Eponymously Yours, W. Skeffington Higgins

A friend just sent me a Christmas note that included a picture of the Tin Woodman of Oz. I was reminded of this posting from 20 March 2006.

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From: Bill Higgins 
Subject: Rumination on Hearts and Minds
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Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2006 19:02:54 GMT

So the Scarecrow is looking for brains.

The Tin Woodman is looking for a heart.

But the Scarecrow is stuffed full of straw.   Why isn't he *also* looking 
for a heart?  He doesn't have a heart does he?  Is he merely unconcerned 
about lacking one?

And does the Tin Woodman have a brain?  Shouldn't he want a brain as well as 
a heart?  All his parts have been replaced with metal.  If he has a brain, 
it's a metal brain.

As I understand it, *The Wonderful Wizard of Oz* appeared in 1900, so I 
presume the story takes place in that year.

A quick Moore's Law calculation shows that the Tin Woodman could not have 
had much more than thirty billionths of a transistor to his name.  Seems to 
me he needs more brains almost as badly as the Scarecrow does.  Perhaps he 
is not bright enough to realize this.

Or his calculation concerning whether he needs brains or not has not yet 
halted, given the tiny amount of processing power available to him.

(I have seen the movie version, but not the book, so maybe this is all 
explained by Baum.)

-- 
   Bill Higgins    |             "I continue to feel that
     Fermilab      |    if you're going to go on being this stupid,
     Internet:     | you should try to be more polite; or alternately,
  higg...@fnal.gov |     if you're going to go on being this rude,
                   |    you should try not to say such dumb things."
                   |             --T. Nielsen Hayden

Followups from other Usenet correspondents may be found here.

(Is the reference to "a quick Moore's Law calculation" too elliptical?)

Last night I accompanied someone to a local clinic, an outpost of Central Dupage Hospital, and found a new piece of technology in the waiting room.


It's a vending machine that dispenses prescription drugs. Welcome to the future.

Someone tell autopope about this: yet another sign that getting out of the pharmacy business was a good career move. Had he continued, autopope might have been out on the street by now, to be replaced by autochemist...

Perhaps the corner druggist will go the way of the soda jerk he once employed* --I hope not. I like my local pharmacist, and as I gradually mature into the decades when I become ever more lucrative to him, I find it comforting to be able to consult a human regarding the growing number of pills I must consume.



* Of whom, I hope to write more soon.

The New York Times is reporting that the head of Philip K. Dick is still missing. Or rather, the head of the clever and convincing android duplicate of Philip K. Dick.

I was getting fond of that head, and I am sorry it is gone. Hope they find it.

According to New Scientist, the android duplicate of Philip K. Dick has vanished in transit.

Nobody has seen "Phil" for weeks now. There is speculation that he has escaped.

We know that Phil has appeared at events publicizing the forthcoming film version of A Scanner Darkly. Which opens 31 March.

Does this smell like a publicity stunt to you?