Reviews, Recipes, and Random Slices of Life

I read Snow Crash at an impressionable age, which made me want to grow up to be a gargoyle, a person who wears a computer/camera/mic that is constantly collecting information and images from the world around them.

That dream is one step closer with the Looxcie wearable camera: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20016652-1.html



Man, I wish I had disposable income....

"No need to head to the Farmer's Market! Head to Cub Foods, to fill your basket with fresh produce picked at the peak of the season!" - Pandora ad that just played at me.

I find it very interesting that Cub is trying to lure back the people who shop at farmer's markets. I wonder if the group is actually large enough to hurt their bottom line these days? I was listening to a Splendid Table episode that was discussing the impact of the recession on food purchasing habits, and one of the more interesting bits was that farmer's markets and producers of organic foods have not really been impacted.

I hope it's significant. I hope it's an enduring trend.

This may also say something about Pandora's ability to target demographics based on song taste--seems a little far-fetched, but possible, given how good they are at targeting songs I may like.

This was another really good panel. There were lots of questions raised that could lead to good stories, and once the transcript is posted I'll put it here (my browser kicked me out partway through, so I lost the first half).

Resources
[kalcobalt] 3:45 pm: ah! Thanks, Deena.     I should put in a brief plug: my
website, www.kalcobalt.com, has LOTS of links both to nonfiction and fiction
regarding AI and sexuality (and most of it is free).    
    [kalcobalt] 3:46 pm: (At present the links are a bit buried in the information
nal posts -- website overhaul coming soon.)

10 Things You Always
Wanted to Know About Robot Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) by Kal Cobalt:
http://www.circlet.com/?p=48

Questions this raised for me
How might the concept of "consent" apply to AIs, purpose-designed or otherwise? (I know there's no firm answer, but I'm interested in your thoughts.)

How does the consent issue change with AIs that are purpose-designed or not purpose-designed? How about "adulthood" as it applies to being able to grant consent with the learning neural nets approach to AI?

A ball of interrelated questions--Other than "romantic interest," how do you think sexualizing AIs might change the stories that are told about them? And how might gender performativity and expectations be superimposed onto AIs once that occurs? Do we have to watch out for the "noble savage" approach to AIs? How should/might their motivations differ from a human in such a relationship?

Aw, that's sweet.

As part of a YouTube pitch to be part of Google's superfast internet experiment, Topeka, Kansas temporarily renamed itself Google. (This was mentioned in the March 30th Future Tense.)

For April Fools' Day, Google temporarily renamed itself Topeka.

They like each other!