Robots may not be planning an attack yet, but a survival guide is already in place
Despite relying totally on electronic gadgetry to make money and stay interested in life, I resent it. The reason: I was raised to mistrust machines.
One relative lives like a member of the Amish, shunning dial-up, let alone broadband. Another proudly keeps her new DVD player, digibox and digicam in a heap, forming a strange triad of gizmos that she regards with contempt and cannot operate - indeed she even has trouble keeping the radio tuned to her favourite reactionary radio station.
I blame the 1960s - I think 'The Summer Of Love' left its mark on my kin, persuading them that all you need is love, not electronic sophistication. Nevertheless, although my relatives are clearly insane, many people share their insecurities. Playing on this mistrust of machines, a new book offers tips on how to defend yourself against a future cybernetic revolt.
In How to Survive a Robot Uprising, Daniel H. Wilson - a PhD candidate at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania - advises us to use common sense: 'Not every robot is hostile, some are just plain dangerous. Avoid cavorting between swinging robot arms in an automated factory.'
In fact, he suggests, you should even avoid emanating warmth. 'You can change your human characteristic heat signature by smearing cool mud and leaves over yourself. Crouch into a small position and sit still; the motion of small bits of warm skin will mark you as human.'
Even better, disappear completely, he says. He sets up the paranoid fantasy of robots storming the lawn wonderfully and seems justified in his sarcasm.
