IO9 and Ziggy

Now the spool's gone, there might be more IRC reblogging here. Or maybe not. Anyway, marking the launch of the new scif-blog, here's some random thoughts and conversation.

blech: io9 is going to be one of those really annoying blogs that has 30 posts a day which you never read, but *someone* does, so you keep running across it in delicious/digg/Google
blech: ho hum
ChrisDodo: even denton is now saying 30 posts a day is a bad idea
blech: "33 POSTS IN THE LAST 24 HOURS | RSS"
blech: Five sci-fi gadgets that fit in your pocket. I always thought Al had a remote, not the whole of Ziggy
jerakeen: hmmm. The distinction between 'the entire computer' and 'the entire _interface_ to the computer' is a very nerdy one, you know.
blech: sosumi
blech: I wonder if it does mark a failure of my imagination though
blech: "Ziggy is a supercomputer, therefore it must be the size of a room, therefore the thing Al holds has to be a remote"
blech: seems less of a leap than "Ziggy is a computer the size of Al's palm"
blech: but only given a certain way of squinting at the world
jerakeen: no, I think it's a remote
jerakeen: reason being (if I might be _ultra_ nerdy here), in the pilot, when sam is confused and vaguey remembers a name, 'ziggy', al explains that ziggy is the computer. You would have expected him to point if he was holding ziggy. jerakeen: also, supercomputers will _always_ be the size of rooms
jerakeen: the 'super' part there somewhat requires it.
blech: Pointing is important.
blech: Apparently cats don't get pointing. This is annoying.
jerakeen: only humans get pointing
ChrisDodo: all animals will look at the end of your finger when you point.
jerakeen: even quite advanced monkeys will look at the finger, rather than the target.
jerakeen: ChrisDodo++
blech: "We review studies demonstrating the ability of some animals to understand the human pointing gesture."
blech: boo, not freee
ChrisDodo: Journal of the International Symposium on Animal Pointing?
blech: Animal Cognition Volume 9 Number 2