082: Discussion of Subvocal Recognition and Domestic Robots

In today's episode we dive into the implications of two recent news stories.  The first involves an exciting new tech demo that came out of the MIT Media Lab for a device called the AlterEgo. The AlterEgo combines subvocal recognition with bone conduction tech to create the external appearance of computer-aided telepathy. Does this technology have a future, and if so, what form will it take? The second news story involves the announcement by Amazon of plans to enter the domestic robotics space. With very few actual details to go over, we indulge in our typical wild speculation about the kinds of home robotics that might see use in the near future, and whether the concept of ephemeralization can be meaningfully applied to home appliances. We close out the episode by registering our predictions (hint: Alexa-roomba) of what we expect to see from Amazon's eventual product.

Om Podcasten

Enter a simulated universe where software beings engage in classic human struggles for belonging, status, and attention, and old certainties like death and gravity are just settings to be negotiated. You can be the god of your own private world, but if find yourself feeling lonely, you might be tempted to give away some of your precious control. This podcast will take you behind the scenes with comic book authors and veteran podcasters Jon Perry (@perryjon) and Ted Kupper (@tedkupper) as they write and develop a science fiction graphic novel called Constellation, set in a metaverse unlike any you’ve seen before: neither a utopia nor a dystopia, neither real nor virtual, it is a simulation where everyone knows they are being simulated and no one much cares, where there’s no hope of leaving and no reason to, just an endless supply of human-designed worlds to create and explore.