星は遠くから見るとさすがすてきなものだけど、ある日叶えられた星がやっと空からおいでくれて、あのあたたかさそうな輝いていた不可知な星を手に入れたら実際にごつくて、小さくて、光もないの黒石だけだと心ならずも気づいてしまう。近くに見えると、空にあった時に望みを叶えられそうなあの石には、逆に何の力もない、とはあたりまえになり、結局何よりも失望落胆なものだ。

So my site is finally functional!

http://cargocollective.com/humanrobotrelations

All stories are up and running and there've been a few people to leave comments on some of the blogs, which is fantastic! 
There are five stories on the website corresponding to five kinds of robot being developed in Japan today.
Each blog is a collection of five or six ( Read more... )

And so Asoka, Emperor of Emperors, the most successful ruler there has ever been, surveyed his kingdom, after his armies had finally subdued the last of the insurrectionists:

What have I done? If this is a victory, what's a defeat then? Is this a victory or a defeat? Is this justice or injustice? Is it gallantry or a rout? Is it valor to kill ( Read more... )

So ( Read more... )

Was listening to an "All in the Mind" ABC Radio National Podcast today (2009-08-01 Do you read me HAL?  Robot wars, moral machines and silicon that cares - Part 1) about, obviously, advances in robotics, and I have to wonder why people are so afraid of the prospect of robots in aged care, in child care etc, (when we're more than happy for them to ( Read more... )

Click to view

NB: Despite the assertion of the title that this is a "gay ad", if you watch the whole thing, it does end up coming full circle right round back to being a heterosexual ad - but anyway, watch it. 

Today I saw a little kid on a bus, locked into the seat by the vector of his father's arm, contentedly twirling around on his toes, oscillating between his father and the window. At times he would just start up a song mid verse, which I thought was pretty talented of him. He could barely speak, but evidently he had a fair reportoire of nursury ( Read more... )

Ok so I've always prided myself on taking a sort of objective view of politics; that is, I've always said that I disliked the idea of factionalism; I don't believe in factions. Good policy should be the goal of all politics, and be strived for by all parties. In terms of voting, voters should not be swayed by a sense of loyalty to a party, but ( Read more... )

So now I put my ear to the shell ( Read more... )

It would be so much easier to be completely entrenched in the dominant paradigm, unable to fathom anything beyond it, than to be thinking something so terribly unsupported as the idea of the equal rights, respect and destiny of the human race irrespective of difference. Maybe they should chryogenically freeze me, because clearly that revolution ( Read more... )