Robots killing humans

So this news pops up today about a man killed by a robot. It was a robot he built himself for the purpose of killing him, a kind of suicide bot. So I jokingly thought "it begins...." but then I did a bit of googling and discovered that robots have been killing humans for a little while now. The first human killed by a robot is generally thought to be Robert Williams, a man who worked in an auto plant and was murdered by a one ton robot. And last October there was this report of a robotic anti-aircraft gun "malfunctioning." That malfunction killed 9 and injured 14 and is probably the most terrifying incident of robot on human violence. The robot pictured alongside this article is not a movie prop but is an actual piece or ordnance patrolling the streets of Iraq today.

It begins...

Free Singularity Sci Fi novel online

IO9 reports that the latest novel from Rudy Rucker is now available for free online. It's titled "Postsingular" so my interest in piqued. They call it a "must read" and I've actually never read anything substantial of Rucker's before. I'll download it to read on my trip to Dallas this weekend.

Bonus link: IO9 today also reported on the real world Time Travel store which I mentioned back here.

The Terminator show and the Singularity

Last night they mentioned overtly the Singularity on the Terminator show! A good sign of some smart writers not shying away from big concepts, in my humble opinion. Despite the apt complaints about sci fi being too derivative lately, I'm into this show and don't want it to get cancelled too soon!