Do Robots Dream Of Electric Sleep?
Okay, that makes no sense. But I'm not feeling horribly creative tonight. Anyway, I just found out that the International Robot Exhibition in Japan was cancelled this year because of the earthquake/tsunami in Japan.
Don't misunderstand. Of course, there are other, way more terrible things that are a result of the disaster(s), but those things make me extremely sad and I don’t want to talk about them. I tend to be a little bit of a disaster junkie (maybe leftover from my journalist days?) and I have been watching the news relentlessly.
I’m struck by thoughts like: What about Japan’s elderly? What about the pets? What about the children left with no family? Who will take care of them? Who will know that they need taking care of?
I see mounds of debris and can’t stop thinking that it’s not just buildings and vehicles and trash, but that there are people and animals in there. I think about the workers who stayed at the nuclear power plants, trying to have some positive effect—they know they are getting eventually lethal doses of radiation and yet they are doing it. And why? Because if they don’t, who will save their families? Their friends? And I think about the survivors of Hiroshima/Nagasaki, who have to be very frightened by the thought of nuclear disaster. Are they suffering some form of PTSD on top of everything else?
I watched a very good show on Nova Sunday about the disaster. There were seismologists and other scientists explaining what had happened, and why this thing led to this result... It was so terrible to watch. But I kept watching for... something to go right. But it just doesn't ever seem to, does it?
These towns--completely wiped off the map--95% of the people gone... How horrible would it be to survive that? Everything you own... gone. Everyone you know... gone. Everything you know, your entire way of life... gone.
Almost without thought, my hands worked as I watched this heartbreaking footage... On the other side of the world, with no money, no political influence or economic power... What can I do for Japan?
I made this little robot, a symbol of my solidarity with the Japanese. I wish there was more I could do.
Don't misunderstand. Of course, there are other, way more terrible things that are a result of the disaster(s), but those things make me extremely sad and I don’t want to talk about them. I tend to be a little bit of a disaster junkie (maybe leftover from my journalist days?) and I have been watching the news relentlessly.
I’m struck by thoughts like: What about Japan’s elderly? What about the pets? What about the children left with no family? Who will take care of them? Who will know that they need taking care of?
I see mounds of debris and can’t stop thinking that it’s not just buildings and vehicles and trash, but that there are people and animals in there. I think about the workers who stayed at the nuclear power plants, trying to have some positive effect—they know they are getting eventually lethal doses of radiation and yet they are doing it. And why? Because if they don’t, who will save their families? Their friends? And I think about the survivors of Hiroshima/Nagasaki, who have to be very frightened by the thought of nuclear disaster. Are they suffering some form of PTSD on top of everything else?
I watched a very good show on Nova Sunday about the disaster. There were seismologists and other scientists explaining what had happened, and why this thing led to this result... It was so terrible to watch. But I kept watching for... something to go right. But it just doesn't ever seem to, does it?
These towns--completely wiped off the map--95% of the people gone... How horrible would it be to survive that? Everything you own... gone. Everyone you know... gone. Everything you know, your entire way of life... gone.
Almost without thought, my hands worked as I watched this heartbreaking footage... On the other side of the world, with no money, no political influence or economic power... What can I do for Japan?
I made this little robot, a symbol of my solidarity with the Japanese. I wish there was more I could do.
posted by Patwoman | 11:13 PM
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