Spring Break
Sword him out: human, robot or Jedi?
Athlete of the week
Issue date: 11/8/07
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In this day and age, mankind is exposed to technology more advanced than many could have imagined only five years ago. Take, for example, the HOAP3 humanoid robot. According to Science Daily, the robot "has 28 motorized articulations. It has a large number of sensors including accelerometers, rate gyros, an infra-red range finder, pressure sensors and two cameras." Though this is fascinating, it's also terrifying. Robots are becoming increasingly intelligent and complex - in fact, scientists have created nanorobots the size of viruses and bacteria. Currently there are over 800,000 worldwide.
Scared? In times like these, many humans are wishing they could live in the simple days of the past, the days before nuclear weapons, technological warfare and powerful robot populaces. Nay, even the days before cars. Before electricity, even? Yes.
How about 1200 B.C.? Remember, when the Olmecs settled in Mesoamerica? When the first chariot was constructed? When Ramses III founded the Twentieth Dynasty?
Before you lapse into an irrecoverable nostalgia, let's settle back into the year 2007. Here at Hopkins, we have a medicine to soothe both the horror of robots and the heartache for good ol' B.C.
Introducing junior men's fencer David Ferguson, both a robotics intellectual and master of an art straight from 1200 B.C. With him nearby, humans can sleep soundly without fear of robots or the loss of ancient sporting forms.
His passions for both the archaic and futuristic art forms has made this Hopkins athlete somewhat of a walking anachronism. And though he's fine with dropping his video games and NASA research projects to head off to fencing practice, Ferguson can't help but wish that one day, both his passions for future and past will unite, on Mars, of course.
"I suspect the first thing anyone will do when they live on Mars is fence. I mean, it's the only logical thing to do."
This is the kind of logic that makes Ferguson a threat on the fencing strip. "He's a really smart fencer. He'll never let you hit him more than once with the same move," sophomore teammate Paul Nunley said.
Scared? In times like these, many humans are wishing they could live in the simple days of the past, the days before nuclear weapons, technological warfare and powerful robot populaces. Nay, even the days before cars. Before electricity, even? Yes.
How about 1200 B.C.? Remember, when the Olmecs settled in Mesoamerica? When the first chariot was constructed? When Ramses III founded the Twentieth Dynasty?
Before you lapse into an irrecoverable nostalgia, let's settle back into the year 2007. Here at Hopkins, we have a medicine to soothe both the horror of robots and the heartache for good ol' B.C.
Introducing junior men's fencer David Ferguson, both a robotics intellectual and master of an art straight from 1200 B.C. With him nearby, humans can sleep soundly without fear of robots or the loss of ancient sporting forms.
His passions for both the archaic and futuristic art forms has made this Hopkins athlete somewhat of a walking anachronism. And though he's fine with dropping his video games and NASA research projects to head off to fencing practice, Ferguson can't help but wish that one day, both his passions for future and past will unite, on Mars, of course.
"I suspect the first thing anyone will do when they live on Mars is fence. I mean, it's the only logical thing to do."
This is the kind of logic that makes Ferguson a threat on the fencing strip. "He's a really smart fencer. He'll never let you hit him more than once with the same move," sophomore teammate Paul Nunley said.
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