Fear the (Logo) Turtle

I have yet to have a laptop that lives up to its name. The one I am currently typing overheats and turns itself off after just a few minutes on my lap. Only if I splay my legs and balance the computer on the edge of my thighs can I work without a desk. Even then, the laptop will shut itself off from time to time. This disturbs me not so much due to the lost data, but because it taps a lifelong fear that my PC is just about to develop a mind of its own.

I got my first computer way too young--an Apple IIe for my 6th birthday--and it wasn't 'till I was in college that I could sleep in the same room as a powered-up PC. That's because the Apple spoke to me in a scary monotone robot voice. "Hello Sadie, my name is Poindexter." I don't remember what else the computer did. Maybe I made pictures on it with Logo, or perhaps I never played with it because it was fucking terrifying.

Despite early setbacks, I eventually developed enough computer proficiency to get on to IRC and engage in ill-informed political debates despite not, technically, having an ISP. But I never got over my fear of computers, and I have a recurring nightmare where I see that my computer is on, but it's not plugged in--meaning that it's about to start a machine world takeover, Terminator-style. (Apparently this nightmare formed before the days of lithium-ion batteries.)

I'm making further headway overcoming my fear of computers with minds, as I just finished writing a story about a few cognitive scientists who built a baby robot, which learned to recognize human faces after just a few minutes of "life." The article won't be out 'till March, but I just saw pictures of the thing in a baby carriage and it's pretty awesome. Or maybe I'm just saying that to get on the computers' good side before they take over the world.