An irregular hodgepodge of links gathered together … Omnium Gatherum for February 10, 2019
- Tweet by Patton Oswalt
I am directly responsible for @FoxNews broadcasting Erol Otus’ drawing of Shub-Niggurath from the 1st edition of DEITIES AND DEMIGODS. I am imbued with a hideous grace. The sun curses me. pic.twitter.com/56dw4T18ZC
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) February 4, 2019
- “Ursula K. Le Guin Was a Creator of Worlds” — Julie Phillips, Humanities; about the documentary Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin by Arwen Curry [HT Arts & Letters Daily]
“… Le Guin chose this ‘despised, marginal’ genre, she once said, for a reason she couldn’t acknowledge to herself at the time: Because it was “excluded from critical, academic, canonical supervision, leaving the artist free.””
- Sex Robot Cuddle Party by David Raffin
“Sex Robot Cuddle Party is presented as a lost novel by the son of the author, a pornographer and a communist. He infuses his creative work with political discourses.
It tells the story of RainyDay Tranquility, captain of the corporate surveying vessel Queen of Space, as she travels with her crew visiting dead worlds. In the future human touch has been rendered deadly.
Later, she is transported inside her favorite book, Cuddle Party, which she loves because, in it, two people fall asleep touching.
Sex Robot Cuddle Party is a comedy of loneliness, desire, and longing; and a tragedy of love requited.
A loving homage to new wave sci-fi, absurdist theater, and erotica of the early seventies; featuring existentialist philosophy, Atheism, Greek Gods, artificial intelligence, and the miracle of fungi, in which all things are possible dreamt or un-dreamt.”
- “Neuroscientists close in on the brain signature for consciousness” — Rich Maridy, New Atlas
“The research involved over 150 subjects, who were studied using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Some subjects scanned were patients in diagnosed vegetative states, while others were healthy individuals. The researchers ultimately discovered four specific neural activity patterns that could distinguish a person’s place on a spectrum from conscious to unconscious.”
- “Fish pass self-awareness test for the first time, raising questions about animal consciousness” — Michael Irving, New Atlas
“It might not seem like a big deal, but the ability to recognize that the face in the mirror is your own makes us part of a pretty exclusive club in the animal kingdom. Humans obviously can do it (from about 15 months of age), and so can apes, monkeys, dolphins, elephants, and some birds. Now a fish species has passed the mirror test for the first time, which may suggest that the animals are smarter than we give them credit for.
…
While these results suggest that fish are self-aware, the team isn’t jumping straight to that conclusion – perhaps they’re using other mental processes to figure it out. The fact that the fish have aced the mirror test is so surprising that the researchers are now questioning the validity of the test itself.”
- “Immigrant Song” (Live) – The Cybertronic Spree
“Robot rockstars in disguise, The Cybertronic Spree pay tribute to all time greats, LED ZEPPELIN. Talk about a bunch of bots who like to stay topical am I right?
…
The Cybertronic Spree is a band of Transformers who perform classic cartoon, videogame, and anime theme songs at full volume.”
