Oct 12
The insane might be true. And we’ve hit a reality bump. Some people at anti-war protests are now claiming that they are being watched by insects. This sounds like a paranoid fantasy. It might not be. In March of 2006 I wrote about DARPA’s interest in manufacturing cyborg insects. It’s now October of 2007. They …
Mar 12
A lot people hate pigeons. Feathered rats, they call them. They put spikes up to stop them from landing and erect statues of plastic owls to scare them off. But I always see these pigeons sleeping on the spikes and sitting and shitting on the owl heads. I respect that. I like pigeons. But I’m …
Nov 30
Most people realize that humanity is well on its way to becoming a race of hive-minded cyborgs. This process started with peg-legged pirates and books. But in the next twenty years it’s going to accelerate until we can access each other’s minds with the ease that we access each other’s MySpace accounts and blogs. Most …
Oct 12
Because fish were not deadly enough when confined to water, Seth Weiner has invented the Terranaut; a fish controlled robot that rolls around on land. (And you people were worried about North Korea!) Fish have taken over land before. Some, like the infamous mudskipper, are still trying. We have held them off because they cannot …
Sep 30
Apparently the Russians cannot run into a hail of enemy gunfire fast enough. So they’ve invented the Powerboot. While shoe improvements in the decadent west have been gimmicks – think Nike Air and Reebok Pump – these Russian things are powered by biofuel. In them, you can run 25mph and take strides of about 12 …
Jun 22
Renowned cosmologist and cyborg, Stephen Hawking has recommended that we leave Earth in order to survive. And this is actually controversial. It seems that the idea hadn’t occurred to a lot of people. But it makes sense. The more planets you have, the more you can afford to blow up. Just look at Battlestar Gallatica. …
May 17
DARPA is at it again. But this time I like what they’re doing. This time I can see an application that doesn’t end in holocaust. They’re developing a “neurally controlled artificial limb that will restore full motor and sensory capability to upper extremity amputee patients. This revolutionary prosthesis will be controlled, feel, look and perform …
Apr 09
Thought you needed eyes to see? So did I. Turns out we were both wrong. Bionic eyes aren’t just for Batou anymore. An American woman, who has dubbed herself The Robo-Chick, has had a device implanted that allows her to see even though she lost both her eyes at the tender age of nineteen. The …
Apr 09
This summer a cyborg will carry a quadriplegic to the top of a mountain. Hopefully it will carry him back down. Wearing the Hal-5 Exoskeleton, Alpine Mountaineer Ken Noguchi will take Seiji Uchida to the summit of Breithorn, a 1,164-metre Swiss peak. The Hall-5 is the creation of Yoshiyuki Sankai. “The motors respond faster to …
Apr 06
This is an exciting moment for me because a stranger actually submitted a story. The less I have to think the happier I am – so thanks Dylon. If you have a web page or something I’d link to it; for all the good it would do. Under the subject line “The Robots Aren’t Going …
