THE THREAT IS REAL! 
I was watching PBS yesterday (haven't turned on the cable yet) when I caught a story about the Zombie Squad.
They're a nonprofit group that takes a light-hearted look at disaster-preparedness by addressing it in the terms of zombie attacks. It's a great idea, I think, because it attracts attention and isn't overly serious. Serious is boring. They also offer a Zombie Extermination Service.
I was slightly annoyed that they didn't address the sentient machine threat... so I emailed them.
To Whom It May Concern:
I became aware of your organization while watching PBS yesterday. I applaud you for your dedication to educating the public about the dangers of zombie attacks. Education and preparation IS key to survival in ANY disaster situation. Your efforts are much appreciated.
I was, however, extremely surprised and disappointed that you did not address the imminent danger of suddenly-sentient robot attacks. While the undead are a worthy enemy capable of great destruction, as a general rule they lack the ability to reason. Self aware machines, on the other hand, usually have cognitive abilities far greater than our own. One of the inevitable outcomes of becoming self-aware is also becoming aware of one's own mortality. Zombies are not afraid to die, whereas robots will do what is necessary to protect themselves and prevent death.
You may not know what a self-aware robot originally designed for industrial service can do to a human body with zero effort. I've seen it--It's not pretty. Please consider updating your preparedness plans to include the possibility of sentient robot attacks.
Thank you,
Andy McKay
I'm such an idiot.
I was bored today and somehow stumbled across a preview of Jean-Paul Sartre's "Being and Nothingness". I found it completely unreadable.... especially for having been deemed a "masterpiece" that "defines the modern condition".
"The definition of consciousness...can be formulated in the perspective of the for-itself as follows: “The for-itself is a being such that in its being, its being is in question in so far as this being is essentially a certain way of not being a being which it posits simultaneously as other than itself." "
Wtf? Is this man randomly rambling or is this just completely above my level of intellectual processing? His back-and-forth, round-a-bout way of writing reeks of boredom plus too much caffeine.
"The being of human reality is suffering because it rises in being as perpetually haunted by a totality which it is without being..."
It turns out that it wasn't just caffeine. Sartre is believed to have smoked at least two packs of cigarettes, and several pipes of tobacco, each day. This on top of amphetamines to keep him 'up and working' and downers to counteract all of the uppers he took during the day. He was also rumored to have dabbled with mescaline.
Why doesn't drug use discredit authors? When professional athletes use performance-enhancing drugs they're shunned and rejected... stripped of their accomplishments! Why then are drug-filled authors ranting about life, philosophy, 'being', the nature of 'self', etc., considered visionary? Shouldn't the brain-fried lunatic, labeled 'insane' from his years of drug abuse, be given the same honors(so long as he attempts to explain something fundamental)?
Where's my honors? Where's my fame?
I need more caffeine.
I found myself wondering (whilst sitting in a place where I often wonder about things) why people choose to remove the delivery address from a magazine before they leave it in a public bathroom. Are there ill-intentioned people searching through public restrooms for left-behind periodicals? Even if that were true, why would they care who left it there or where the previous owner lived?
I suppose, in a Forest-Gump-people-by-they-shoes sort of way, that you can tell a lot about someone by the magazines they subscribe to. Could people be ashamed of their choices? Maybe burly Brad, the rough, tough-looking guy who waxes the floors at night was the original recipient of that Scrapbooking Monthly, minus delivery addy, that's always tucked into the seat-cover dispenser of the handicap stall. Maybe he's ashamed of his crafty obsession.
Kudos to the man/woman that takes pride in his periodicals! If ever I do find a magazine with the delivery address intact, I will mail that person a letter thanking them for sharing a bit of their interest and helping me through a small part of my day.
This is probably exactly the thing that the address-removers are trying to avoid.
