Conclusion

As I've been struggling to find one last interesting topic to write about, I've decided to finish this assignment off with a reflection, instead. As far as assignments go, I can think of far worse ones. I might even go so far as to say that it has been kind of enjoyable. The one thing that really dissapointed me however, was the lack of discussion that took place. I suppose I really shouldn't have expected much in the first place, but it certainly would have made this more enjoyable to do.
Looking back, I'm not certain that I've done much that was really directly to the material, and perhaps it would have been better to do more along those lines. Of course, looking at some of the other weblogs, I see that I'm not entirely alone in choosing a great deal of semi-off topic topics. I also didn't get to write about several of the topics I had originally wanted to do. A month or two ago, there was an article in a paper from home about chimeric experimentation (mixing the genetic material of two different species) that I had wanted to look at. I also had an article from Air & Space magazine that examined the Challenger accident and took a tour of the process of manufacturing the SRBs. I had planned on hosting the article on my server space here, so that people could read it, but I had some trouble in getting it scanned.

Induced Hibernation

It seems that an interesting and useful new medical technology is in the works...
This article from CNN's site will give you the details. In short, small amounts of Hydrogen Sulfide gas can be used to tremendously lower the metabolism of lab mice, something on the order of 90%.
This reduction results in inducing hypothermia (a technique already being used in some operations today) and by greatly lowering oxygen/energy requirements of the subject. Merely supplying fresh air is enough to bring the subject back to normal metabolism. The principal application being looked at currently would be allowing people who are recieving organ transplants to survive waiting for a longer period of time. It would also seem that one of the staples of sci-fi, induced hybernation, is drawing a bit closer to becoming a reality.

Futurists

While watching the video in class, I noticed that several of the guest speakers were given the title "Futurist". I had remembered reading something about Futurism in another class, but my memory was a little bit fuzzy, so I did a little bit of digging on the internet. Seems that Futurism was an artistic movement that originated in Italy, and was a denunciation of Romanticism. The movement also had very strong Facist overtones. Some of the ideas proposed in the stuff I remember reading does seem very bold and creative, but very... unsettling at the same time. Take these two quotes as examples of the more disturbing thoughts. Points 9 and 10 from the original futurist manifesto...

"We will glorify war—the world’s only hygiene—militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of freedom-bringers, beautiful ideas worth dying for, and scorn for woman."

"We will destroy the museums, libraries, academies of every kind, will fight moralism, feminism, every opportunistic or utilitarian cowardice."

Personally, I'm not sure where to begin to respond to something like this... As a history student, I feel more than mildly insulted. As someone who believes in the idea of a moral way of doing things, I feel further insulted. It only goes on from there.

And the authors very well knew what sort of impact that this manifesto would have on readers...

"You have objections?—Enough! Enough! We know them... We’ve understood!... Our fine deceitful intelligence tells us that we are the revival and extension of our ancestors—Perhaps!... If only it were so!—But who cares? We don’t want to understand!... Woe to anyone who says those infamous words to us again!"


I've included some links for your reading enjoyment. There seem to be a few popups associated with the last two, but nothing really malicious.
Futurism Manifestos
FLUXEUROPA: FUTURISM
Mark Harden's Artchive: "Futurism"

Something to fan the flames...

I was doing a bit of research, when I happened upon this...
I took a screen cap because I thought it was interesting to note that there are others who draw a distinction between science and technology... I'm not going to make an argument either way at this point, I'm just putting that tidbit out there for others to discuss.

Yet Another Weapon Post

Another new weapon system that I stumbled on while writing the last post.
In the course of reading, I saw a weapon called the Multiple Projectile Delivery System mentioned as being a possible armament for the Talon robots discussed in the previous post. The article contained a link which detailed the weapon system. The weapon system has also been dubbed DREAD (I couldn't find any mention of whether or not this is another acronym, or not). If you take the time to read the article and consider it a bit, chances are you'll probably agree that the name fits. From a military standpoint, this has the potential to be a dream wepaon. Extremely low maintanence, huge ammo capacity, no danger of ammo explosion, capable of extremly accurate and devestating fire, and no sound or muzzle flash to expose the operator or vehicle to counterfire. From the perspective of a soldier, this is probably another Pandora's Box. If I were a soldier, I would most certainly not like to be on the recieving end of something like this at all. The prospect of recieving fire that cannot be pinpointed by sound or sight that in all likelihood will be rather lethal is quite frightening to certain. This system, properly utilized could be even more devestating to moral than something like a sniper.

Hopefully, I won't keep stumbling on to stuff like this, so that there will be a bit more variety in future posts...

A Continuation of the Previous Post

In my previous post, I talked briefly about a new type of gun. If you happened to take a peek at the official website, you probably noticed this little fellow. Well, the robot itself is known as Talon. The actual system is being called SWORDS, which is an annoying military acronym for Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection System. The Talon robot has been around for a while as a remote operated vehicle for hazardous duties like bomb disposal. Now it is being adapted for use as a support weapons platform for use in environments such as the current engagement in Iraq.

A few articles to provide more specific details:
Wired.Com
DefenseTech
News.Com

Always a Bigger Gun

This isn't American originated technology per se, but if what one of the articles suggests is true, then it's likely to end up being used by the American military in the near future.
One of my friends came to visit me during the weekend, and during the course of supper one evening, he happened to mention a new type of gun that he had read about at some point.
After doing a little bit of digging around, I was able to find a few articles concerning this new style of weapon as well as the company's website. It seems that this gun, dubbed Metal Storm, is operated entirely through electronic rather than mechanical means. The gun itself basically consists of a barrel (or barrels) filled with rounds very similar to caseless rounds and a firing mechanism. The rounds are stacked inside the barrel with propellant sandwiched behind each round. Electricity is used to ignite the propellant for each round almost simultaneously. The effect is that a staggeringly high effective rate of fire can be achieved. Another selling point of the system is that it is easily locked down, so that unauthorized personnel cannot make use of the weapon. It will be interesting to see (and possibly terrifying, if the test-firing videos are any measure) of what becomes of this technology in the future.

CNN Article
Another Article
Metal Storm website
I mentioned caseless ammunition earlier... This provides an explanation of what caseless ammunition is, and it tells the tale of the ill-fated H&K G11, which is an interesting enough story in and of itself

A while ago in class, a scheme concocted during WWII to make use of bats as a delievery system for inendiary devices was mentioned. I remember listening to a bit of a show on the History Channel some time this past year concerning the project, but I couldn't recall much, other than the project had been scrapped, due to an embarrasing accident. So, in order to find out more, I did a bit of digging around, and came up with the following links... The first link concerns the project itself. The second link is an interesting little tidbit that makes mention of the project.
The final link appears to be a page owned by a drama group who wrote/ran a play based on the project.

Airforce Magazine Online
Free Republic
Brooklyn Drama Group

I found this interesting little bit while getting my weekly webcomic fix...
This to me was a suprise, as the reviews/news site I normally frequent hasn't said a peep about this yet. So I decided to do some more digging, to see if I might find a few more articles elsewhere.

For your enjoyment:
Another Blog:
A thread on a forum:
Another reviews/news site:

If these reports are true, as I'm inclined to believe, then the attitude displayed by Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi is slightly disturbing.

"Offering additional testimony praising the handheld, Kutaragi said, 'I believe we made the most beautiful thing in the world. Nobody would criticize a renowned architect's blueprint that the position of a gate is wrong. It's the same as that.' "

I would seriously hope that if a "renowned architect" dropped the ball, somebody would call him on it. This unremorseful stance that Mr. Kutaragi holds about shipping a product that by most indications seems to have some moderate to serious problems absolutely baffles me. It may be his child, but his child is not the most beautiful baby in the world. And to those of you who say sticky buttons may not seem like much: They seem that way only until you actually have to deal with them. And on a controller for a console that wouldn't be as big an issue, because a controller can be relatively easily replaced, and if it's the stock controller that's the problem, then aftermarket companies will scramble to put out controllers without the particular flaw, and the parent company will have to respond in part with a "fixed" design. For a good example, ask an X-Box owner about the original controllers that shipped with the X-Box. (To Microsoft's credit, they at least worked properly) The original X-Box controllers were to put it simply; HUGE. The majority of people had trouble wrapping their hands around the controller, and in response, Microsoft released the XBox Controller S, which is much better proportioned. In a handheld, there IS no easy fix. PSP owners are stuck with this problem, unless Sony ships a new version which eliminates these problems. And given the way Mr. Kutaragi seems unwilling to admit that his company has done anything wrong, it seems like a long shot.

I suppose the question I want to pose to you is this: is it ethical for a company to ship a product with known defects, when said defects are such that they interfere with the primary function of the product, and/or pose the risk of damaging said product? In addition, does anyone else, as a consumer, find such an attitude as that posessed by Mr. Kutaragi as disturbing as I do?

As my first post, I just wanted to take the time to pose some questions. Science Fiction has always been one of my favorite genres, and I ask you all out there in Internet Land this: Do you believe that Science Fiction can become Science Fact? Well, here is one soul desperately trying to prove that this is the case:

Homemade Mecha:

Some other semi-relate links:
A walker designed for forestry work:
An Exoskeleton Prototype being developed at Berkeley:

Edit: Clarification/Background:
This post was originally started as a semi-response to a thread I had been reading on a game forum I frequent. The game centers on mecha as war machines, and every so often, there is a thread asking about the feasability of such a thing in real life. Over the course of these threads, most folks tend to agree that a 3-4 story tall walking tank lacks a practical application, so that even if the technology were there (and some aspects of it are progressing that way, as indicated in the links) it would likely never become reality, except as a sort of fancy, as in the first link provided. That's not to say that there aren't legions of us in that community who'd love to see something of the sort, it's just that there's no market for it. However, a few believe that the Battle Armor in the game (basically exoskeletons) may see some practical use, in extreme circumstances, hence the link concerning the exoskelton.

If any of you are interested, the game I mentioned is known as Battletech, or Classic Battletech, depending on who you talk to. Several computer and console game series have been based on the Battletech universe, most notably the Mechwarrior series, and the Mechassault series (not very faithful to the source material, but probably the best chance for anybody here to recognize) on the X-box. In addition to the video games, a large body of fiction, as well as another miniatures game based on Battletech exists.
If any clarification is needed, feel free to ask...