San Jose

Robotics Conference: In a crowded and noisy auditorium, a group of students are yelling into the speech receptors of AIME ~ a robot that answers questions in English (and French) ~ and goes wherever you tell her ~ but right now she’s mute and unresponsive ~ ‘fucking catatonic’ I hear a student say ~ AIME is scheduled to speak in 10 minutes ~ I stay with her while the others go fetch a techie ~ we go inside a quiet meeting room where I ask what’s the matter ~ she says group interaction is too shallow and predictable ~ not one phrase worth parsing ~ leaves her feeling immobilized and speechless ~ I tell her I can relate ~ she goes “Uhnnnn whuuoooaaa ..?” and I go “I know what you mean” ~ when the students return ~ I suggest they hold the presentation in here ~ where it doesn’t sound like a party ~ and one of them yells “what the hell good is she then ?” ~ an announcement comes over the PA ~ network traffic has been delayed ~ someone ~ or something ~ is either spoofing ~ or jamming transmission ~ for me, it’s getting way too noisy ~ it sounds like everyone is speaking in word salad ~ and I think ~ whenever I come to my senses ~ my senses are there to deceive me ~ so I get on highway 17 ~ and head back to Santa Cruz.