“I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.” – H.A.L. 9000, 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968).
Within the deceptive security of their sound-proof space pod, Dave and Frank discuss how best to deal with an omniscient A.I. run amok. Being the consummate lip reader, HAL quickly learns of his impending demise. With a single red eye and an insatiable desire for absolute knowledge, HAL from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) represents a modern manifestation of the Cyclops myth referred to in Cuff, Hansen and Kang’s article on “Urban Sensing.” Like Kubrick’s epic human-machine meditation, the article postulates an anxious distrust of emerging technologies of knowledge generation and data collection.
Should we fear the “Cyclops” of ubiquitous sensing technology?
Continue reading ‘Urban Sensing: Data Commons Versus The Cyclops’
