A good friend of mine wrote this. You should read it. much-ado-about: Hello. I am the third generation AX400 Android. I can look after your house, do the cooking, mind the kids; I organize your appointments, I speak 300 languages and I am entirely at your disposal as a sexual partner. No need to feed me or recharge me. I am equipped with a quantic battery that makes me autonomous for 173 years… do you want to give me a name? - KARA voiced by Valorie Curry, Quantic Dream’s Tech Demo. With the release of Yakuza Studio’s Binary Domain and Quantic Dream’s impressive ‘Kara’ tech demonstration, I got to thinking about robots, or androids, in western society. What problems could arise? How could it affect our culture? How would people feel and react? The more I thought about it, the further I departed from the ‘soul’ concept and focussed more on the idea of respect (or lack of) for your environment. In today’s society, ugly graffiti stains the walls of underpasses and train stations; windows sit broken in their frames – the result of another attempted robbery; and litter blankets public spaces such as parks and walkways. There is little to no respect for things that aren’t alive. There is little to no respect for things that are, but that is an entirely different issue. When I was young I was taught to always be mindful of my things and the house around me. My books were never scrawled in; my Barbie’s looked brand new no matter how long I had owned them or how much I played with them; and my toys had their own little houses I kept neat and tidy. Respecting the things around you was important in our household. The Japanese – ironically the creators of these modern ‘Actroids’ – have a similar mentality. The belief that everything and anything can carry a soul is still engrained in their culture today. Sadly, this isn’t how everyone thinks. I am scared by the prospect of robots in the western hemisphere. Not because I feel they could spring to life, but because I think it could bring out a side to people best left buried. For example, don’t you find it funny that the popular theme in modern media, concerning robots, is that they turn evil? They become aware then kill us all. Not surprising then that if they were to exist in our culture, people would feel the need to control them, to be their ‘master’; to view these robots as an extension of us, or worse, as our puppets? I couldn’t stomach witnessing a robot being vandalised or mistreated; I have no doubt that this will happen and probably with surprising regularity. Now you’re probably thinking, “why does it matter? It isn’t alive. You only feel this way because it looks human.” “Well”, I would say, “yes and no.” Of course I admit that this vandalism would be harder to watch because they looked like you or me. I would feel compelled, as a person, to help another if they were in need, despite the fact this ‘person’ is in reality a shell – call it a natural reflex. However, on a basic level I would treat it the same way I do everything else. If my wheelie-bin has been knocked over by someone, I pick it back up, if someone were to destroy my dad’s belongings I would, in a way, grieve, and if I could stop mindless vandalism by calling the police, I would. I have respect for my environment whether it is ‘alive’ or not. You might be surprised by my summation of this subject, or shocked that I haven’t mentioned the idea of playing god. To answer this simply, I see robots as a technical advancement; nothing more than a deviation of the creation of the first light bulb or the first pump-action water gun. A robot or android is a device that just so happens to have a face. However, regardless of what function it serves or how it was made, it deserves the same level of respect our environment does, (and we’ve already seen what that level of ‘respect’ is.) I fear that to have something at our disposal might just bring out our ugly side. So, when this day comes, I fear for how this will affect our behaviour and, in a way, western society as a whole.

A good friend of mine wrote this. You should read it.

much-ado-about:

Hello. I am the third generation AX400 Android.

I can look after your house, do the cooking, mind the kids; I organize your appointments, I speak 300 languages and I am entirely at your disposal as a sexual partner. No need to feed me or recharge me. I am equipped with a quantic battery that makes me autonomous for 173 years… do you want to give me a name?

- KARA voiced by Valorie Curry, Quantic Dream’s Tech Demo.


With the release of Yakuza Studio’s Binary Domain and Quantic Dream’s impressive ‘Kara’ tech demonstration, I got to thinking about robots, or androids, in western society.

What problems could arise? How could it affect our culture? How would people feel and react?

The more I thought about it, the further I departed from the ‘soul’ concept and focussed more on the idea of respect (or lack of) for your environment.

In today’s society, ugly graffiti stains the walls of underpasses and train stations; windows sit broken in their frames – the result of another attempted robbery; and litter blankets public spaces such as parks and walkways.

There is little to no respect for things that aren’t alive. There is little to no respect for things that are, but that is an entirely different issue.

When I was young I was taught to always be mindful of my things and the house around me. My books were never scrawled in; my Barbie’s looked brand new no matter how long I had owned them or how much I played with them; and my toys had their own little houses I kept neat and tidy. Respecting the things around you was important in our household.

The Japanese – ironically the creators of these modern ‘Actroids’ – have a similar mentality. The belief that everything and anything can carry a soul is still engrained in their culture today.

Sadly, this isn’t how everyone thinks.

I am scared by the prospect of robots in the western hemisphere. Not because I feel they could spring to life, but because I think it could bring out a side to people best left buried.

For example, don’t you find it funny that the popular theme in modern media, concerning robots, is that they turn evil? They become aware then kill us all. Not surprising then that if they were to exist in our culture, people would feel the need to control them, to be their ‘master’; to view these robots as an extension of us, or worse, as our puppets?

I couldn’t stomach witnessing a robot being vandalised or mistreated; I have no doubt that this will happen and probably with surprising regularity.

Now you’re probably thinking, “why does it matter? It isn’t alive. You only feel this way because it looks human.”

“Well”, I would say, “yes and no.”

Of course I admit that this vandalism would be harder to watch because they looked like you or me.

I would feel compelled, as a person, to help another if they were in need, despite the fact this ‘person’ is in reality a shell – call it a natural reflex.

However, on a basic level I would treat it the same way I do everything else.

If my wheelie-bin has been knocked over by someone, I pick it back up, if someone were to destroy my dad’s belongings I would, in a way, grieve, and if I could stop mindless vandalism by calling the police, I would.

I have respect for my environment whether it is ‘alive’ or not.

You might be surprised by my summation of this subject, or shocked that I haven’t mentioned the idea of playing god. To answer this simply, I see robots as a technical advancement; nothing more than a deviation of the creation of the first light bulb or the first pump-action water gun. A robot or android is a device that just so happens to have a face.

However, regardless of what function it serves or how it was made, it deserves the same level of respect our environment does, (and we’ve already seen what that level of ‘respect’ is.)

I fear that to have something at our disposal might just bring out our ugly side.

So, when this day comes, I fear for how this will affect our behaviour and, in a way, western society as a whole.

2 months ago

veryseriousbusiness:

cat video of the day thanks Jason!

3 months ago
3 months ago

To rise, or not: A choice posed by a state standardized essay.

So I took a state test today. It was the usual basic: match, reading, writing sections to combine for an easy four hours of my early morning. Sure it was about a 45 minute drive from my house, and I’ve been low on gas and gas money, which made it seem more like a 2 hour drive; traffic wasn’t too bad though, so I guess I could round that down to an hour and a half. Either way, which means ‘back to the point I’ve yet to get to’, the last third of the test consisted of two essays. The first was the usual run of the mill “persuasive, opinion on a topic I spend little time thinking about, yet I know is very important, but have no way of articulating that” type essay. Very logical examples based kind of thing.

The second though was quite a surprise. It asked that I tell of one decision I had to make that completely altered the course of my life. One and only one. For a few seconds I sat and though, without writing. I could have written about several decisions. Deciding where I was to go to college and what major I was to focus on. My decision to not get into heavy drug use. Any of those things could have easily solved the puzzle that was my yet formless essay. But neither of those seemed sufficient enough. Even though each one of those things would have been justifiably (via real cause-and-effect examples), I just could help but to naturally feel like some wider picture would have been left out if I did write about either of those choices. What then? What could possibly overshadow such decisions in my 22 year-old life. Now, it’s kind of funny how I came to find the answer to the query. In the midst of contemplation, I yawned…and that was it! Yes, I was tired, but I was up and out.

Just that morning I made the biggest choice I could ever make, and it was a choice I had making everyday before that, except on days when I was too young to make that choice (or any other choice for that matter). I decided to get out of bed that morning, and for some reason that seemed like the most implicitly life-changing decision I can ever make in my life, but it quite possibly is the defining action, or non-action, that will set the course of the day, which eventually takes shape in decision-making situations that the world as a whole poses on you; whether you chose to stay bedridden or not.

If it was a good decision or not to write about such an overlooked event in life for the essay, I don’t know. My test grade will probably determine that. But being presented with the choice to write what I felt was the right thing to write about, I felt like I had no choice but to write about that.

4 months ago
4 months ago

probably one of my favorite from the youth who started a whole new sonic sound of their own.

4 months ago

New to this

Hey y’all I’m new to this, so bare with me, and if I don’t get the hang of it right away, then you’re gonna have to just wait.

4 months ago
In between ‘cut’ and ‘action’

In between ‘cut’ and ‘action’

4 months ago