Stepford wives

[Chalk Downlanders]

I just watched the film for the first time and was wondering if that technology is currently available?

[Alan]

Lol put your tin hat on

[Beryl]

Hopefully for th male species.

[Chalk Downlanders]

Originally Posted by Alan

Lol put your tin hat on

Incoming

Originally Posted by Beryl

Hopefully for th male species.

It works both ways.

[Gill Catton]

did you see Horizon and the remote controlled rat? EEurrghhhh scared the living daylights out of me, I had to turn over!

[Alan]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

did you see Horizon and the remote controlled rat? EEurrghhhh scared the living daylights out of me, I had to turn over!

Was that the one about artificial intelligence? I only caught the last half-hour.

[fbcpmike]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

did you see Horizon and the remote controlled rat? EEurrghhhh scared the living daylights out of me, I had to turn over!

Now if they could only do that for the sewer rats, be so much easier to control.

Watched the whole program, did not realy think making an animal do something it did not want to do was fair or justified for research, but then that would apply to a lot of other things as well (opens floodgates).

It's the old sci-fi premise again, super computer gains intelligence, takes over the world, eradicates mankind. Did you notice the bits of Forbidden Planet soundtrack in the background ?, cleverly inserted in places, the approaching 'ID'.

[Alan]

So it was that programme.

I found the bit where the monkey controlled the screen image with its brain interesting, but it didn't really tell us about the mechanisms that did this. I agree with what is said above. It was a bit vague in some parts, and seems to concentrait on the actions of the uni-bomber as much as anything.

[fbcpmike]

Originally Posted by Alan

I found the bit where the monkey controlled the screen image with its brain interesting, but it didn't really tell us about the mechanisms that did this.

The computer had been trained on the brainwaves of said monkey, monitoring when it moved it's arm. The computer then moved the screen dot (that the monkey was watching) in response and duplicated the arm movement on the robot. The co-ordination between the monkey's arm and the robotic arm was extraordinary, but then I've been out of that industry for a while and lost touch.

It was the relatively quick realisation by the monkey that it did not actually have to move its arm, but that it just had to think about moving, and it would have the required effect on the dot, scary.

[Gill Catton]

I thought it was wrong, cruel, a little stupid and I found myself praying that the 'singularity' would never ever happen, that we'll never be so arrogant as to think we've worked out the complexities of the human brain and the associated stew pot of emotions. One of the few programmes that has me so uncomfortable with reality that I turned over.....

[Susie]

Originally Posted by Chalk Downlanders

I just watched the film for the first time and was wondering if that technology is currently available?

Never seen the attraction myself. Someone so biddable would be dull, dull, dull!

[nightshade]

Software controlled,no worries,just remember how often crashes occur
presaged by the blue screen.......

[Chalk Downlanders]

Originally Posted by nightshade

Software controlled,no worries,just remember how often crashes occur
presaged by the blue screen.......

Just hope Microsoft have nothing to do with it eh?

[Imaginos]

There are quite a few parasites that control the behaviour of their hosts. One makes its ant host crawl to the top of grass stems so that it can be more easliy eaten by (I think) cows-the host for the next stage of its life cycle. My personal favorite is a species of barnacle that parasitises crabs (noticable by a fleshy growth on the underside of the crab) that essentially 'drives' the crab around to areas where the barnacle can feed.

[nightshade]

When you are having a bad day just remember the airline
-pilots in their electronic birds when the voice says
have a nice day and the screen goes blank

[Susie]

Originally Posted by Imaginos

There are quite a few parasites that control the behaviour of their hosts. One makes its ant host crawl to the top of grass stems so that it can be more easliy eaten by (I think) cows-the host for the next stage of its life cycle.

There is a fungus thing that does that as well and makes its host climb up something high so its spores can disperse. I remember seeing a fly it had happened too.

[nightshade]

Susie,"there isa fungus thing that makes its host climb something high so it can disperse its
spores",it sounds like an excellent but scary plot for a SCIFI story

[Susie]

Truth is frequently stranger than fiction, Nightshade. lol

"Enslaver" fungi is what I saw. The fly was in a very stylised position with masses of white cotton wooly stuff over its abdomen.

Anyone interested in this sort of thing might like to follow this link. I find it fascinating.

Parasites brainwash grasshoppers into death dive - life - 31 August 2005 - New Scientist