Monthly Archives: September 2015

Wintermute, Neuromancer and Manipulation

Wintermute and Neuromancer are two different halves to the same whole. While Wintermute specializes in strategic planning alongside careful improvisation in order to conduct business, Neuromancer has a personality. Wintermute was made to merge with Neuromancer, while Neuromancer desires to … Continue reading

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Technology and the Human Body in Neuromancer

In William Gibson’s Neuromancer, I was particularly intrigued by the interactions between technology and the human body. Gibson openly explores the effect of technology on our society and culture, and makes bold statements about how beneficial but also dangerous it … Continue reading

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Bodily Occupation and Corporal Politics

In addition to its prophetic introduction of cyberspace and the matrix, Neuromancer poses the question about what it means to occupy a physical body, either organic or artificial, and whether the need to be physically manifested hinders the potential of … Continue reading

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“The Sandman,” E. T. A. Hoffman, and Romanticism vs. the Enlightenment

Given the importance of E.T.A. Hoffman’s, The Sandman, to Freud’s, The Uncanny, and thus it’s importance to The Freudian Robot, I decided to read Hoffman’s work, which you can do here at the following pdf link: http://art3idea.psu.edu/metalepsis/texts/sandman.pdf I found Hoffman’s work … Continue reading

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New York Times Article

This New York Times Article brings up some important parts in relation to the Buddhist concept of desire. As noted in the Confucian anecdote presented by Liu, the old man fears losing an essential part of his humanity as he … Continue reading

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ELIZA

The ELIZA software was created in the 1960’s as a psychoanalyst. Individuals during that time would actually incite a conversation with the software to resolve their issues. However, ELIZA would converse in a roundabout way without offering substantial insight. ELIZA … Continue reading

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Freudian Robot: Death Instinct and Entropy

I was interested in further understanding the link between drawing upon the concept of entropy and converting the law of thermodynamics from one of heat to that of energy. I researched further that entropy is a law describing how nature tends … Continue reading

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The Implications of Computerized Therapy

http://psychcentral.com/lib/computerized-therapy-will-your-next-therapist-be-a-computer/ This linked article describes a future of  (as well as come current and past examples) computational therapy. A program mentioned in the Freudian Robot chapter, ELIZA, is described as a program built on the principals of psychologist Carl Rodgers, which … Continue reading

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The Ultimate (Useless) Machine

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323628804578348572687608806 My article was written as recently as 2013, and brings back to light the purpose–or lack thereof–of the Ultimate Machine.  Having been invented in the 1950s, the Ultimate Machine had been largely forgotten and unsurprisingly so.  The machine is … Continue reading

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Contextualization Link

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150806144425.htm This article explains the current project underway to get robots to organize themselves as small groups to accomplish tasks.  This requires a new level of communication that might stem out of self awareness or at the very least, Darwinian … Continue reading

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