Music.
It's true when they say music is the window to the soul. As some of you know, I've had a heavy fascination with robots lately (obsession more like), so my ears and eyes have been open to everything futuristic and robots related. I came across this song entitled "Nanobots" by They Might be Giants. It's a good song, it helps feed my insatiable hunger for Singularity related ideas. Click the video to listen to the song (clip synced to Pinky and the Brain scenes lol)
I later found this article on buzzinemusic, in it the interviewer asks John Linnell (songwriter) the source inspiration for the song.
Buzzinemusic: Just out of curiosity, is the song “Nanobots” about the theory of the Technological Singularity - the scenario where artificial intelligences start building their own intelligences and everything gets out of control.
Jesse L: Oh, right, right. Well, in a way it is. I'll tell you what it's really about: it's about reproducing, which is always on my mind because I have a fourteen-year-old. On the one hand it seems like this perfectly natural thing to have children, and on the other hand there's something so oddabout that as a kind of behavior. You could almost say that's all that humans and other animals have been doing all this time, is just making more of ourselves. And it's not at all clear what the point of any of that is. But it's a process that brings up this notion of how much control you have, because – I think this is the cliché with nanotechnology – is that once you get it going, it just takes over and has a mind of its own, and you don't have any control anymore. Which is very similar to the experience of having kids.
I find it pleasing to know the Technological Singularity paradigm is slowly making its way into mainstream / public domain. Writing songs about it and giving it radio play will definitely help poke people with curiosity.
Oh, and Our Lady Peace - Spiritual Machines is another good album about crazy, wonderful, futuristic ideas.
I later found this article on buzzinemusic, in it the interviewer asks John Linnell (songwriter) the source inspiration for the song.
Buzzinemusic: Just out of curiosity, is the song “Nanobots” about the theory of the Technological Singularity - the scenario where artificial intelligences start building their own intelligences and everything gets out of control.
Jesse L: Oh, right, right. Well, in a way it is. I'll tell you what it's really about: it's about reproducing, which is always on my mind because I have a fourteen-year-old. On the one hand it seems like this perfectly natural thing to have children, and on the other hand there's something so oddabout that as a kind of behavior. You could almost say that's all that humans and other animals have been doing all this time, is just making more of ourselves. And it's not at all clear what the point of any of that is. But it's a process that brings up this notion of how much control you have, because – I think this is the cliché with nanotechnology – is that once you get it going, it just takes over and has a mind of its own, and you don't have any control anymore. Which is very similar to the experience of having kids.
I find it pleasing to know the Technological Singularity paradigm is slowly making its way into mainstream / public domain. Writing songs about it and giving it radio play will definitely help poke people with curiosity.
Oh, and Our Lady Peace - Spiritual Machines is another good album about crazy, wonderful, futuristic ideas.
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