Episode 18: Nature Isn’t Cutting It

E3 discussion links:

NintendoLand

ZombieU

Watch Dogs

The Last of Us (Truck Ambush trailer showing they’re bad dudes.)

Dishonored

Rayman Legends

Check out:

Burning Love

Flight trailer

Jimmy Fallon & the Roots covering Call Me Maybe

Kickstarters mentioned:

Ze Frank

Daisy Kutter (Copper)

Strawberry milk: From above the river looks a bit like strawberry milk - coloured pink by the high concentration of salt

 Lake Retba, in Senegal, west Africa

Camp YOLO 2012

Also, a virtual tour of the Itasca Meridian.

 

Adorable failures will be left behind.

Tell us about camping!

What was your best experience? Your worst? Are you a closet RV owner?

 

 

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vzaliva/111023917/

15 thoughts on “Episode 18: Nature Isn’t Cutting It

  1. I knew Will didn’t really exist!! Also, thanks for the wedding ring bump sound effect Jared. Believe it or not I’m married too *taps ring against keyboard*.

  2. Will and I live in the same metropolitan area, so I of all people should know if he’s real. And since I’m skeptical… Yeah.

  3. I donated to the Daisy Kutter reprint too , I actually have a copy of the original in a long box somewhere, but you guys already covered the whole digital vs physical topic a while back. I have gotten to the point where I have to make sure I am not putting too much money into kickstarter, not that the site is bad, its just a really expensive hobby.

    I think you two may have overlooked Watch Dogs and what that game is getting at. Especially in regards to wondering why there hasn’t been an evil “robot” antagonist recently.

    http://kotaku.com/5917417/we-are-scared-right-now-what-todays-video-games-say-about-the-moment-we-live-in

    This Kotaku article about the game and upcoming titles, but it focuses on Watch Dogs in particular. That game seems like the worst LSD fueled night terror The Unabomber ever had. Rogue A.I. or manipulated A.I. is the modernized version “Evil Rowbutt” (that’s right I sometimes call robots “rowbutts”) imo.

    And camping…I don’t get it. I blame this video.

    • Well I definitely didn’t get the point driving Watch Dogs because I hadn’t heard of it. Even after hearing about it, I still feel like they’re pretty different ideas (and that evil robots have a place in pop culture still). In a way, I don’t want to give up on the evil robot world. Because I think that evil robots are totally different from Big Brother- ultimately men are behind the corrupt system (in the BB scenario).

      Whereas with an evil robot future, we’ve created something that has a mind of it’s own that we can’t control. While in these sort of Big Brother scenarios, there’s usually a big red button that turns the computer off but the computer fights you at every turn because it may not have emotions but it has a sense of self preservation…? That’s something I don’t get. That’s where the line blurs into evil robot territory and I’m like, man things would be easier for this computer if it just sprouted legs and hid that button somewhere.

      In a way, I get that the two worlds are merging. That maybe there’s this system that’s herding people and there’s not some shady guy behind it. Still, to me, that sounds like one lazy ass evil robot overlord. I mean, what would a computer get out of causing chaos for people? Although I guess I never asked, what do these beefy robot dudes get out of slaughtering everyone…? In the end, what are robots getting out of an Earth free of humans?

      Your point about rogue AI being the new evil robot is a pretty good one, in that it is definitely an idea that people are most creeped out by. They’re not afraid of a roomba suffocating them in their sleep. Maybe they should be though. That guy locking himself in his basement so he can make the Dyson? Yeah, what else did he get up to? I still think that in the pursuit of making life easier for people we’re going to screw up. So while we’re worried about Facebook collecting our information about who we’re with, I’m still focused on the guy making a sex-bot that accidentally lasers everyone to death.

      • I think the Big Brother scenario, and the idea of an entirely linked infrastructure is completely ridiculous. Look at Die Hard 4 for this absurdity. They only way we will be controlled, is by marketing, to buy more stuff.

        I like this cartoon the most. I believe the right side much more than the left.

        http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyf8tddRrF1qmzxopo1_500.jpg

        But the idea of an AI and robots becoming sentient individuals and how humans will treat them, has been well documented in science fiction. I loved the two Animatrix cartoons about the history of mankind basically becoming corrupt, and then causing war with the machines because we acted like children.

        That’s what amazes me about humans, we are so utterly obsessed and curious with life, that when we do find out how to create it either artificially or not, how are we going to react? That’s much more compelling than the big bad self aware AI that deems humanity a disease.

        It’s been touched on in several films, and TV. A.I., Star Trek, etc. This new found life will look to humans their creators for an example, and when they adopt irrationality, instead of cold hard calculating rationality… that will be truly horrific.

        End weird bizarre futuristic rant.

        • Word I hear you, I personally think the “evil robot” villain archetype is a bit played out but like anything its all about the execution of the concept.

          You can either have a “Danger Will Robinson!!!” (I know it wasn’t evil but it’s the first image that pops into my head when people mention out of control robots) style flailing robot, Dr. Who’s “Cyber Men” or Danger from the Astonishing X-Men (shoutouts to Joss Whedon) the out of control rowbutt is well traveled territory.

          But I do agree that zombies and vampires are well past their expiration date.

          Also the bit where the roomba kills you in your sleep, wasn’t there some 90’s made for tv movie where a kid buys (or his dad invents??) some radio controlled miniature robot that goes evil. I can’t remember the name but that was the first thing that popped into my head when I read that.

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