential rate. Have we come to a point where computer intelligence and its physical embodiment (the robot) are points of legitimate worry? Or are we hopeful? Do we see a bright future ahead? And what about the actual machine-human interfaces that are happening right now? Neuron-controlled machines and the like exist both in prosthetics and more experimental situations. (When looking at the linked video I encourage you to be skeptical - it's an enormous stretch to say a petri dish of cultured neurons has any variety of consciousness - it is essentially a self-modifiable computer chip.)
It is interesting to think of how movies and media have portrayed robots.
It's also intersting to think of how movies and media have affected the real robot industry. Is there cross-communication? More on that later...
So, feel free to submit any amount of robots into my robo-boxes. Don't limit your imagination, your hopes, or even fears. Eventually models will be made and photographed and displayed. I am so excited to see what you all come up with.
