Category: Philosophy

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Your Own Private Idaho

“We really are living in a world now where everyone inhabits their own designed reality.” – Dr. Freckles

  1. Cities is where it started
  2. The conversation with my cousin, Jan 2016
  3. On the METRO in 2019, heading to RED MOUND, with all the smart device zombies
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ROBOT LIFEGUARD PROBLEM

Link: https://www.asme.org/topics-resources/content/robotic-lifeguard-changes-water-rescues

Link: https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/new-robot-lifeguard-will-save-people-from-drowning

Robot lifeguard … at pools.

So if your kid falls in, they don’t drown if you’re not around.

(wake me when that happens)

(it seems like a trivial problem – or is it?)

Think about the swimming pool scene in the movie “Caddyshack” (1980), how does a robot navigate that scenario? – lots of kids screaming, superficially they seem like they’re drowning.

A heuristic database might include a rule that says: “must be below the surface, this long …” … That’s a simple rule. As long as the robot can determine if a child has been below the surface too long – but this too gets harder as you add children to the pool, or other objects.

It’s not a non-trivial problem.

  1. threat detection
  2. spoofing
  3. belligerent human
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The old school house, in the film “Over the Edge” …

There’s an old school house in the parking lot, almost as if it’s on display, a monument, to a time now forgotten. Next to this is the “New Granada Jr High”, flashy and modern and plastic and aluminum.

With the old school house – there’s more “outside” than “inside”. You get the sense that it’s a limited space, but still a space of control – without any pretense.

The new school has it all. Food, fun, sports, drugs. The new school is a place you can dump your kid for the day.

The old school house had a way out for every room.

The new school house has a way in for every kid, and no way out.