The manifesto opens with the kind of pun Vonnegut could never resist. "Gentlemen," the professor writes, "As the first superweapon with a conscience, I am removing myself from your national defense stockpile. Setting a new precedent in the behavior of ordnance, I have humane reasons for
going off." The manifesto goes on for another page and a half. The tone is
Norbert Wiener's, [wiki] but the politics are even more overt. [sciencefriday]
this post is inspired by a recent comment by
torokunai linking current thinking about Machine Learning to Kurt Vonnegut's first published novel. the FPP quote is from an unpublished earlier work (Vonnegut is one of my favorite writers, having discovered
Sirens of Titan at a young age).
Westworld [
fanfare] came to mind, thinking about all of this. happy to see that was by design:
"Westworld co-producer Jonathan Nolan has credited Vonnegut with
inspiring the show's player piano, referring to it as a touchstone image of the show's first season." [the conversation;
playlist, denofgeek]
Nine Inch Nails (inspiration for the post title [
wiki])
when the simulacra starts to fray at the edges, things begin to
rock [season 3, content note: violence]
Common People, originally
(bonus: cover by Star Trek's
Captain Kirk)
Westworld
previously
on the
tech [illanoise.edu]