How is this guy painting my dreams? : Pharyngula

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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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How is this guy painting my dreams?

Category: Cephalopods • Weirdness
Posted on: April 3, 2009 11:28 AM, by PZ Myers

I mean, really, giant steam-powered robotic octopods rising from the deep to take over the world? How many people fantasize about that?

Although, if it were me, I wouldn't be focusing so much on the wicked biped with the gun trying to frustrate the steam-o-pod.

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Comments

Posted by: Glen Davidson | April 3, 2009 11:35 AM

There, how does evolution explain that?

Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/6mb592

Posted by: Janine, Insulting Sinner | April 3, 2009 11:36 AM

I, for one, am grateful I have no such dreams.

Posted by: www.10ch.org | April 3, 2009 11:38 AM

It is irreducibly complex; therefore, it must be intelligently designed.

Posted by: Cuttlefish, OM | April 3, 2009 11:41 AM

You mean... it was only a dream?

Posted by: Jo | April 3, 2009 11:41 AM

Hey! A poll on the Iowa Supreme Court decision:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090403/NEWS/90403010

It's at the end of the article...

Yes (agree to decision to allow same-sex couples to marry) is ahead, but only a little...

Posted by: The New Atheist | April 3, 2009 11:44 AM

Arrrrr, that Sea-Beast be the scourge of evolution. Eyes that big must have been fabricated!

www.thenewatheist.com

Posted by: Greg F. | April 3, 2009 11:57 AM

So PZ sleeps and dreams about steampunk anime?

Posted by: MADRONE | April 3, 2009 12:09 PM

Name of the ship..."DONTPANIC". Uh, OK.

Posted by: Alex | April 3, 2009 12:23 PM

Your dream?! Really?

You are Cthulhu! (in primate form)

#10

Posted by: Facehammer | April 3, 2009 12:27 PM

Somewhere, Captain Nemo goes green with envy and pilots his ship into a whirlpool.

#11

Posted by: Norman Doering | April 3, 2009 12:35 PM

Janine, Insulting Sinner wrote:

I, for one, am grateful I have no such dreams.

I liked mine. Some nightmares can be very profitable:
http://hubpages.com/hub/A-Blog-from-Hell

#12

Posted by: Qwerty | April 3, 2009 1:11 PM

The name of the steamship that the giant robotic octopod is attacking is the Dontpanic which means it was owned by the White Star Line as their ships ending in ic (Olympic, Oceanic, Britannic, and the most famous White Star liner Titanic.

Enough trivia...

#13

Posted by: Brownian | April 3, 2009 1:18 PM

Although, if it were me, I wouldn't be focusing so much on the wicked biped with the gun trying to frustrate the steam-o-pod.

Is that Kevin Costner? Investors, run for your lives!

#14

Posted by: Janine, Insulting Sinner | April 3, 2009 1:29 PM

Norman, I was being a smart ass more than anything else. I came up with a much better line long after that. Do PZiods dream of steam octopus?

Thanks for the link.

#15

Posted by: Jonathan | April 3, 2009 1:45 PM

This is all kinds of cool. I'd be all for something like this happening. It'd be a much more interesting world.

#16

Posted by: misc | April 3, 2009 2:04 PM

Psychoanalysts like Fromm claimed the deification of technology to be a prominent sign of necrophilia - and wouldn't you know it, Fromm also presented Hitler as the corresponding paragon. Guess that opens up a whole new and exciting line of accusations, PZ.. ;)

#17

Posted by: Jim A | April 3, 2009 2:08 PM

Hrmpf. It looks like the deck gun has an Anti-Aircraft sight but won't elevate more than 30 degrees.

#18

Posted by: mikespeir | April 3, 2009 2:38 PM

What I want to know is, if the tentacles are articulated, why are some of the segments bent?

#19

Posted by: Praetorianstalker | April 3, 2009 4:29 PM

I for one am glad that I share PZ's dream. Right now he and I are wrestling over the giant octobot's control panel (No, I want to drive, dammit!!!).

#20

Posted by: blf | April 3, 2009 4:58 PM

So if robots dream of electric sheep, and Pee Zeds dream of steam octopuses/octopi/octopodes†, what do magical crackers dream of…?

† This description approved by the Commission for Equal Opportunity Pluralism (CEOP).

#21

Posted by: BobbyEarle | April 3, 2009 5:12 PM

Just don't let the engineers at John Deere see this. Well,
maybe that could be a good thing: soon everybody can get
themselves their own smoke belching, coal powered anti-steampod weapon system (with built-in lawnmower).

Be the first on your block!

#22

Posted by: Mark | April 3, 2009 7:25 PM

trivia..

Although the ship is named in the White Star line series..I can't help but think the ship is modelled on the SS Great Eastern..the midship paddle wheels weren't featured on the White Star ships that I know of..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Great_Eastern

The story of the Great Eastern is fascinating..

#23

Posted by: Mark | April 3, 2009 7:28 PM

trivia..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Great_Eastern

The story of the Great Eastern is fascinating..

#24

Posted by: tresmal | April 4, 2009 4:10 PM

Your dream? I thought it was the goal of your research.

#25

Posted by: Peter B. | April 4, 2009 6:23 PM

PZ is not alone...

Terrors from the deep modelled on Cephalopoda have long been in the dreams of seafarers - take the Kraken for instance, and that old (1955) sci-fi flick with the great Ray Harryhausen monster It Came from Beneath the Sea. The steam driven leviathan in this picture also strikes me as an interesting fusion with HG Well's Martian war machines and the Nautilus.

BTW - The "wicked biped" with the huge and distinctly phallic cannon is an obvious symbolic metaphor for the artist's deep sense of inadequacy about his own genital endowment and sexual prowess.

#26

Posted by: Mike | April 5, 2009 4:29 AM

"Steam octopus"? It's a cookbook!

#27

Posted by: Rev. Barky | April 6, 2009 11:42 PM

I seeing steam punk stuff everywhere now. cool.