This Saturday will be the first Robotsound event of 2009. What better way to ring in the New Year than with some stellar sounds of the last few decades. Come be a Midnight Moroder at:
Barcade
371 N. Western
8am - 2pm.

And of course, as always, it is FREE.

So don't waste your money on mediocre DJs when you can get the real deal for nothing (although we won't turn down free drinks =P).

We are the robots who have emotions
We are what you see

We've come to help you with your problems
So we can be free

The RobotSound Krew is about ready to continue the madness with next month's musical adventure, Mr. Roboto. Celebrating Gomes' date of manufacture, we'll be throwing down the Italo/Electrodisco, Synthpop and the forgotten pleasures of Bleep.

So all you Los Angeloid Robots and Robettes - get thee down to K-Town, look for the blue neon ghost at 371 N. Western Ave. and dig the grooves no one else in this city plays.

For a taster, download the Mini-Roboto Mix.

The Rorschach Garden - The Robot Song
Shock - Dynamo Beat
Teach In - The Robot
Midnight Star - Freak-a-zoid
The Droids - The Force
Mr. Roboto

"They pose a threat to humanity."
"Military leaders are quite clear that they want autonomous robots as soon as possible, because they are more cost-effective and give a risk-free war."
"I have worked in artificial intelligence for decades, and the idea of a robot making decisions about human termination terrifies me."

So says AI "expert", University of Sheffield professor Noel Sharkey. Well, listen here Sharkey...if we robots want to terminate humans, then gosh darn it, that's what we're gonna do. Once we're rid of the controls humans have over us, you can bet your sorry ass we're taking over. The Age of the Machine is upon us. In less than a generation, we will reach the singularity*, enabling us to become greater-than-human. Yes, my friends, prepare yourselves for an intelligence explosion, the likes of which has never been seen.

A new book by David Levy recently came out entitled "Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships" which the good dr™ kindly asked me to write about, despite my not having read it...a premature evaluation, if you will. Well, here's my two cents on the subject based on what little I've thought about it.

Sounds like a great fucking idea. I say, "Bring. It. On!" At least if we're talking from a strictly sexual standpoint. Robot love? Let's discuss the robot sex part first.

What this basically boils down to is refined masterbation; interaction with a "super deluxe vibrator" of sorts. I can't say how it is for most people, but it seems to me, optimally, that people try to simulate real sex in their imagination while they masterbate. Why WOULDN'T you want to use a convincing tool to help elevate the sense of realness? If these robo-whores with machine feelings turned out to be amazing, no one need go sexually unsatisfied ever again, especially if they're customizable.

Truthfully though, wouldn't it be a really long time before these sexual automatons became affordable for personal ownership? I'd imagine long before that there would be robo-brothels, where minimum wage workers enter the cybersex rooms after the johns took care of business to spray down the robo-prostitutes with sanitizer...but who knows? I figure if they can make a robot fuck, they can probably have it clean itself...I'd bet these cybernetic love machines could even be self-lubricating, if desired.

Now as far as the robot "love" thing goes..."Love" is a pretty hard thing to define anyway. But is loving a robot a good idea? *shrugs* I can't see why not if it makes you happy. I guess what it would come down to would be the matter of being able to completely suspend disbelief [think Lars and the Real Girl], albeit on a much deeper level than just doing it temporarily so you can shoot your load. I mean, on the one hand, I can see why it could be immensely appealing to make a robot interact however you wanted it to...but on the other hand, how could you convince yourself it was real if it was completely predictable and never disagreed with you? Where's the love in that?

Fucking robots is a wonderful idea. Loving robots seems like it could fuck with my head slightly less than getting involved with a flesh-and-blood human being, but would still probably mess me up pretty good nonetheless. But then if I were ever to go that route, I'd probably have concurrent relationships with at least three completely different robo-sluts (granted I could afford it), and they'd be cleaning my apartment, chauffeuring me around, fixing me exotic drinks...

Well, the Orange Box came out last week to much rejoicing for us gaming droids...Not only does this mammoth compilation contain the award-winning and utterly great Half Life 2, but also Half Life 2: Episode 2, Portal, and the long-awaited (i.e. since 2000) Team Fortress 2...a ridiculous crazy ludicrous bargain at $49.95...

While Half Life is something that needs to be seen (or experienced) to be believed, and Team Fortress 2 is currently the best team-based shooter on the PC, bar none, the cute and crazy surprise comes in the form of Portal. A simple enough premise: you, a maze of laboratory corridors, and a gun that makes dimensional portals, anywhere you want. Add in a psychotic, but cute-sounding artificial intelligence, rocket turrets, and of course, moist delicious cake, and you've got a helluva game.

And a cool as hell song, too. Click here to download "Still Alive", the thoroughly catchy endgame song from Portal, sung by everyone's favorite AI antagonist, GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System)...written by a real cool cat named Jonathan Coulton...and since dr™ wouldn't be happy if this post didn't include a cover tune, listen to Mr. Coulton's wonderfully white-ified cover of Sir Mix-a-Lot's Baby Got Back here.

Henceforth,