Joe Posner sez, “A month ago Marketplace told me they’re doing a weeklong special called “Robots Ate My Job” this week and asked if I could make videos to go with it. Where to start? “Even though we don’t see them with anthropomorphic features and two arms and legs walking down the streets, there are robots all around you,” say Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAffee, authors of “Race Against the Machine.” Here is one of the two short films we made for them, about the hard work, now robotic, that invisibly surrounds us. It’s called “Robota” rather than “Robots” for a particular reason … (hint) — Enjoy!”
Here’s the other video.
Joe and Ian McAlpin had a harrowing time shooting the footage of the toll-booths here, with authorities first demanding a $15,000 fee and then saying they wouldn’t permit filming at all (“security,” natch, as if protracted toll-booth waits don’t give attackers ample opportunity to study the high-stakes target that is a tollbooth; and as if a bad guy would have a hard time sneaking a video camera onto a car). He eventually just shot it on the d/l.