Infocult: Uncanny Informatics

Gothic Power and Light

One British town has come up with a splendidly Gothic way to generate electricity.  From the burning of dead bodies:

Durham Crematorium wants to install turbines in two of its burners, which would use the heat generated during the cremation process to provide the same amount of electricity as would power 1,500 televisions...

The turbines would be powered by steam produced from cooling the extremely hot gases – at temperatures of at least 1,500F – that are used to cremate bodies....

Why not just use the electricity to keep the building's lights on?

Alan José, the crematorium's superintendent and registrar, said: "We calculate that we will have far more electricity than we can possibly need so we would be feeding a reasonable amount into the grid."  

It's not quite The Matrix, but could clearly disturb folks.  It triggers our anxiety over dead bodies.   José is "anxious not to upset people over the plans."

"the same amount of electricity as would power 1,500 televisions": there's something beautifully techno-gothic about that comparison.  Imagine the blue light of tvs shining at night, flickering in shadows.  Televisions powered by the dead.

(thanks to Peter Naegele; photo by Mark Fischer)

The werewolf executive

Political Gothic, 1980s style:

Criminalizing the constitutional crimes that are the inevitable result of the theory of the "unitary executive" might have encouraged the nation to ignore the ravings of an authoritarian lycanthrope like Richard Cheney.

Classic monster and tyrannical villain, all in one!

Let's have a brief Gothic Dick Cheney retrospective, shall we?

The Onion in 2009 had Cheney lured into steel box by trainers.  "Cheney only eats what he kills."

Or one legislator's reflection:

For another Iran-Contra-Gothic take, recall the last scene in American Psycho (2000), where evil yuppies and/or serial killers mock Reagan's lying ability.

(thanks to Ted Major)

Dawn of the squishybot

A new robot paradigm is upon us, or life imitates David Cronenberg?

Behold the gooeybot. No skeleton, just soft plastic and... undulation:

It's either very cute or nightmarish.  Listen to the eerie language describing its construction:

 they fabricated a "tetrapod," with four limbs spreading out from a central body in a tall X shape. Each of the limbs could curve down when pressure was applied, and the "body" at the center of the X could either be held rigid or allowed to flex.

There's a quiet beauty to this.  Or Lovecraftian terror.  Or sex fetish.  Probably all three.

Ars Technica ramps up the terror, helpfully:

Before you get images of a giant, rubbery X shambling down the street...

AAAAAAH!  Sleep well, twitching friends of Infocult.  We will expect a report in the morning.