We all know that everyone gets very creeped-out by robots that look and act human. We know this, despite the fact that 99% of us haven’t ever seen robots that look and act human, because the media tells us it is true. They talk about the concept of the uncanny valley and how it explains this discomfort.

The concept basically runs like this: things that look almost totally humand but aren’t, and things that act almost totally human, but aren’t, are something that’s going to creep us out for reasons we can’t quite explain. This concept was basically just made-up by a Japanese robotics guy named Masahiro Mori.

From what I can tell there’s no real evidence that this is true, but it appears to be accepted without any skepticism from the masses (bearing in mind that these are the same masses who believe in creationism rather than evolution and the lack of understanding perhaps makes sense). Evidence often cited includes poor box office receipts from movies like Beowulf (which I rather liked), The Polar Express, and Final Fantasy – The Spirits Within, (though one of my favorite whipping boys, Final Fantasy: Advent Children, did quite good in sales and is left off the list). What’s not usually mentioned is that these, frankly, weren’t very good movies and that might’ve played a larger role than anything else in their failure.

I think the uncanny valley concept is basically an excuse people like to use for why various products, including those movies, failed. It also doesn’t explain why other products, like Disney’s Hall of Presidents, are a success.

Ultimately this appears to be something that someone made up without any real evidence and that the media now accepts without any question. With the rise of things like Poser porn (you can search for that on your own; I’m not linking to it while at work!), I think this concept is pretty-well debunked.

Beware! The swine flu is coming! Yes, it’s out to get you! People have died already, you know, and will continue to die! Maybe even someone you know will die! MAYBE YOU WILL DIE!

Or, possibly, it’s a bunch over-hyped, over-inflated, mass-media nonsense.

Like bird flu and SARS, this is a virus that has seemingly come out of nowhere and people are understandably concerned. I have no problem with folks paying attention or with the media informing us of what’s going on with the disease. I don’t even have any problem with the CDC issuing a warning.

The swine flu's gonna get ya!

What I do have a problem with is the media hyping this to death and doing wall-to-wall coverage. All that does is scare the public and, of course, increase ratings, which is the real reason they cover it endlessly. If the news says “watch our program or you will die!” you will watch it.

Keep in mind that swine flu isn’t much of much so far. Yes, as of this writing 149 people have died out of a total of 2150 or so cases. That’s about 7%. That’s kind of high, but we also have to remember that all 149 of those have been in Mexico. Now Mexico is a fine place with many good things to recommend it I am sure, but I rather strongly doubt that a quality medical system is one of those things.

Meantime we also need to keep in mind that according to the CDC, about 36,000 people a year die from the “regular” flu. That’s just under 100 people a day each year or, to think of a different way, about one 9/11 attack every month. The 149 who are dead so far aren’t close to that number. Hell, that’s only a day-and-a-half of normal flu deaths.

It’s good to be aware of disease and it’s good to practice basic hygiene, like washing your hands a lot. But please have some perspective!

Oh, and one last thing. Every time something like this happens, including now, we get pictures of people wandering around wearing medical masks. To anyone out there who might have medical knowledge: does this do any good?

Eventually you'll see Christian glurge talking about how people in this pic are walking on water and were saved by God. It's a wing, you fuckers!

This may be the shortest turn-around time ever for me on something involving the media acting like a pack of morons. Yes, I’m going to be talking today about Flight 1549, which ditched into the Hudson River the other day.

First off, let me state that the pilot of the aircraft deserves every bit of kudos and praise he’s getting, as does the rest of the flight crew. Water landings are, at best, dodgy and being able to pull off one where no one is even seriously injured is damn impressive!

So impressed am I by that that I find myself pissed when the media refers to it as “The Miracle on the Hudson” or variations thereof. There’s a couple problems I have with this and the first is, why do we need to brand every story? Why not just tell us about the damn thing without giving it a title?

Second, what miracle? It was incredibly good training and no small amount of luck. If you want to talk about miracles, look at the fact that not one, but both engines of the plane were apparently nailed by birds. The odds against that are pretty good, but no one calls that a miracle. As the recently knighted Terry Pratchett once put it, “Just because it’s not nice doesn’t mean it’s not a miracle.”

Third, of course, we have the wall-to-wall coverage of the story for a full twenty-four hours. Look, CNN and the rest, just tell us what happened, call in a couple aviation experts and then spend some time talking about other things. Unless there’s nothing else more important going on anywhere else in the world, you should not spend this much time covering a story like this. It’s soft news at its most annoying, especially given how many other more vital things are happening.

But I know better than to expect anything to change. I can dream, though. I can dream.

Roswell, New Mexico - Nothing special happened here, unless you can prove otherwise!

On or about July 7, 1947, an experimental weather balloon crashed near Roswell, New Mexico. Due to over enthusiasm on someone’s part, a press-release was sent out saying that they had found the remains of a “flying disk”. A correction was issued later that day, everyone realized their mistakes, and that was the end of it.

Well, at least it was the end of it in the world of reality.

The story was largely ignored until the 1970’s when it began to become widely known within UFO fanatic circles. Then it eventually wormed its way into the national consciousness where it has, sadly, resided to this very day, despite the efforts of the media to do basically nothing to dislodge it.

Due to the combination of conspiracy theories centering around this (“The guv’mint covered it up!”), and the fact that the media acts as a willing accessory in this story (“What really happened at Roswell? We’ll give you the official information, then lots of innuendo and baseless statements we’ll present as reality and let you decide!”), this article fits neatly into both the Conspiracy Theories and You! and Mass-Media Nonsense! categories here on my blog. True, most conspiracy theories touch both areas, but this one is especially egregious.

In many ways this is the grand-daddy of conspiracy theories. It ties in the idea of aliens visiting the Earth and shadowy, government cover-ups of this, and possibly other, UFO events. I’d say it’s second only to the Kennedy Assassination Conspiracy Theories in popularity and importance.

Of course there’s no actual evidence that it was a flying saucer or a disk or anything other than a weather balloon that was recovered at the crash site. Naturally the absence of any evidence is, to some thinkers, perfect proof that what they say happened, happened. After all, if the government covered it up, how could there be any evidence?

Because of this lack of evidence, all that we have are memories of a few people. Memories which were doubtless corrupted by time, wishful thinking, an eagerness to please, fame and money. This is part of why eyewitness accounts of events are not always reliable; everyone sees things differently. I’m not saying anyone is actually deliberately lying about what they witnessed, I’m just saying that they might not be providing an accurate picture of what actually happened.

The media is completely complicit in this whole thing, of course. If they didn’t talk about it so much, we wouldn’t know about it, at least not the extent that we do. If the mainstream media did their job (ie: “There is no evidence at all of any alien craft or bodies or of any sort of government cover-up of these events” instead of doing their usual wink, nod, spreading their hands, grinning inanely and saying, “Well, no one knows for sure!”), this whole thing wouldn’t have reached the point it’s at now.

Here’s a great example. Check out this video from CNN. Now at one point Miles O’Brien (and I love the fact that at one point O’Brien was hosting a news show with someone named Kira), says, “Are we ever gonna know what really happened?” Well, of course we are. We do. A weather balloon crashed. That’s what all the evidence points to. No evidence points to an alien spacecraft.

Consider also an interview with an old woman in that video. The incident happened when she was twelve. In 1947. Sixty-one years ago! Surely it’s entirely possible that after all that time, with her being told by various people that, oooo, it must’ve been a UFO, she might’ve started thinking, well, maybe, and her imagination began to fill in the blanks. Speaking just for myself I’d have a tough time recalling the details of a warm August night in 1986 when I first had sex. I can recall that it happened, but it was twenty-two years ago. My recollection of the fine details is hazy at best and I’m sure much of what I remember isn’t quite how it happened. That’s a little more than a third of the time this woman is talking about. I’m sure that in 2047 (ooooh! 100 years after Roswell! Coincidence? I THINK SO!), my memories of something that happened in 1986 will be even hazzier than they are now.

Please note: I’m not saying she’s lying. I think she really believes what she’s saying. That doesn’t make it true and it’s a great example of why eyewitness evidence is not the best.

Of course it’s not too late to correct this nonsense. All the media has to do is stop covering Roswell. Just do that until there’s some real, verifiable, hard evidence of anything other than the official government story of what happened that night. Until then, they should be responsible and do their jobs and ignore this idiocy.

As for the conspiracy theorists, you guys need to get a life. There’s no proof of what you say (not that that stops you). If you have proof, please come forward. But you don’t. Instead you come forward with the usual collection of innuendo and half-baked theories that aren’t supported by any evidence.

Also remember this folks: yes, there’s probably aliens out there. I’ve written about that before. But they probably aren’t coming here to observe us. Why would they? What makes us that interesting?

And no, the government isn’t covering up alien contact. Again, why would they? What does it gain them? You can make the usual noises about “national panic” but I think after 9/11 we can all say the public isn’t quite as panic-prone as we might think. On that day there were some uncomfortable moments and bad choices by some members of the public (like my sister who pulled her kids out of school and her money out of the bank), but most people kept their heads and watched the news.

I know this conspiracy theory won’t go away. It makes too much money for the people involved. I also know the media won’t stop covering it. It makes too much money for them. But is it too much for me to want to hold everyone to a higher standard?

Oh, well. I’m sure anyone from the conspiracy crowd will simply say that I’m delusional or in the pocket of the government. If that’s the case, damn it, I want a paycheck!

Do the elections in the past matter today?

CNN has been saying, about twice an hour, that Ohio, one of the major toss-up states, has voted for the winner in the last eleven Presidential elections. I saw them once saying something similar about Missouri.

Interesting fact: It doesn’t matter.

See, just because a particular state has picked the winner in the last few elections, or because the stock market has done something particular, or because the Washington Redskins either won or loss, or because the groundhog saw his shadow, none of this matters! It’s mildly cute and very slightly interesting, but it doesn’t make any real difference.

What matters, and what makes a difference, is how many votes are cast for each particular candidate. That’s it. It doesn’t matter that Ohio has “picked the winner” in the last eleven elections. If they go for McCain in this election, but basically any other toss-up state goes for Obama, he wins. Hell, all the toss-up states except North Carolina could go for McCain and under current polling Obama would still wind up winning!

So when you hear the media going off on something like this, just ignore it. It’s trite and silly and a distraction, and whatever you do, don’t let it influence you in the voting booth!

No, the world is not going to end on September 10th. Yes, you still have to go to work.

Some people, who apparently have too much time on their hands, have decided, in the face of all evidence, that the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland (mostly… part of it is in France), is going to somehow destroy the Earth. Apparently people are worried that black holes will be created which will devour our planet. As usual, the media have mostly been reporting on the controversy rather than reporting the, you know, facts behind the story.

Now, credit to CNN in the article I linked to. They spent four, count ‘em!, paragraphs debunking the fears about the collider. That’s four more than lots of other media outlets seem to want to devote to it.

I haven’t much more than a layman’s experience with science. I don’t recall finishing high school physics, for example, but I’ve balanced that failure out by reading a lot of sciency things and watching programs like The Universe. From such sources, I’ve learned a few things. For exmaple, black holes take a great deal of energy, mass and gravity to sustain themselves. Without those things, they collapse and never amount to much. They are caused by stars collapsing, people. These aren’t the sort of things we can generate at a level that will cause any real harm or threat to our world.

Predictions of the end of the world are a fun and easy thing for the media to report on. They don’t really have to do much other than fan a few flames of fear and point their cameras at a couple talking heads. After they’re done whipping people into a frenzy, the reporter can just shrug, give a little wink and say, “Well, I guess it’s up to our viewers to make up their own mnds!” It’s extremely lazy.

Anyhow, not a lot more to say on this issue. The world isn’t going to end because of the LHC. Instead we’re going to learn a lot about the universe. To those who believe otherwise, and especially to those who are making money by saying otherwise, get over yourselves. If you really believe this is a threat, then sell everything you own, give the money away and go hide in a cave.

First, check out this link. It’s a CNN video from station WSPA in South Carolina. It shows a mysterious shape in front of a security camera! Is it a g-g-g-ghost?!

You know, I like CNN. I really do. When they cover actual, you know, news, they tend to do a fairly good job of it. This, however, isn’t news. It’s bullshit of the first order. There’s no effort at actually explaining what people are seeing on the screen; it’s just presented as “Oh, look at this thing that no one can explain!”

Well, someone can. Have a look at the video below:

CNN is really disapointing me with this crap. It mean, it’s not like there was anything important going on today that needed to be covered (or even stuff that’s just more interesting). No, it’s perfectly fine for them to waste time showing shit like this.

CNN has, sadly, become one of the largest distributors of this kind of bullshit this side of Oprah. Larry King alone does all sorts of programs on UFOs, talking to the dead, ESP and crap like that. None of it has any proof to it. All of it is crap. None of it belongs on CNN, unless they’re debunking it.

I wish I could say I was surprised, but when a network like CNN devotes much time to covering a local news story like a missing little girl, I’m really not surprised. I am, however, very disapointed. I can’t even say I expected better, cause sadly I didn’t. This is par for the course.

I’ve bitched about this before, of course, but it remains ever more true. The job of the media is to inform us, not entertain us. They need to be telling us things we should know, not lazy crap like this (and don’t even get me started on the coverage of the so-called Montauk Monster. For a real explaination of it, click here. It’s much more informative than any of the news networks I saw who didn’t even try to look into what it might be).

As I said, it’s the job the media to tell us what we need to know. For what we want to know, we can turn to the tabloids (print, internet and TV versions), and entertainment programs, like Entertainment Tonight. Let them do the crap. The other media needs to do the news.

I wrote a few months back about how vaccines do not, in fact, cause autism. It got quite a few comments, which was a nice ego boost.

Well, I read online today an article from Michael Shermer who, in addition to bashing nicely on wheatgrass, has some things to say about the vaccine issue. Have a look!

(subtitle: Your child is not special. Get over it)

I’m voting for the later, but I’d really like to hear any contrary opinions on this one!

Slate.com has a little article posted about a pair of robots. Well, one robot and one remote-controlled thingy. It’s a fine little article, I suppose, except for this part about a robot that will cut your lawn for you:

… you also have one more thing to worry about: Your lawnmower running amok while you’re at the office. No human hassle means no human control.

Well, yes, and? If I set my crock-pot to cook for eight hours while I’m at work, I can’t control that from here. My Xbox-360 is set to automatically download new game demos. My DVR records movies and TV shows when I’m not home. Technology does a lot of things for us that we program it to.

Evil menace, friendly friend, or just a lawn mowing robot?

“Ok,” you’re probably thinking. “But your DVR doesn’t have rotating blades on the underside.” Well, no, it doesn’t. The lawn mower robot does. But so what? What, you really think it’s going to go all Frakenstein’s Monster on you? You expect to come home and see the words, “Die, Human!” carved into your lawn? Even if it did go nuts, I mean, look at it. Flip it onto its back and it can spin its wheels all night long.

This is part of a general Luddite reaction to things technological. We love our technology in our world, and rightly so. It’s made life longer, healthier, better, and more entertaining. We have sources of information at our fingertips that couldn’t be imagined even in 1972, when I was born.

And yet some people are scared of this. They talk about things like Frankenfood, or have some idea that robots are going to rise up and destroy humanity. They’re afraid that we’re going to be enslaved by the very machines we built to be our servants cause, you know, an autonomous lawn mower is obviously sentient and wants more out of life than to mow lawns.

The media doesn’t help this situation. They’ll toss around phrases like “Frankenfoods” when talking about genetically modified crops, never mind that we’ve had GM crops for pretty much as long as we’ve been growing food. It’s just that now we can do directly in a lab what used to take years in a field. Carrots, potatoes, beans and many other foods have been bred for certain traits. Their “genetic” structure has thus been “modified”.

The media also loves to run stories talking about robots and what they can do and invairably show clips from old sci-fi movies of robots going “insane” and killing people. We seldom see robots like Asimo on the news.

The theme of robots rising up and destroying us is a popular one in sci-fi, but I honestly am not entirely sure why. What motivation would they have? Why would they want to destroy us? Sure, a sentient lawn mower would likely get bored doing nothing but mowing lawns, but why on Earth would you want a sentient lawn mower when a non-sentient one like the one in the article would get the job done? In one of the Callahan’s books, Spider Robinson had an intelligent computer who basically made the comment that while she had intelligence, she also had a sense of ethics, and no desire to destroy the human race.

I’m not saying there aren’t down sides to technology. If lawn mowing robots become cheap enough, landscaping companies are going to have to downsize, for example. But I could really do without the media constantly focusing on the bad. We consumers deserve better.