Brain-Computer Interfacing in Fiction: The Matrix, Neuromancer, Ghost in the Shell, Until the End of the World, Joe 90, Brain Implant

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 30. Chapters: The Matrix, Neuromancer, Ghost in the Shell, Until the End of the World, Joe 90, Brain implant, Strange Days, EXistenZ, Brainstorm, Orgasmatron, Forever Peace, Call Me Joe, They're Made Out of Meat, Black Hole. Excerpt: Joe 90 is a late-1960s British science-fiction television series concerning the adventures and exploits of nine-year-old Joe McClaine, who starts a double life as a schoolboy turned spy when his scientist father invents a pioneering machine capable of duplicating and then transferring expert knowledge and experience to another human brain. Equipped with the skills of the foremost academic and military minds, Joe enlists in the World Intelligence Network (WIN), becoming its "Most Special Agent," pursuing the ideal of world peace and saving human life. Created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed at Century 21 Productions, one 30-episode series followed the earlier Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. First screened in the UK between September 1968 and April 1969 on the ATV network, Joe 90 is the sixth and last of the Anderson productions to have been made exclusively using the form of marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation." The final puppet series, The Secret Service, also used this process, but in combination with extensive live-action footage. As in the case of its predecessor, Captain Scarlet, the puppets of Joe 90 are of a more naturally-proportioned design as opposed to the more caricatured appearance of the characters from Thunderbirds. Although not as successful as Century 21's previous puppet efforts, since its inception, Joe 90 has been praised, besides other aspects, for the characterisation of its smaller Supermarionation cast and the accomplishment of its model sets and special effects. Commentators read into Joe 90's spy-fi theme and the selection of a child as th...