Daniel H. Wilson
Daniel H. Wilson
Daniel H. Wilsonis a New York Times best selling author, television host and robotics engineer. Wilson is a contributing editor to Popular Mechanics magazine, called the "Resident Roboticist". He currently resides in Portland, Oregon. His books include the award-winning humor titles How to Survive a Robot Uprising, Where's My Jetpack? and How to Build a Robot Army and the bestseller Robopocalypse. His most recent novel, Robogenesis was published in June 2014...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth6 March 1978
CountryUnited States of America
There are an endless number of things to discover about robotics. A lot of it is just too fantastic for people to believe.
People need meaning as much as they need air. Lucky for us, we can give meaning to each other for free. Just by being alive.
Human reactions to robots varies by culture and changes over time. In the United States we are terrified by killer robots. In Japan people want to snuggle with killer robots.
For people who have been raised on text-based interactions, just speaking on the telephone can be high bandwidth to the point of anxiety.
The fear of the never-ending onslaught of gizmos and gadgets is nothing new. The radio, the telephone, Facebook - each of these inventions changed the world. Each of them scared the heck out of an older generation. And each of them was invented by people who were in their 20s.
It's dangerous to be people-blind.
How much change can a person absorb before everything loses meaning Living for its own sake isn't life. People need meaning as much as they need air.
Technology changes, but people stay the same.
Change creates fear, and technology creates change. Sadly, most people don't behave very well when they are afraid.
Right now, I think robots are where it's at. And yes, I'm biased. Robots and space, because with home rocket kits and Lego Mindstorm sets, people can get involved. I was raised on Transformers and GoBots, so I can't imagine what kids who are building real robots are dreaming about.
'Robopocalypse' explores the intertwined fates of regular people who face a future filled with murderous machines. It follows them as humanity foments the robot uprising, fails to recognize the coming storm, and then is rocked to the core by methodical, crippling attacks.
The dissemination of advanced implantable technology will likely be just as ruthlessly democratic as the ailments it is destined to treat. Meaning that, someday soon, we may have a new class of very smart, very fast people - yesterday's disabled and elderly.
As a kid I wanted to write science fiction, and I was never without a book. Later I really got into being a scientist and never thought I'd be writing novels.
Johannes Cabal would kill me for saying this, but he's my favorite Zeppelin-hopping detective. The fellow has got all the charm of Bond and the smarts of Holmes--without the pesky morality.