The expanding Kinectosphere

Kinect hacks are emerging at a rapid pace; it’s hard to recall a mass-market gadget so quickly adapted to new uses. As Bruce Sterling points out, “Microsoft accidentally invented a primo piece of art-installation hardware.” None of these hacks look remotely like anything happening in the McMansion rec-room that was the setting for the Kinect preview video.

Digital Sky CEO Yuri Milner told John Batelle yesterday that he expects artificial intelligence to emerge on Facebook in the next ten years. I shudder at the prospect�but I also wonder if the quasi-autonomy of hackery like we’re seeing with the Kinect might furnish us with a sort of immune system to protect us from metastatic singularities.

[Kinect hack video via Beyond the Beyond]