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The Not Too Distant Future?

We're celebrating our birthday today, and while we're not about to disclose our age, we will say that many years ago we used all of our weekly allowance to buy a movie ticket to see "The Day The Earth Stood Still" during its first run in the theaters. As you can easily tell, we've been addicted to robots, and science fiction in general, ever since.

Reflecting back on several decades of robotic and human evolution, and trying to extrapolate what the future might bode, a quote from Philip K. Dick immediately came to mind:

"So we and our elaborately evolving computers may meet each other halfway. Someday a human being, named perhaps Fred White, may shoot a robot named Pete Something-or-other, which has come out of a General Electric factory, and to his surprise see it weep and bleed. And the dying robot may shoot back and, to its surprise, see a wisp of gray smoke arise from the electric pump that it supposed was Mr. White's beating heart. It would be rather a great moment of truth for both of them."

     Philip K. Dick (1928 - 1982), The Shifting Realities of Phillip K. Dick

Posted by Lem on September 12, 2008 | Permalink | Email this post

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Comments:

Happy Birthday Lem!!!!!
and many more robot assisted birthdays to come :)

Posted by: Rob Farrell | Sep 12, 2008 12:02:08 PM

Happy Birthday :-D
You may be interested to know that they are re-making The Day the Earth Stood Still... for December here in the states. The previews looked pretty good actually, but it's going to be a little hard to accept that the part of Klaatu will be played by Keanu Reeves. I hope Gort doesn't suck either. :-D

Posted by: Matt & Jen | Sep 15, 2008 10:51:24 PM

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