you heard it here first...

[John Bailey]

...or did you? Don't know if these links have been through the P-mill
before, but thought they might be of interest some listers. Relevance to V?
Well, I'm sure you can work it out...

"If our world survives, the next great challenge to
watch out for will come - you heard it here first - when the curves of
research and development in artificial intelligence, molecular biology
and robotics all converge."

www.androidworld.com
offers a complete range of androids and links to android manufacturers.
Especially alarming is their specs for the (as yet unrealised) "Domestic" 
robot, Valerie ("This android will look like a woman. Why?  Because a woman 
is less threatening than a full-sized adult male"!)

Most robotics manufacturers make their products to do the job, and so they 
don't attempt to give them a human verisimilitude. This always makes me 
wonder at the motives of those who do - and explains why most humanoid 
automata are not functional but ornamental (in a highly mechanized way).

For instance -
www.chomickmeder.com
www.delectra.com/jporter
www.tinguely.ch/MuseumJT.engl.html

In regards to the Alligator Patrol/Unpaid non-Union labour scam, I always 
supposed they were getting at least some recompense - Zeitsuss' pep talk "If 
it pays better someplace else, more power to you, I say. This is not a rich 
outfit." Implies that there is some sort of pay going out here, no? 
'fcourse, now that I think about, the 'better' qualifier may be ironic, as 
in something is better than nothing.
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