Garry Kasparov, doing it the old-fashioned way
“Remote-Controlled Pen” To Make Author’s Presence Superfluous
Author Margaret Atwood has invented a remote-controlled pen which allows her to sign books for her fans from thousands of miles away.
Autographs are signed on an electronic pad while Atwood chats to a fan via a video link.
Seconds later two metal arms holding a pen reproduce the signature in the fan’s book.
So you walk away from this “book signing,” and you have an autograph which is not really an autograph. How special.
If you can’t be there, then sign a book and mail it, for God’s sake.
I think this is a good invention. I mean look at most authors first of all they’re not a people orrianted bunch. Plus I hear alot of them fear germs!
Maybe if she were writing a book on technology I’d be interested. But if she’s just lazy?
On a side note, A Handmaid’s Tale is just a hackneyed expansion of 1984… but I digress.
Ok… the customary political rant… this is new application of old technology.
Last year Donald Rumsfeld was caught sending out condolence letters signed by him to the families of dead US Military with his signature, but….
(Do I really need to finish this story?)
The letters were not signed by Rumsfeld, they were signed by a machine… Rumsfeld never saw the letters. It was done on his orders, because he is too busy for that kind of thing. A-hole.
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By the way, is everyone aware that as of today, neither the President or the Vice President has ever attended ANY common soldier funerals. No wonder thay are so disconnected… they have machines signing the condolences and they never have had to see the families weep.
I think its a great invention.. people like Bob Dole and that lady in teh news with no arms or legs that just gave birth, can use it to do the autographs for them..
Did any one of you (Dvorak included) actually READ The Handmaid’s Tale? This machine is a work of pure satirical genius.
It has been about 17 or 18 years since I read A Hand Maid’s Tale. I was neither overly impressed by it, nor do I remember it as a satire. Although it has a similar theme as 1984, it wasn’t a knockoff.
If you ever have an opportunity to attend a reading by Margret Attwood, do it. She is great in person, a natural speaker.
John, do you sign with your middle initial? What does the C stand for?
New York has a half-dozen book signings a night. Never seen you at one John.Any books coming out?
“Remote-Controlled Pen” To Make Author’s Presence Superfluous
That should actually read PHYSICAL presence, since the author is still conversing with the book buyer, and in fact not just signing their name, but signing “To:”, etc….
If an author can greet many more of their fans with this setup, EVERYBODY wins.
stop being luddites. Physical presence has been “overridden” with so many great inventions since the Telephone.
Lou, presence is everything. There is a difference between standing next to a wax figure of Dvorak and standing next to the real embodiment of John. After everything is copied,there’s still that aura about someone that is missing. Look at identical twins who are genetically exact copies of eachother. They are still different.
“standing next to a wax figure of Dvorak”
Now there’s a creepy thought– John C. Dvorak in a wax museum.
Asimov would have probably loved it since he was afraid to fly and as a result did not travel widely.
The entire point of getting an autograph is that you get to meet the author. If the author is not in the same place, you might as well send for the autograph by mail. A mechanically reproduced autograph is crap!
Really funny thing is that the news says the pen doesn’t even work ….