OK all you geeks: who had one? who is nostalgic just at the thought? Admit it, you searched for pictures of it on Google and now have a sticky hand ...

80's prediction: One day you will have a computer that will be able to understand what you say,  be able to hold an intelligent conversation with you, be able to beat the world chess champion and have an incredible 1 mega-byte of on-board memory.

00's reality: Keyboards, windows vista and multiple terrabytes of storage for all the porn you ever wanted.

Bush-bot/Chimp-bot hee hee!

Why do diabolical plans (and research) take soooooo loooong?

Kill the thesis .. Kill the thesis ... Kill the thesis ... Kill the thesis ... Kill the thesis ... Kill the thesis ... Kill the thesis ... Kill the thesis ... Kill the thesis ... Kill the thesis ... Kill the fnords ... Kill the thesis ... Kill the thesis ... Kill the thesis ... Kill the thesis ... Kill the thesis

(I think I am going ever-so-slightly utterly mad)

I know we promised story - saga - narrative etc. ... but a little gag or two on the way never hurt

PS - I am certain to get my doctoral thesis completed soon ... then I will be a doctor - my mum will be happy!

As we embark upon another mysterious feature-ette, we find our party descending into the very bowels of the earth to find themselves in .... a living room?
Could these be some kind of stairs that plunge not through space, but through time?
Maybe there is a young scientist sitting in his armchair, dreaming that one day he will invent the ultimate machine to take over the WORLD!
Or not.

Only in the mind of the Talented-One might we be able to mine for ideas, but I have been warned off putting a pick-axe through his head after the last time. So, dear readers, you, and I, will just have to wait till we manage to tape a pen to his hands and persuade him that he should draw next week's strip. A pick-axe ought to do it.

So, intelligent, so wise, so sinister ...

Ahh ... my thesis in a nutshell

Academia - a viper's-pit of machinations and Machiavellian snide-backstabbing

Now, The-Talented-One and I had a bit of a disagreement over this one. Below is his preferred version - what do you think?

Sentient Artificial Lifeforms: From Circuits to Consciousness
by
R. Geek, I. Asimov, F. Stein, T. Lady, G. String, M.T. Head and I.Gor

Abstract:
The development of robotic cognition and the advancement of understanding of human cognition form two of the current greatest challenges in robotics. Our aim is to develop an embodied robotic entity with human-like cognitive abilities developed over the and ontogenetic timeframe. This paper considers kinematic structures dynamic design criteria, actuator specification and selection, and detailed mechanical and electronic design. The paper concludes with tests of the performance of sample joints, and simple benchmark cognitive tests, namely: the "bottle drink test" and the "speech profanity understanding" test.

See now, Kirk is just trying to get me in trouble with my lovely wife the night before I disappear for 4 days on a boys jolly.
In my defense I did say it was the single most important thing in my life, and my wife and kids certainly wouldn't like to be described as things¹!