Robot Or Not?

Shoes, socks, sandals, boots. Footwear is complicated.

What makes a university? Is it the buildings, or the people, or the big hole you throw money into?

Listener Rob and Listener Reiner, who are not Director Rob Reiner, want to know if they are Friends of the Show.

Are we too late to say it?

Some deeper questions about whether certain Roomba behavior makes it more or less of a robot.

Blaine is a pain, and that is the truth.

For the very first time, we do some housekeeping about holes, Russian robots, salad, genocide, Voltron, and available sales leads.

Is garlic a vegetable, an herb, a spice, or what?

Spooky!

If you’re a werewolf, are you a werewolf all the time?

It’s a house, but it floats.

Sometimes, everyone on the Internet wants John’s opinion.

When robots flock together naturally, will humans give them a name? Or will we be too busy dying?

Many robots, one robot, or no robots?

Topology can be tricky.

It’s a big thing in the middle of nowhere. Does it need to be a rock to be a monolith?

When is something electronic, and when is it electric?

Is that just a really short acting part, or is it only a cameo?

We salute all Moms, no matter their classification. John Siracusa and Jason Snell.

Listener/Professor Lisa can handle conceptual analysis on her own, but she does wonder why campus delivery robots make her so angry. (It wasn’t just because they’re Russian.) John Siracusa and Jason Snell.