By Karen Asp Sony has rendered its robotic pet dog “Aibo” obsolete. As The New York Times documentary “A Robotic Dog’s Mortality” shows, this extinction event has traumatized Aibo owners in Japan who are no longer able to repair or replace their beloved pets. A summary posted with the NYT documentary reveals that Sony had […]
Companion Species 2.0: Aibo’s Extinction Traumatic Event, Cruel Reality Read More »
By Teresa Heffernan Jibo, a device that is marketed as more than a “thing,” is the latest creation of Cynthia Breazeal, who has taken a leave from MIT to start up a company to sell this “family robot.” In a crowd-sourcing advertisement promoting “his” many roles, Jibo is referred to as an educator, entertainer, helper,
The Rift between Science and Fiction: The Case of the “Family Robot” Read More »
By Cate May Burton Janelle Monáe is an American singer and songwriter whose concept album series, The Metropolis Suite, portrays androids as sentient beings enslaved by industrial masters. Monáe’s android avatar, Cindi Mayweather, is the mediator between hands and mind, between human and robot. This time-traveling android holds out a spiritual promise of love and triumph.
Janelle Monáe’s Spiritual Android Read More »
By Teresa Heffernan In “The Real Science of Science Fiction,” Susan Stepney, Professor of Computer Science at the University of York, inspired by her contribution to a collection of stories called Beta-Life that puts science fiction writers and scientists in dialogue each with the other, discusses her experience of this fruitful relationship:
The Real Fiction of Science Fiction Read More »
