December 03, 2004
Gargoyles
“Gargoyles are no fun to talk to. They never finish a sentence. They are adrift in a laser-drawn world, scanning retinas in all directions, doing background checks on everyone within a thousand yards, seeing everything in visual light, infrared, millimeter. wave radar, and ultrasound all at once. You think they're talking to you, but they're actually poring over the credit record of some stranger on the other side of the room, or identifying the make and model of airplanes flying overhead.”
[From Becoming Gargoyle]
July 22, 2004
Cyborgs in Fiction
After searching long and hard this morning, I finally found something interesting for igargoyle.
Wikipedia has a growing list of Cyborgs in Fiction, which includes movies, television, and books that have to do with cyborgs. For example, they list the Tin Woodman from L. Frank Baum's Oz books, the Borg from the Startrek universe, Darth Vader (he had a cybernetic hand), Inspector Gadget, The Six Million Dollar Man, and many anime characters like Alita (Gally Yoko) from Battle Angel Alita (pictured right).
One notable cyborg that I'm looking forward to is General Grievous from Star Wars, who is going to make an appearance in Star Wars Episode III next year.
Part non-humanoid alien, part custom-designed droid, Grievous hunted Jedi for sport and proudly displayed his victims' lightsabers around his belt as trophies of his conquests. His unorthodox fighting form and mechanical enhancements gave him an edge in close-quarters combat, and his strategic ingenuity and flawless cunning rendered him almost invincible against the Jedi." [supershadow]
In addition, their definition of "Cyborg" would be a good place to list yourself if you think you're a cybernetic enough to deserve a mention.
[Link via del.icio.us: cyborg]
May 07, 2003
Fictional Wearables
nym's earlier entry on StartleCams reminded me of something. A fair number of scientific advances were prophesied in science fiction (I keep on forgetting to read Thomas Disch' The DREAMS OUR STUFF IS MADE OF), and Warren Ellis' Transmetropolitan mentioned something similar back in the 90s.Spider Jerusalem,
the series' grumpy antihero journalist, wears camera-shades that happen to capture evidence of an embarrassing drunken night due to anti-assault defenses. There aren't many devices out there that provide this kind of functionality, but recording is becomming a much more commonplace activity. In the 90s there was a kidnapping/murder where the victim had a casette recorder on her, and without the murderer's knowledge, captured her pleading for life. The police found the tape later, and used it in court. This was turned into a Law & Order episode. More cases of crime documentation from victims with webcams, cellphones or wearables are coming.
On a cheerier tone, Transmet has SPKF feedsite (think 30th Cent. website) listeners that provide audio/video to their audience via attractive electronic and harness combos. Again, something that could be done today. A lot of sci fi (and its hipper, somewhat brain-damaged cousin cyberpunk) skips right over wearables to cybernetic implants, but who wants to go under the knife every time a faster model comes out?