Human-cyborg relations has never been a messier affair.

Acticon Neosphincter
The Acticon® Neosphincter is the only implantable sphincter available for the treatment of severe fecal incontinence. Using the same technology that has been used for 30 years to treat urinary incontinence, the Acticon Neosphincter simulates normal sphincter function to give the patient control over defecation through a [...]

Yeah, its a video about tired Web 2.0 hype. But it is really well done.

Watch this
We are developing and evaluating an architecture that will allow these robots to perceive, model, and generate social rhythms such that the robot’s behaviors are synchronized with those of a human interactor. We believe that rhythmic synchrony will be as important for establishing engagement, rapport, and comfort between a robot and a person [...]

Math research team maps E8
An international team of 18 mathematicians, including two from MIT, has mapped one of the largest and most complicated structures in mathematics. If written out on paper, the calculation describing this structure, known as E8, would cover an area the size of Manhattan.
The work is important because it could lead to [...]

We take off into the cosmos, ready for anything: for solitude, for hardship, for exhaustion, death. Modesty forbids us to say so, but there are times when we think pretty well of ourselves. And yet, if we examine it more closely, our enthusiasm turns out to be all sham. We don’t want to conquer the [...]

Despite once describing the US as “the only remaining primitive society”, Baudrillard was a tireless enthusiast for America. “Santa Barbara is a paradise; Disneyland is a paradise; the US is a paradise,” he wrote. “Paradise is just paradise. Mournful, monotonous, and superficial though it may be, it is paradise. There is no other.”
Beautiful

I’m stupid and got involved in another argument over Wikipedia, again. And I’m also vain, so I’m documenting the discussion below. Comments are welcome.

Court blocks access to YouTube in Turkey
A court in Turkey on Wednesday ordered blockage of all access to YouTube, the popular video-sharing Web site, over a video deemed insulting to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey.
The ban followed a week of what the media in Turkey dubbed a “virtual war” of videos between [...]