April 6, 2013

All Watched Over by Drones of Loving Grace

This Iranian Drone Could Someday Save Your Life Lifeguards of the future may soon come with four rotors.

RTS Labs, an Iranian research firm, has started work on a drone lifeguard. Tired of hearing stories about people drowning in the Caspian Sea, the researchers sought out a way to improve water rescue. Drones can help in several ways humans can't--they can move faster over choppy seas, they always remain calm, and a drone will never fall asleep on the job. Iran has an usually high rate of unintentional drownings compared with European countries....

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UPDATE Comment on All Watched Over by Drones of Loving Grace "All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace is undoubtedly a lovely poem. It perfectly describes the ultimate end of the Revolution: an empty, primeval world populated by a tiny population of immortal, derationalized posthumans, walking in the garden in the cool of the day with the robot gods their ancestors created.

"But what do you expect? Brautigan was a hippie poet, channeling the Zeitgeist of the Age of Aquarius. Of course he wrote about a future when peace will guide our planet and love will steer the stars!

"Our posthuman descendants will be humanoid, but not human. Being human requires a rational mind. But, since only a rational mind can experience suffering, it'll have to go. That's what they meant in the song when they talked about "the mind's true liberation" : its non-existence. Or, as Siddhartha put it, Nirvana." -- Posted by B Lewis

Posted by gerardvanderleun at April 6, 2013 8:33 AM
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All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace is undoubtedly a lovely poem. It perfectly describes the ultimate end of the Revolution: an empty, primeval world populated by a tiny population of immortal, derationalized posthumans, walking in the garden in the cool of the day with the robot gods their ancestors created.

But what do you expect? Brautigan was a hippie poet, channeling the Zeitgeist of the Age of Aquarius. Of course he wrote about a future when peace will guide our planet and love will steer the stars!

Our posthuman descendants will be humanoid, but not human. Being human requires a rational mind. But, since only a rational mind can experience suffering, it'll have to go. That's what they meant in the song when they talked about "the mind's true liberation" : its non-existence. Or, as Siddhartha put it, Nirvana.

So hail, Richard Brautigan, poet of his own farts. Only a towering genius of his day could have penned these immortal (and NSFW) lines:

I go to bed in Los Angeles thinking
about you.

Pissing a few moments ago
I looked down at my penis
affectionately.

Knowing it has been inside
you twice today makes me
feel beautiful.

-- "The Beautiful Poem"
3 A.M., January 15, 1967

Heeeeavvvvvyyyyy. Bell-bottoms forever.

Posted by: B Lewis at April 6, 2013 10:22 AM

Gerard, please feel free to show detailed close-ups of Hieronymus Bosch's triptych Garden of Earthly Delights any time you'd like. Every time I see this painting, I discover new things in it (bird eating frog in lower right corner this time).

Posted by: waltj at April 6, 2013 9:22 PM