For generations, our culture has been fascinated with robots. Perhaps it is because of the ability to project our own ideals onto that of a man-made creature that takes on a life of its own. Or maybe it is because we can make up for our own insecurities in life by creating a more “perfect” albeit “artificially intelligent” being.

The Jetsons/Hannah Barbera

Hal 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey/Metro Goldwyn Mayer

Tron/Walt Disney

Robocop/Orion Pictures

AI/Dreamworks SKG

IronMan/Marvel Entertainment

Wall-E/Walt Disney/Pixar

Lovable and benevolent helpers such as Rosie from The Jetsons, evil doers such as Hal 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, the mainframe computer from Tron, benevolent crime fighters such as Robocop and Ironman and the super cute child-like AI and Wall-E are just a very few of the many robots ingrained in our sci-fi and cultural histories. There is no denying that these machines have an impact on our shared visual landscape as archetypes that we all have ingrained in our minds.

The latest TED talk release includes an understated but amazing demo by Blaise Aguera y Arcas of some new technologies that are sure to have an impact on the way we use and view digital images, photo-sharing, and the web in general.  It’s only 7 minutes and you should definitely see it.

The intro movie is nice, but you can also just skip it because the website beyond that is the really cool part.  Amazingly smooth, subtle, beautiful animation.  Highly dense and complex, without being annoying or getting in the way of navigation, which is easily intuitive and best of all - fun.  It’s interesting how poetic and illustrative it is as animation, yet consists almost entirely of seamlessly integrated photography.  Takes Flash-based websites to a new height.