We Live in a Science Fictional Universe

If you find Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom‘s reputation economy interesting, take a look at the Whuffie Bank, an attempt to establish a real social currency.  They even have a manifesto, and it’s actually pretty good.  Check it out.

Tyler preempted me on this by a couple hours, but:  someone made a really fabulous plush Portal turret.  One that talks to you.  In response to your interactions with it.  (If you pick it up, if you wave your hand in front of its sight, if you knock it over, etc.)  I love the world. […]

You know zombies have hit it big when even CNN is writing about them.  It’s a pretty fluff-filled article, but there’s something deeply wonderful about a world in which there’s a #cnnzombies Twitter hashtag.   If you’re still working on your preparations for the zombie apocalypse, take a look at this zombie-proof house.  Pretty impressive, […]

I’m sure some of you wished I’d send a similar email out on Monday:  

I meant to post this during the first couple weeks of the class, but somehow it slipped through the cracks.  The December issue of Wired had an interesting piece from Patton Oswalt on the current state of geek culture, the content and spirit of which both seem to have been co-opted by mainstream culture.  This […]

From Charlie Stross’s (author of “MAXOS,” among many other things) blog, a question that’s particularly interesting for us as we think about apocalypse and near-apocalypse scenarios:   There’s a deceptively simple question that’s been bugging me this week, and it is this: What is the minimum number of people you need in order to maintain […]

Not as funny as it probably should be given the premise, but still worth watching:  lazy guy with a portal gun.

The end . . or is it? Adorably, and maybe even more sinisterly: Lastly, a comic bridging the gap between Portal and Portal 2.

A lot of you have been asking (in class, on the forum, etc.) for book/film/TV show recommendations, things that we don’t have time to get to in class or in our extra screenings.  Before the semester’s done, I plan to post a list of my own personal recommendations, and of course there’s also the SF […]

Portal lovers may appreciate this homemade portal gun, sold in last year’s Child’s Play charity auction (awesomely detailed post about its construction here):   And here’s an imagining of what an ’80s retro commercial for Portal might have looked like: Lastly, if you’re really digging the murderous robot/AI thread of the course, someone posted “Blinkyâ„¢” […]