Offbeat Geek

Honda has created a series of short documentary films called “Dream The Impossible“.  The series aims to celebrate “those who have the courage to turn failure into success, and to forge dreams into a better future.”

In one such short, Living with robots, we get a brief glimpse at the current development of robots and how it can help us in the future. It also brought up something of note.

Throughout the short they try to dispel the fact that modern real life robots are not like their movie counterparts.  A certain Schwarzenegger movie series is referenced multiple times.  They discuss the effects of the Uncanny Valley hypothesis (Masahiro Mori: when robots look and act almost like actual people it causes a very negative response any observing).

I posit that it is not just the physical but also the hypothesis of Technological Singularity ( Raymond Kurzweil: The exponential improvement described by Moore’s Law will lead to a time when progress in technology occurs almost instantly) which creates the greatest fear of robots.  Technological Singularity states it my soon be possible to build a machine that is fundamentally more intelligent than a human.   If/When this happens the machine itself could build an even more intelligent machine which would go on to do the same. This is referred to as Recursive Self Improvement.

It is this idea which ultimately leads us to: What happens to the human race at that point?

In essence, it will be down to how we handle the evolution (pardon the pun) of  Artificial Intelligence which will determine the future of robotics and how close or far it stays from the movies.   I do see Isaac Asimov’s laws making an appearance when we get to that stage.

The last twenty one days have flown by.  Naturally Christmas and the New Year played a big part in that.  It finally dawns on me that it is well into 2010 and I’ve not written a single post in the new year!  Shocking, I know!  I am not going to say whats happening as there are a few little surprises in store over the coming two months.  The website is going to be a little more focused. Seeing as I am both Game Developer and Web designer the site will be restructured to reflect these paths and make navigation a little easier.  The loaner theme will be vanishing at some point.  A fun project with Stargate, spanning 214 days, is also in the works.

I will be back posting the release of DM-Malevolence next week and adding the odd bit of news which catches my attention in the mean time.  In anticipation of  Aliens vs Predator  I’ll say: Stay frosty!

Sorry Joe!

In a heated battle against the X-Factor winner Joe McElderry, “Killing In The Name” clinched the #1 spot on BBC Radio 1’s Official charts show this evening. In fact as I type this I’m listening to it live on BBC right now.

What started as a facebook group sick of X-Factor domination of the Christmas charts turned into an epic battle of music!  Personally I am delighted Rage took the number 1 spot.  This makes UK chart history by being the first ever download only Christmas #1.

Rage have confirmed live on radio that they will indeed honor the free thank you concert in the UK some time during 2010.

Update:  The BBC are now reporting the full story.

Local stocked lake

My girlfriend’s brother came down from Alaska to spend Christmas with us this year.  We decided to take a bit of a break and head down to the local pond (seen above) and catch some fish.  This time of year it is usually stocked with rainbow trout but there are a few catfish still lurking about.   It would be satisfying to land a couple of nice ones for the BBQ!

When we return I’ll update this post with our success, or lack thereof

The Spike TV Video Game Awards have spawned quite a few nice trailers for upcoming titles. Enjoy!

Love the ending of that MoH trailer!

Bats is back in action!

An interesting new game from 2K.   Could be one to watch.  Looks like the Unreal engine too.

It's no surprise the caped crusader will return

Thats right folks, Rocksteady have released the teaser site for the, as yet unnamed, Arkham Asylum  sequel.  You can view the teaser trailer and sign up for updates at the site arkhamhasmoved.com.  Lets hope it’s as epic as the first game!

Eye candy spetacular but have we seen it all before already?

Avatar, the new movie by James Cameron, comes out next week in the US.  Despite all the hype I can not seem to get motivated for this movie.  Maybe it’s just me but it seems to have borrowed too much of itself from other sources. Check it out:

1. The Battle for Tera.  Yes I know they are not entirely the same but the principle of a huge conflict between man and some peace loving aliens seems all too familiar. Especially when the one man falls for a female of the other species, changes sides, etc etc.
2. The Matrix. Do those Mech suits look like a “shiny”er version of those featured in “Revolutions”? Or is that just me? The Principle of the avatar itself? Residual Self Image perhaps? (I know its a bit of a stretch but with all the other similarities I had to put that one in) (continue reading…)

Things have been a little quite here recently.  I’ve not been slacking.  Honest!  I’ve been busy at work on the last map on my to do list at the moment.  There are a couple of changes to the site coming soon.  First up will be a portfolio of  the content I have released (both commercial and community projects).  Secondly, for all the folks checking out the Stargate portal, I’ll be updating the SG:U section more regularly along with a  fun little thing for SG1.  That is all I have time for at the moment. Will be back with more later!

Jaw hits floor

Oh my! Rock am Ring festival is celebrating it’s 25th anniversary in 2010. As seen in the image above, the line up is shaping up to be quite epic. Over the next couple of months more bands will be added.

If it is to be anything like the 20th anniversary there will also be a special and very famous guest band who will not be announced.  It is times like this that I wish I were back in Germany.  If you are thinking of going…. get your tickets NOW!!  Mark my words this years RaR is going to sell out fast!

You can check out all the juicy details here

The legend is at it again!