Tag Archives: robots

Robot Apocalypse!

Recently, fellow WordPress blogger Anonymole mentioned in a comment here that he enjoyed Day Zero, a 2021 science fiction novel by C. Robert Cargill. I checked out the Wikipedia article about it, and thought it sounded interesting. Turned out my library had it, so I checked it out (in both senses of the word).

And I agree! It’s very good, and I’d recommend it for any science fiction fan, especially fans of hard SF. It’s the story of a robot uprising that kills most of the humans but as told from the first-person point of view of one of the robots.

It’s the story of his desperate attempt to save the child he was bought to nourish and protect as the world crumbles around them.

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Our Robot Friends

We live in an era of unprecedented change. My grandparents’ generation saw the rise of the automobile. My parents’ generation saw the rise of space travel. My generation saw the rise of the digital world and social technology. The current generation is seeing the rise of the robots.

A bit over two years ago I posted An Uprising of Robots. (We haven’t picked a collective noun for robots, but my submissions are an uprising of and a clank of.) That post featured Atlas, the Boston Dynamics humanoid robot, and Spot, the four-legged “dog” robot (seen in the image here).

Since I posted that, Spot has become a hit on YouTube and has entered the work force, so here’s a Wednesday Wow starring Spot, the $75,000 robot dog.

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An Uprising of Robots

Back when I posted about Delores, the Westworld robot, I mentioned a question that once came up in a science fiction fan forum: What’s the collective noun for robots? A mechanation of robots? A clank of robots? I suggested an Asimov of robots, but maybe the best suggestion was an uprising of robots.

An uprising of robots could refer to the scary Terminator scenario but could also be taken as just meaning the rising up of (non-killer, useful) robots. That latter interpretation being not just factual, but quite operative already.

So, for this Wednesday Wow, an uprising of robots…

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Small Sci Fi Gems

I’ve said before that I’m kind of bored with the high-calorie low-nutrition CGI spectacles Hollywood cranks out. Some of that is on me; I was into movies long before all that started, so very much a case of ‘been there, seen that, bought the DVDs.’

I’m just weary of the same old thing, which is all many bigger movies are. They cost so much to make and have to earn that back, so producers stay with formulas and formats they know. It tends to turn movies into commodities, like burgers or pizzas.

Which is fine, but I find I really prefer the smaller, non-mainstream, artisan-oriented movies. Today, for Sci-Fi Saturday, I want to tell you about two very tasty treats.

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Westworld: S1E10

These are my notes for Bicameral Mind, episode ten (the finale!) of Westworld, season one. As with all these “notes” posts: Serious Series Spoilers! Do not read unless you’ve seen season one!

The season two premiere dropped last Sunday, and it seems worth the wait! The second season looks to be just as enthralling as the first one. It’s interesting to read the various reviews (which often say as much about the reviewer as they do about the reviewed). Some loved the puzzle-box aspect of season one and miss it in the new season; others are relieved there’s less of that and more action. A few seemed disappointed the show didn’t live up to their personal expectations.

I loved it, and I’m so looking forward to watching the story unfold over the next nine weeks! Meanwhile, the exciting finale of season one—

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Westworld: S1E9

These are my notes for The Well-Tempered Clavier, episode nine of Westworld, season one. As with all these “notes” posts: Serious Series Spoilers! Do not read unless you’ve seen season one!

These last episodes are so full and complex that even a mere outline makes for a long post! So while this may be bare bones and really sketchy, it’ll still be long!

One very neat thing that’s happened is that, despite all the times I’ve watched the series, it’s only watching carefully and taking notes that has really clarified the storyline for me. I feel that I understand what happened a lot better than I have until now. (Which is good considering we jump into season two tomorrow. Whoo Hoo! The wait is over!)

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Westworld: S1E8

These are my notes for Trace Decay, episode eight of Westworld, season one. As with all these “notes” posts: Serious Series Spoilers! Do not read unless you’ve seen season one!

The pace is definitely picking up in the later episodes as much of what has been set up is paying off (but much is left still unexplained).

Because the second season premiere is so close, these notes are getting fairly skeletal, but I’m still finding the idea of even an outline useful, so I’m still hanging in there (and even as an outline, this episode made for a long post).

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Westworld: S1E7

These are my notes for Trompe L’Oeil, episode seven of Westworld, season one. As with all these “notes” posts: Serious Series Spoilers! Do not read unless you’ve seen season one!

Still trying to get these posts done before the season two premiere on Sunday, but it’s not looking good. At least not for a careful look as I’d planned. On the other hand, it’s becoming apparent to me that one could spend a lot more time analyzing each episode and writing about it. These notes posts are longer than my usual limit (about 1500 or so words), and even the longer ones only seem to scratch the surface. Part of what’s working against me here is a bit of despair over doing this series real justice.

But whatever. Even these bare bones notes have been helpful in getting to me really think about the series, so on we go!

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Westworld: S1E6

These are my notes for The Adversary, episode six of Westworld, season one. As with all these “notes” posts: Serious Series Spoilers! Do not read unless you’ve seen season one.

I’m faced with the prospect of rushing through the second half of the season in order to post all these episode notes before the new season airs this Sunday. Watching, thinking about, and writing about, an episode per day doesn’t sound like fun (mostly on account of all the writing), and I have no intention of turning this into work. (And I’m getting tired of writing about Westworld so much.) On the other hand, I do need to at least see the remaining episodes before the new season starts, so I might do these in a far more bare-bones fashion (and then maybe later come back and flesh them out).

I’ll see how it goes. For now, here’s episode six:

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Westworld: Looping Dolores

The Australians have Waltzing Matilda; Westworld has Looping Dolores… and a whole host of looping hosts. (Is there a collective noun for robots, yet? A mechanation of robots? A clank of robots? An Asimov of robots? How about an uprising of robots?)

Halfway through season one, it’s possible to get a sense of the script Dolores follows. We can also get a sense of the path Teddy follows, although we haven’t seen as much of it.

Obviously, and as always in this series of posts: Serious Season Spoilers! Do not read unless you’ve seen all of season one.

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