Transhumans, tweets, games without frontiers, and the joys of turning in your fellow citizens

Time for another collection of items that caught my attention recently because of their connection to aspects of WoyUbu:



•This hourlong episode of the public radio show To the Best of Our Knowledge devoted to computers is a must for anyone interested in the ramifications of techno-culture. I recommend the interviews with Lawrence Lessig, one of the founders of Creative Commons, on copyright issues raised by mash-ups and other digital art; Sherry Turkle of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self on the ways in which we are developing relationships with personal robotic devices; and sociologist James Hughes, executive director of the World Transhumanist Association, on the quest to merge human flesh with computer technology in search of immortality and/or "transhuman" interspecies breeding; plus a couple of quick mash-ups by GirlTalk and DJ Spooky. But the real treat for Ubu-ites is surely the segment on video game designer Jason Rohrer; I have no idea how well known he is among those in the know, but his work sounds pretty remarkable and far beyond the average computer game. (Here's Passage, about mortality, and Between, a game about dreams and "stale evidence" of the Other. And here's Rohrer's homepage, which contains links to more games and all kinds of other stuff.)



•Much of what Rohrer says about games is echoed in intriguing ways in this brief segment from another public radio show on Peg Tyre's book The Trouble with Boys, and specifically its take on violent fantasy in video games (like the one in our Ubu). In a nutshell, Tyre argues that such games can potentially serve a beneficial role as an outlet for natural tendencies. She, like Rohrer, has much to say about the essence of "play" in the lives of both adults and children.

•This is the funniest (and smartest) thing I've ever encountered about the phenomenon of Twitter and Facebook status udpates. Three cheers for Brian Unger!

•Finally, courtesy of BoingBoing, an ad campaign from the London police urging citizens to report suspicious activity:

Cory Doctorow notes the "stupidity" of

the idea that you should report your neighbors to the police for looking at the creepy surveillance technology around them. This is the first step in making it illegal to debate whether the surveillance state is a good or bad thing.

Perhaps this weekend I will encourage the Ubu audience to report any Woyzeck spectators they catch staring at the surveillance cameras aimed at them ...

Ron's Robo-Roundup

OK, so these aren't all technically robot-related items, just things that I've been bookmarking during the past few months of my stay in UbuLand and might not have paid much attention to were it not for my involvement with those wacky IPS folks and their various virtual worlds, security cams, and bearbots:

1. From BoingBoing, news of a Christian fundamentalist lawyer taking a brave stand against human/robot intermarriage.



2. From Gizmodo, a story about how Decatur, GA is creating a virtual version of itself. (Holy "Synechdoche, NY," Batman!) I find two aspects of the report particularly intriguing: the emphasis on commerce/capital, and the notion of "marking" referred to here:

Virtual Decatur is only in the planning stages, but designers have already listed a number of MMO-type qualities they'd like to see implemented. There would be custom avatars and chatting, like there is in any number of MMOs today, but in Virtual Decatur the residents, non-residents and government officials would bear certain marks, so that they'd be easily distinguishable from one another.

As a sworn robophobe, I hear "certain marks" and immediately think, "Yeah, of the BEAST," but in a less apocalyptic sense I'm also reminded of our discussions early on in the WoyUbu planning about how to cue audience members off as to which avatars/puppets/standins signified Pa Ubu. (Jarry's original drawings of Pa's spiral logo became the main indicator almost right away.)

3. From NPR, a profile of one-eyed documentary filmmaker Rob Spence, who is having his empty eye socket outfitted with a tiny camera. I can't seem to find a direct link to the interview where I first heard Spence discussing his project and the ethical implications he intends to raise, about both documentaries in general and about our surveillance-cam culture, but those same issues are bound to come up in just about any story on this "Zero Dollar Man," whose website is a treasure trove of media coverage. (Who watches the watchmen? Why, this guy, of course!)

Here's a video from the site that encapsulates the current status of his project rather succinctly. (Not for the squeamish--but if you're more freaked out about synthetic eyeballs than the very real ones that are surely tracking your every online move right now, suit yourself.) Theater and/or Mr. Show geeks, insert your own "I am a camera" pun here.


EYEBORG-- The Two Week Trial from eyeborg on Vimeo.



4. I have already written about Platform 21, a fascinating Dutch art/design collective here (and about another of their many projects here, but their "Checking Reality: A Real Show About the Virtual" practically has IPS/WoyUbu written all over it. Like all their endeavors, this one has many components grouped around a common theme (in this case, the politics of virtuality, you might say), including a 3D printer, computer-generated real/artificial jewelry, a trippy water feature that just might send Woyzeck off the deep end, a "CITY_KIT" game from Hybrid Space Lab that puts Virtual Decatur to shame, an audio-art DJ set using "natural" sounds and another "WiiJ" who uses WiiMotes to DJ, a dating service for avatars, and oh so much more. Parts of the "Checking Reality" description sound like they could describe WoyUbu as well:

Envision the world as a computer game in which your clothes are 3D projections and the GPS system tells you the position of an object. Imagine yourself as an avatar, flying through future cities and simulated landscapes. Now picture this virtual world in the real world. What will it look like then?

... Our use of digital media heavily influences the way we experience, test and create reality. Virtual alternatives are often so convincing that they not only augment reality but seem to replace it. It’s as if ‘virtual seeing is believing’.

I love these folks' sense of humor, particularly the fine line that separates actual objects/actions and conceptual pranks in their world. More, more, more, please!