AI takeover

I was listening to the radio the other day, and on the pop stations there is a surprising amount of robot-voice or 'auto tune' or whatever you want to call it. I find it strange that this sound could be appealing to anyone, but it seems to be so. What is interesting to me, is …

Garden writing

I've done a moderate amount of writing during this vacation trip. Sitting outside, with trees and plants in the garden nearby is most conducive to my creativity, I've found. Something about having life and nature nearby inspires more ideas in my head than bland office walls and florescent lights. Thunder rumbling, rain clattering, wind hissing …

Solaris (film)

I watched this, partially on the plane and partially after arriving, and my first thoughts were 'they sure don't make movies like this anymore' and 'music is very overused in modern movies'. This was a very slow, quiet, and subtle movie. There were lots of long, silent shots of scenery, and of characters looking at …

Alternate Worlds: in which empathy is literal

Everyone feels everyone else's pain, hunger, fear, joy, etc, at a level of strength inversely proportional to the distance between them. If there is a hungry person nearby, you feel their hunger. If there is a happy person nearby, you feel their happiness as your own. Would this world be better, or worse? People would …