2000/1/27
Kadath in the Cold Waste, a good scifi story about nanotechnology, uploading and posthumanity.
Ray Kurzweil on neural interfaces, uploading and nanotechnology (Psychology Today, via Slashdot):
In 2029, we will swallow or inject billions of nanobots into our veins to enter a three dimensional cyberspace-a virtual reality environment... For virtual reality applications, the nanobots will take up positions next to every nerve fiber coming from all five of our senses. When we want to enter a specific virtual environment, the nanobots will suppress the signals coming from our real senses and replace them with new, virtual ones. We can then cause our virtual body to move, speak and otherwise interact in the virtual environment.
Organizations, including governments, extremist groups or even a clever individual, could put trillions of undetectable nanobots in the water or food supply of an entire population. These "spy" nanobots could then monitor, influence and even control our thoughts and actions.
Personally, I think the most likely dystopian scenario involves marketing firms using neural-interface nanobots for opinion tracking and/or advertising. -- acb
Review/analysis of Gary Numan's New Dreams for Old retrospective compilation: (Salon)
The early line has him settling for some measure of artistic vindication. "Metal '98," a remix of a song from "The Pleasure Principle," evinces a strange wedding of Siouxsie & the Banshees and the Beastie Boys. A handful of songs -- most notably "Tribal" -- recall the Sisters of Mercy's shadowy intensity. And the ghostly waft of synthetic sound billows on "Absolution" gives the song the churning melancholy of a Depeche Mode hit.
With that lock on the dark early '80s, why didn't Numan enjoy flattering press clippings or some sort of financial success? It may be partly because the recording business has never been especially fond of solo synth whizzes. A band of keyboardists might make for a cult orchestra, but before the era of Moby and Fatboy Slim, one twitchy guy programming a keyboard came off as geeky and pathetic. Consider Howard Jones, Thomas Dolby and Numan vs. Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys and Kraftwerk.