online:15 april 2009 modified: 16,17 april 2009 15 april 2009 dependent beings
Seven Sisters Ponds
...today i received news* of a perhaps brainless robot that can only move at a constant speed in a straight line like any mechanical toy or Newtonian gadget... it is about 10 inches high and carries a flag saying 'help me' and stating its destination... it relies on passers-by to reset it in the right direction whenever it gets (pathetically) stuck in rough ground or other obstacles... its designer and maker, Kacie Kinzer**, set it going in one corner of Washington Square, New York, and amazingly it reached its destination at the opposite corner in 42 minutes... thanks to 29 people walking in the park who set it going again whenever it got stuck...
...as i describe this most unthreatening, charming and dependent robot, which relies on the intelligence and even the kindness of people, i listen to passing cars, aircraft, a wood pigeon, and i see a water bird disappearing into the rushes... and then i think about the differences between machines and people and animals... and are we merging?
...just now the air is still, the water surface is like glass, and the tall stalks of last year's bullrushes do not seem to move even a millimetre (yet the earth is moving at perhaps thousands of km per hour, relative to nearby objects, and elsewhere in the atmosphere there are winds and storms and even earthquakes)...
...then a man arrives, whistling like a bird... he tells me he is Paul O'hAodha and he is whistling to attract the local robin (whom i've often seen at this seat)... he puts food on the ground and the bird soon arrives, picks up a piece, and flies off with it... he's taking it to the female who is nesting nearby says Paul... then he holds food in his hand the robin takes it...
...i am surprised to see that the bird is not scared away when Paul speaks quite loudly... or even when he rolls and lights a cigarette...
...we talk for a while and he pours out some cider into my drinking bottle... he tells me he comes from Ireland, has learnt silversmithing, and has travelled in many countries...
...and then i continue writing...
...now it's getting dark and i must be going... Paul offers to show me the way but, unlike the robot, i know where i am in this city forest and do not need guidance...
*Ursula Huws sent me news of the robot because it reminded her of the time when i threw a letter into the street expecting someone to post it... and someone did... later she mentioned this in an article on planning and freedom
**Kacie Kinzer and her robots are at the Center for the Recently Possible at the Interactive Telecommunications Program, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University
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