Infocult: Uncanny Informatics

More sex-crazed, scary internet ahead

We might see more internet fear over the next few months, as one American presidential candidate is apparently promising to ban pornography.  And we know where that stuff lives these days.

An Iowa political group is asking Republican candidates to sign a document pledging certain actions, based on a social conservative ideology.  One of those actions involves blocking porn, as part of a "vow" to protect marriage (at least) "through my"

[h]umane protection of women and the innocent fruit of conjugal intimacy - our next generation of American children - from human trafficking, sexual slavery, seduction into promiscruity, and all forms of pornography and prostitution...

Michele Bachmann is on board with this, as far as I can make out.  Given her prominence in the race, the amount of attention she wins from media, and the gleeful ire of Democrats, we could well see her making such a cause.  In which case we'd probably see more of the internet, cesspool of sexual depravity meme.

Monkeys wearing masks: some new nightmare

Creepy monkeys have moved into the uncanny valley.  Topeng masked performance monkeys from Indonesia, to be precive:

I get a Brothers Quay vibe off of these masks.

(thanks to Jesse "nightmare master" Walker)

The specter of a warmongering internet

The internet increases warfare: such is the conclusion of a new study.  Yes, the great connector is also the great warmonger, or so runs this latest bizarre exercise in technofear.

First, start with this rational premise:

 the frequency of wars between states increased steadily from 1870 to 2001 by 2% a year on average. The research argues that conflict is being fed by economic growth and the proliferation of new borders. 

So far, so good, at least in terms of political science, history, and common sense.  As one of the researchers puts it, "One of the key drivers is the number of countries, which has risen dramatically – from 47 in 1870 to 187 in 2001."  Note, too, that the study examines the number of wars, not their total destruction.

But here's where FuturePundit heads into haunted spaces territory:

The internet creates new borders which leads to greater opportunity for conflict. The internet warfare between nations and even by private groups against governments can be viewed as a result of more borders created by the internet. The internet effectively has created huge numbers of virtual borders online where firewalls try to enforce sovereignty in protected zones while invaders from other zones try to invade and pillage...

Let's break this down.

1. "internet warfare between nations" - that means preexisting national borders.  Which means no causal role for the internet in creating new conflicts by making new borders.  Unless the author wants to argue that the internet somehow incites more battles over old borders, which he/she doesn't do.
2. "private groups against governments" - what kind of war is this?  Are we talking Anonymous vs Orlando's city government, or Egyptian protestors using blogs?  "War" is the wrong word, when "conflict" is better.
3. "virtual borders" - assume this means borders different from preexisting national ones (example: the virtual fence between the US and Mexico).  Have we really seen pillaging between Comcast and Teljet users?  Has the Apple-Android struggle gotten out of hand recently?

In short, the internet doesn't add to the number of wars.  It might change the quality of war, rather than its quantity.  It enables new forms of conflict, such as DDOSes, but those are different creatures, much as the Voice of America radio or pamphlet drops play a role in statecraft, or gang graffiti in nonstate actor violence.

(thanks to Tim Pendry via Facebook; image via Bookforum)

Ruins and time on the Black Sea

More historical Gothic from English Russia: scenes from decayed Sevastopol fortifications.  Haunting ruins of power and violence, these are.

Specifically the Mikhailovskaya Battery.

Here's a neat plot idea:

Recently decomposed human remains were recovered from this debris. According to the museum director, two men were lying in a bed and they died instantly after a bomb hit. Nobody knows what else could appear here, so excavation works are made very carefully.

Love the robot - love it!

What does the uncanny valley need, but love? Lovotics is a Singapore project designed to encourage humans to snuggle up to this lumpy little bot.

The lovotic-machine emanates emotions through hormones (aerosol?).  Humans get to manipulate the bot by petting.  The lovebot manipulates back, through:

The robot can become bored, jealous, angry, affectionate, or flat-out happy, all based on how the human object of its desire interacts with it...The robot isn’t so cuddly, but give it some puppy love and it will love you back.

Frankenstein in Gotham

Here's a fine-looking New York Public Library Gothic event:

The Face of the Creature, 1818 - Today Elizabeth Campbell Denlinger - Curator of the Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle

The Maker of the Monster: An Illustrated Biography of Mary Shelley Charles Cuykendall Carter - Bibliographer of the Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle

The Creature in the (Cinematic) Machine Paul Flaig - Comparative Literature, Cornell University   

What Makes a ‘Monster?' Susan Wolfson - Professor of English, Princeton University

A Monster’s Right to Have Rights Stephanie DeGooyer - English, Cornell University and Scholar in Residence in the Library’s Wertheim Study

Autism and Articulation in Mary Shelley’s Novel and Beyond Julia Miele Rodas - Assistant Professor of English, Bronx Community College of the City University of New York (CUNY)

That's Thursday, August 18, 2011, 10 a.m.

(thanks to Guillermo)

Missing the body in the pool

"The water got murkier and murkier"

Call it piscine Gothic: a dead body drifted in a Boston-area pool for several days, decomposing, but sharp-eyed investigators somehow missed seeing it.

Disturbing quote of the day: "A city health inspector who examined it Tuesday determined the water was cloudy, but did not see her remains resting on the bottom."

To be clear: 

Lifeguards and swimmers who were at the pool Monday and Tuesday told investigators the water had become murky since Sunday, raising the grisly possibility the body’s decomposition may have been contributing to the decreasing clarity.

Decreasing clarity? You could say that.  And poor seeing wasn't only for inspectors, it seems:

The details that became available only deepened the mystery of how so many people, including teams of lifeguards and throngs of swimmers at the popular pool, could have failed to spot her body for so long.

There's a truly sad bit about a boy who witness the woman's death, tried to help, and reported it.  And this little short-short Gothic story:

a young couple who jumped the pool’s 7-foot fence for an illicit, after-hours dip discovered the body...

(via Instapundit)