deviations

i really don't have anything future-centric to relate currently, but i wanted to share some bands that i have been interested in lately. well lately as in tonight. some of these bands might sound like music a robot would compose (non-folk-obsessed variety), so i guess it kind of counts.

kraftwerk - this weekend at josh's i watched this kraftwerk live dvd. it was so enthralling. it really is futuremusic. and it's german which makes it cooler - and all the guys look like really severe, grim bill murrays.

chairlift - i have listened to the song "evident utensil" eight times tonight. it's all marimba, crispy pop and clearly influenced by the knife.

cassettes won't listen - i really don't know anything about this band but they have a free EP on their website and it's pretty great, bizarre synth pop. the song "f*** and run" is brilliant. i guess they have a new album coming out in march too. i will definitely check it out.

john vanderslice - i have heard this guys name thrown around for years and have even heard some of his songs in passing, but just never sat down and really listened. it's some nice, mellow couch-sitting tunes.

so that's all i've got for now. my electric viola is finally up and running. it sounds pretty good now that i put some nice strings on it.. next step is getting some sort of rig to plug it into my computer.. then i will let the robots take over. look forward to some interesting sounds to come.

sanctuary

dreams - they haunt our every sleeping moment. when i think of the future, one of the innovations that i look forward to most is the "dream VCR" (i steal this terminology from chuck klosterman's sex, drugs and cocoa puffs). there are very few mediums that can accurately capture the full majesty of a dream. words don't do it justice and the paintbrush fails to capture the full breadth of the experience. when nanotechnology becomes commonplace, there could be mechanisms developed to capture the imagery of dreams using nanobots.

could nanorobots successfully translate the seemingly random and illogical synapses produced during the REM cycle and if so, would you want these recorded dreams broadcasted to the world?

the very idea of a database of recorded dream experiences sends tingles of joy down my spine.. if you thought youtube was bad.. imagine how much time this would eat up. you could spend an eternity going through all of them - and each recording would be as fascinating as the last.

the other night i had a dream that i sent an email out to my office that contained the word "weiner". i am not sure if it was JUST the word weiner.. in huge font with many exclamation points.. or if it was imbedded in a seemingly nondescript email. as my boss walked back to my desk, the horror of my actions overwhelmed me and i tried frantically to rescind the email.. time slowed down and right before my boss sat down at his desk, i was able to "unsend" the email.

if i had nanobots coursing through my ganglia, all the world would be aware of my shame.

all this will someday be yours

are you ready for some homogenized futurism? i know i am. let's all put on our jumpsuits, get the blue lights pulsing and jam.

it is officially the future. when i was twelve, i always tried to imagine what i would be like at this age. i wonder if i would have disappointed myself. i can hardly remember what my vision of the future was when i was a kid.. it was an amalgamation of back to the future part II and logan's run i think. star wars had nothing to do with it because that was a long time ago, mind you. i know that my twelve year old self would have been disappointed in my current fashion choices, preferring a wardrobe of shiny latex uniforms festooned with various insignias.

humans seem to inherently fear the future.. i am simultaneously scared and enthralled. i look at each new news story involving robotics, biotech, etc and see at as a window to myself twenty years from now. i am constantly preparing myself for the future though. i spray paint things silver.. I aim to one day live in an immense white room with nothing in it except a control panel. press a button and out pops your bed.. a rack of jumpsuits and boots.. your virtual reality sensor implantation tube. all the comforts.

anyways. right - humans do seem to inherently fear the future. one of the reasons i think this is is because once ai take control of the primary means of humanity's survival, we won't have that much to do. once we aren't preoccupied with the daily struggle, we are left to contemplate our place in the universe. maybe we will spend all of our remaining days trying to find out if we are really alone here or how the universe formed in the first place. will these be the primary concerns of our day to day lives as humans who have transcended humanity? or will we simply plug in our tubes and let the sensory information flow into our enhanced cybernetic brains - forgetting that we evolved from specs of dust suspended in nothingness.