Bigfoot?

Big Foot is often a player in science fiction stories or at least often creatures like him. Did he ever walk on the earth while humans did? Well maybe not, but something quite similar once shared the world with humans. This article discusses the gigantic apes, Gigantopithecus, that once coexisted with us. Pretty interesting and perhaps the basis for all the stories. It also includes some links to other Bigfoot websites discussing the myth.

On a separate note, Thanks to Andy for posting my plea for help. I've got mono and didn't want to infect any of you with it tonight, seeing as how most everyone associates mono with the plague :(. I will supposedly be un-contagious next week, but I'd really like it if anyone had any input on what we talked about in class. I personally haven't enjoyed the Doctorow books mostly because I felt I needed a glossary page or something. However, Katie's comparison to Whuffie being like Ebay points posted about sellers helped me out quite a bit. I just didn't get the obsession with Disney. I do like the idea of deadheading, being able to put myself away for a few years and seeing what's happening when I wake up would be great. Although, I can really say that right now I'm tired of sleeping! -Liz

Robot issues

Much of y'all's discussion of what robots should or should not do and whether that would be a good idea in society sounds more like the 1920s, when Karel Capek coined the word "robot," than like the 21st century. We long ago decided that computers, not robots, would be our default technological option to handle such chores as assembly-line work, ship navigation, checking out customers at the grocery store, etc., and we have been trusting computers to do these chores, big ones and small ones, for years. In years to come, as computers advance, the jobs we trust them to do will advance as well. The ethical decision of whether to trust computers with sensitive tasks was made (collectively) not even by your parents' generation but by your grandparents' generation, folks now in their 60s and 70s; their answer was, "Hell, yes," and y'all are stuck with the society made by that decision, because that clock isn't turning back. For example: A friend recently retired after decades as a pilot for a Major Airline. He says that for the past 10 years or so, the computers were doing almost all the flying, anyway. He was in the cockpit as a backup for the computers. If we let computers fly the trans-Atlantic route, why not let them (eventually) do brain surgery as well?

One question: Graham, why are you threatened by the prospect of a self-aware robot? Would a self-aware robot be any more dangerous than a self-aware human?

The Transhumanist Declaration

I'm glad John posted the link to the Transhumanist Declaration, which reminds me of the old Los Angeles Science Fiction Society credo that I mentioned in class: "Saving humanity through science and sanity."

Last Class

I remember it being mentioned that both of these stories had happy endings. In both stories, the main character was in a bad spot with few companions, and in the end, both were vindacated. We also went over (like Andy said) if the worlds in these stories could actually work and how they actually could have been formed in the first place.

The white-hot killing machine of legend

Nick Beadle's Oct. 23 post on this topic is marvelous.

Let's help Liz

Before class, Liz, who is ill, asked me whether we could blog some class notes afterward, so that she could see what we talked about. If we each post our recollections of one topic we covered, she should be well served. I'll go first: Some readers of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom view the evident Disney fixation as an insurmountable handicap, since the cult of Disney is hardly universal. But the history of the Disney organization may be a good example of proto-Whuffie in action, since Walt commanded a loyalty and devotion from employees and customers alike that seemed beyond the sphere of mere talent, mere innovation, mere business acumen. Indeed, Walt generated so much Whuffie in life that his corporate heirs are still spending it and reaping Whuffie interest on it today. (Or am I confusing the issue? Is Whuffie inheritable, in our pre-post-death economy?) Who's next? Step right up.

Whuffie

I'm pleased to read this Wikipedia article, Katie, partially because it reminds me of one of my favorite board games as a teen, Careers. I still have my set somewhere. Maybe I'll bring it to class.

One economic element of Doctorow's future that we didn't mention in class is the "post-scarcity economy." Exactly how would such an economy, in which all valuable goods and services are free or nearly free, come about? Is such an economy a purely theoretical thought experiment, or a real possibility?

Wuffie's application to webpages

Ok, I know, I know, wikipedia feels like cheating, but this entry makes a good point that online trading sites like eBay use not only money but reputation scoring (feedback ratings on eBay), that sound an aweful lot like Doctorow's Wuffie in Down and Out. As much as I argued it wasn't a workable system in class today, I can see how it would be useful online when paired with real currency. Will I actually get paid by this guy, or will he gyp me? I can just look at his reputation score/Wuffie and get a good idea by how others feel about him. I can see how this system would be useful. What do you think?

Re: Harry Potter

I'm game for going to see the new HP movie. We mentioned Sunday night in class... keep us posted on when and where. I willingly admit I'm a dork who is totally excited about the new movie, and will be even more excited about the last book. (Do we really have to wait till Sunday night? :) )

Reply to Andy Duncan

I have XM satellite radio which is transmitted to my headunit via a FM modulator. I have had friends tell me that they can pick up whatever I'm listening to through their radios sometimes even though they are a couple of cars away from me. Kinda strange but neat.

Asteroid Collision

I really enjoyed the article that Sean posted on a potential asteroid collision with Earth. It is good for the media to hit on this subject and remind people that such a collision could lead to the end of the world.

But should huge amounts of money be put into preventing a collision when there are so many more problems at home. I look at it this way: if a physicist and a computer can figure out nearly any mathematical situation, let us solve it that way. For us to build a huge rocket costing millions of dollars and slam it into an asteroid to see if we move it is pointless. Let the best physicist of the day try and figure out if we are even capable of doing it. If so, don't go ahead and waste millions of dollars on testing out the theory. Let us just monitor the skies for threats. If a threat occurs, then we can do something about it by testing.

I just think it would be unwise to go ahead and spend so much money on something that is so unlike to happen. We shouldn't start spending hundreds of millions of dollars on reflecting an asteroid until we know for darn sure that we are gonna get hit.

Harry Potter

I have attached a link to the Harry Potter trailer as found on Yahoo Movies. The movie comes out on the 18th. I'm not gonna lie, I am really excited about it. If any of yall would like to go see it with me, I would enjoy your company. I think we should all go as a class. That would be great. Even if you haven't read all of the books like I have, the movies are always great, and this one promises to be no different. This particular book has been my favorite of the six released so far.

Trailer Link:
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808475610/hmg

Excellent Related Site (Includes Lots of Trivia):
http://www.mugglenet.com/

A patent question

Ashley, if you don't like the idea of patenting human genes, what do you think of patenting cures for pandemic diseases? The Swiss company that makes Tamiflu, the world's current best hope for treating an avian-flu pandemic, stands to make a fortune from the global demand, but it can't possibly make enough of the vaccine for everybody. The link above is to a Reuters story about an Indian company that wants permission to make its own copycat version. Anyone, of course, can jump in on this, not just Ashley.

Asteroid impacts

Jose, while I don't spend a lot of time worrying about it, asteroids certainly have hit the Earth in the past, and they certainly will hit the Earth again. The town of Wetumpka, Alabama, near Montgomery, sits on the jagged rim of a tremendous ancient impact crater, so old, eroded and forested that it's not as obvious as, say, Meteor Crater in Arizona, but it's there just the same. If you look at any road map of Alabama, you can see the oval shape formed by highways circling around the thing.

Here's a link to Arizona's Meteor Crater.

5th Article: Asteroid Collision

This article discusses the possibility of a certain asteroid striking the earth in about 30 years. The world is divided over how to handle this matter, seeing as how the chance of it actually hitting the earth could be about 1:5,500. It said that the asteroid is large enough to level a major city, and that there are actually individuals whose job is to observe space and watch for nearing comets. I would personally perfer that some measures me taken (IE deflect the comet)to prevent this huge rock from possibly killing millions of people.

I like this article a lot just because it reminds me a lot of movies and books that discuss great natural disasters threatening humanity. What makes this instance even more intriguing is that this "natural disaster" is actually from space.

You thought our lack of preparation for a hurricane was bad?

I came accross this article and it immediately sent my mind spinning with all sorts of scenarios. After seeing this disasters created by the tsunami and by hurricane Katrina, what would happen if an asteroid collided with earth? Sure, it is very unlikely ( a 1 in 5,500 chance), but what if it did happen? Could you imagine the pandemonium that would insue? After seeing the heat President Bush is taking, I would feel really bad for this president. If this happends, what would ensue seems like something that would come straight from a captivating science fiction text.

American Exorcism

Amanda, I haven't seen The Exorcism of Emily Rose, but I have read a very interesting recent book, American Exorcism: Expelling Demons in the Land of Plenty by Michael W. Cuneo. Cuneo is a sociologist who looks at the exorcism phenomenon from a secular perspective. Much of the book is about the increasing popularity of exorcism among Protestants, especially among Pentecostal or charismatic non-denominational congregrations. Some churches meet weekly for group exorcisms in which believers froth, writhe, curse, even fondle themselves in the Linda Blair manner, while their fellow believers pray over them until the demons leave those people and enter someone else, whereupon the congregation begins to pray over her, and so forth. At the evening's end, everyone is sweaty and exhilarated, just like after a good revival meeting.

The Frozen Walt

Here's a fine Snopes.com essay on the frozen-Disney legend that Amanda alludes to.

The great sf writer Frederik Pohl, by the way, suggested years ago that the frozen bodies of people who hope to be revived later should be known as "corpsicles."

iPods and other car-to-car technologies

That's an interesting story, Meredith, with some laugh-out-loud quotes. What car-radio frequency do you use locally for your iPod? Since Hurricane Katrina, oddly, I've had trouble getting the factory-set frequency to work. Some distant station is competing with the iPod signal.

I don't remember the details, but I recently read a wire story about university researchers testing a system in which networked cars would exchange information about traffic conditions and advise drivers of alternate routes, thus alleviating congestion. I agree with Doctorow, though, that music-sharing is a sexier "killer app" for networked cars.

Magic Kingdom

Hey all!!!
So after reading the "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" story, I was thinking alot about having yourself as a type of Windows program that you periodically backup so that you have yourself up to that point and you can revert back whenever you want--esentially never die, like we do with computers. Would anyone really want to live forever?? And in the way of getting a new clone body but having the same memories?
I thought about it, and I decided that doing a few things that were dangerous knowing that you would essentially live even if you died would be cool. I mean who wouldnt' take some serious risks knowing they were alomst invincible, short of the initial pain until you were regenerated? But I'm not so sure that doing this more than a few times would be good or fun or anything else...and that there would be people who never wanted to die, or would want to go to sleep for thousands of years so they could have another way of living forever.
Interesting that the author picked the subject of what he called "deadheading" in conjunction with the location of Disney World, since there's that rumor that Walt had himself criogenically frozen until they found a cure for cancer.
Anyway, I was just going to see if anyone else wanted to live forever in this manner, or would be willing to "deadhead" through centuries. I have to admit, it would take the fear out of flying, but it would rid you of the experience of fear that makes life worth living! Thoughts, anyone?

Carol Emswhiller wins a Life Achievement Award

At the World Fantasy Convention this past weekend, that is. I hope she'll soon be among us on the blog, so y'all can congratulate her in person.