I, Robot No Deep Thinker

July 16, 2004 D. H. McKee

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Near the beginning of his classic 1950 novel I, Robot, Isaac Asimov laid out the three commandments governing robot behavior: Thou shall not allow harm to come to a human, thou shall obey humans, thou shall protect thyself.
Hollywood blockbusters have their own set of rules, too: Drop in little commercials for products whenever you can, replace meaningful dialogue with witty repartee, build lots of fight scenes, end happily (by saving the world, if budget permits) and dilute any brainy stuff.
In the movie version of I, Robot, Hollywood’s rules rule. Asimov fans and others who like their sci-fi on the chewy side will probably revolt — the essence of the book is gone. But the average popcorn muncher will appreciate I, Robot — it’s a good example of why the blockbuster formula works. It’s funny, has a chilly, blue visual style (the robots look like the clamshell iBooks) and moves fast.
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,64250,00.html?tw=rss.CUL

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As a guy who occasionally curates art shows and wrangles artists together, I often have to edit and post artist bios, profile pictures, and artwork images. This can be a problem, since many artists and writers aren’t used to selling themselves. Artists rarely know how to present their art for display in a brochure, and writers aren’t used to writing about themselves.

Writers often treat the bio like it’s an interview or something. Maybe like they’re having a conversation with you, the reader. While it may work sometimes, the most common way to write a bio is to write in the 3rd person.

I’m like those writers, and I’m talking to you directly, unlike the common way to do a bio. You should see my About page. It makes sense to me, since this is a bit which describes my blog’s website. When I get famous enough that I don’t have time to talk to you, I’ll have an intern write everything in 3rd person. Until then, you get to talk to me.

Like blogs of old, this one is a personal document of the comings and goings of me. Articles I’ve written, links I’ve posted, videos I liked, etc. Here, a first-person perspective is the way to go, at least for now. So, this is my site. I’m D. H. McKee, a sometimes artist, sometimes writer. Mostly just a guy on the internet.