(Sorry for the bad attempt to reference “I, Robot” by Isaac Asimov, I should probably go to bed before attempting to write any more post titles…)
I was recently contacted by Adam (of ah-ok-lah fame), who asked me to check out his entry to the Blog Battle Royale (will we have cage fights and spandex leotards soon?) competition. The main idea is to create (the idea, not the actual mechanics!) an ideal robot, post about it, and try and win a whole host of goodies.
Adam’s iByot is currently in sixth place, and needs to break into the top 5 to make it to the next round. Have a look at the entrants, and if you truly can’t decide which you like best, may I suggest his (#15)? Anyway, I hope you find at least some of the posts interesting, and don’t forget to vote – this round of the competition closes on Monday!
Aug 18 2007
Their, Robot
May 08 2007
2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey – Arthur C. Clarke
OK, if you’ve not heard of this book, I’m assuming you’re either very young, or have been living in a small hamlet isolated from society for the past 40 years…
Just in case you fall into either of those two categories, I’ll continue 😉 Doing a bit of research for this novel, I came across the fact that the book was written at the same time as the film, and actually published after the film. I’d just assumed the film was made due to the success of the book, so I might go and watch the film again soon, to re-appraise it.
The basic plot line is that life on earth was helped along by aliens, who leave a large slab of mysterious material, which can communicate with the monkey/humans around it. The idea of using tools or weapons is then planted in the tribe of early humans, and they can therefore achieve supremacy over the less well equipped tribes in their vicinity.
Fast forward to 1999 (which was of course in the future when this book was written), and we meet Dr Floyd. The link between the two time periods become clear, as another slab has been discovered on the moon. It defies all attempts to measure or quantify it, which obviously peaks the scientists’ interest in it. Once they have removed all the moon dirt from it, a hugely powerful radio signal is produced, possibly signifying that other life forms are waiting for humankind to get to the position of being able to travel in space.
Of course, HAL soon makes an appearance (of ‘I’m afraid I can’t let you do that Dave‘ fame) as the on board computer for a spaceship with a hidden mission.
In the same way that Isaac Asimov often makes use of this plot device, Arthur C Clarke has HAL become confused (read homicidal) due to conflicting basic operating paramaters, which has been used by Hollywood a lot since – think of RoboCop’s prime directives etc.
I won’t say much more, as I don’t want to ruin the experience for people who’ve not yet read the book, but suffice to say that I don’t view this book as over-hyped, and you should probably read it when you get a chance.
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May 04 2007
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions – Edwin A. Abbott
If you’ve never read this book, skip this review, go buy it and read it now! It really was that good. Again, like Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot, there have been so many cultural references to this piece of work, it is quite amazing.
Anyway, I’m skipping head of myself there, sorry. The basic idea of this book revolves around dimensions. Or social classes and their detrimental effect on society. Or just a funny story. It all depends what level you want to read this book at. In terms of dimensions, these days it isn’t too difficult too imagine a transition from 2-D to 3-D. At the most basic level, if you think about any time a 2-D animated cartoon has featured either ‘real’ human actors on screen, or 3-D generated computer graphics, you’ve already understood the concept of moving from 2 dimensions to 3. Now imagine going from 2 dimensions to 1! Not only do you have no depth, there is no height either (in this book’s case at least)!
The characters in this world are all basic flat geometric shapes, and their society is divided up along the lines of how many sides their shapes have. A perfect circle is the most elevated possible position to attain, but you can only get there through many generations of offspring. Simple triangles, especially of the non-equilateral variety, are the most base form of life in this society, and so are restricted to manual work. At this point you can probably see how this book was also written as a critique of the society (Victorian?) that surrounded Edwin A. Abbott as he wrote this novel.
Many people have made reference to this book, and the clever way it attempts to describe the seismic changes required to comprehend the lack of, or addition of, a dimension. Considering when this book was written, it has aged incredibly well. Are you still reading this? STOP, go and buy the book, please 🙂
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