This interview with Kurt Vonnegut was originally a composite of four interviews done with the author over the past decade. The composite has gone through an extensive working over by the subject himself, who looks upon his own spoken words on the page with considerable misgivings . . . Indeed, what follows can be considered an interview conducted with himself, by himself.

The Paris Review - The Art of Fiction No. 64

"Robots that are programmed properly are less likely to make errors and kill non-combatants, innocent people, because they're not emotional, they won't be afraid, act irresponsibly in some situations," says Robert Finkelstein.

Famous last words.

BBC News - Can battlefield robots take the place of soldiers?

8-bit NYC
New York, just like I pixeled it

8-bit NYC map.

8-Bit NYC

A new play about tight-ship-running Apple CEO Steve Jobs is set to be staged at California's Berkeley Theatre early next year, penned by one of America's leading playwrights.

The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs is to be staged in Berkeley in January 2011, with writer Mike Daisey having been praised by the New York Times in the past as being "the master storyteller" and "one of the finest solo performers of his generation."

Daisey will not be performing his monologue, however, with another performer still to be charged with that daunting role.

Real-life Willy Wonka

Berkeley Rep describes that play as Daisey diving "into the epic story of a real-life Willy Wonka whose personal obsessions profoundly affect our everyday lives—and follows the trail to China where millions toil in factories to create iPhones and iPods.

Ooompa loompa...

Steve Jobs: The Agony and the Ecstasy | News | TechRadar UK

jet houses

Dark Roasted Blend: Plane Obsessed: More Jet Hotels and Houses

Police forces all over the UK will soon be able to draw on unmanned aircraft from a national fleet, according to Home Office plans. Last month it was revealed that modified military aircraft drones will carry out surveillance on everyone from protesters and antisocial motorists to fly-tippers, and will be in place in time for the 2012 Olympics.

Future police: Meet the UK's armed robot drones

Some asshole came in here and scrambled up my wiring!

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Now Americans — and increasingly gay American couples — are follwing American corporations into the world of oursourcing.

The practice of hiring a woman in India, or some other remote location, to be implanted with an embryo and bear a child is termed pregnancy outsourcing and, less charitably, as "rent-a-womb."

Gay Adoption | Indian Outsourcing

Celebrities Upside Down Pictures - Strange Celebrities Upside Down Pics

That Philip plans to revolutionize AI technology -- in effect, achieving singularity in a virtual world -- isn't that surprising, because he said as much when I talked with him for The Making of Second Life:

"It'll be possible for constructs that we build in Second Life and things like it in a simulated space to actually think," he told me in 2007. "It's only a decade away, the simulation engines." I just didn't imagine he'd essentially take the helm on that project himself.nullnullnullnullnullnullnullnullnull

New World Notes: Philip Rosedale Attempting to Create Sentient Artificial Intelligence That Thinks and Dreams in Second Life!