January 2012

Headless Chicken Robot

What we are working on.

Whithervane – where are we going and why are we carrying this hand-basket?

A 21st Century weathervane – a (headless) chicken that is driven by the climate of fear (apocanoia) on the Internet.

“A weather vane is an instrument for showing the direction of the wind. They are typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. Although partly functional, weather vanes are generally decorative, often featuring the traditional cockerel design with letters indicating the points of the compass. The word ‘vane’ comes from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘fane’ meaning ‘flag’.” (Wikipedia).

“Henny Penny, also known as Chicken Licken or Chicken Little, is a fable in the form of a cumulative tale about a chicken who believes the world is coming to an end. The phrase The sky is falling! features prominently in the story, and has passed into the English language as a common idiom indicating a hysterical or mistaken belief that disaster is imminent.” (Wikipedia).

“An Apocalypse (Greek: Ἀποκάλυψις Apokálypsis; “lifting of the veil” or “revelation”) is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The term also can refer to the eschatological final battle, the Armageddon, and the idea of an end of the world.” (Wikipedia).

“Paranoia is a thought process heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and/or delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs concerning a perceived threat towards oneself. Historically, this characterization was used to describe any delusional state.” (Wikipedia).

Apocanoia – portmanteau word a blend of apocalyptic and paranoia – a disclosure of the thought process heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and/or delusion. Especially as experienced through contemporary media. Apocanoia explores self-fulfilling prophecies – predictions that directly or indirectly cause them to become true, by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behavior.

CAD model of Whithervane

CAD model of Whithervane