Technology hipster Frangino Lucarini points to Ken Ishii vs FLR: Space Invaders 2003.

Imagine Tolstoy's War and Peace told in music video form, but about a space invader family instead.

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Ever wondered where today's dens of hardcore drug taking and polymorphous transgender practices are?

"A survey of male and female gym attendees found not only growing rates of steroid abuse but also greater misuse of prescription drugs [including] the breast cancer treatment tamoxifen and the diabetes medication insulin... Professor Bruce Davis, discovered that male bodybuilders were using the breast cancer drug to counteract the adverse side effects of steroids. "When men take testosterone in large doses, it changes into oestrogen and they can develop a condition known as gynaecomastia, which causes them to grow breasts. Some even produce milk," he said. "Taking tamoxifen prevent this by repressing the body's production of oestrogen."

Fascinating how too much testosterone becomes oestrogen. Very Tao somehow.

When an image reads like the sweetest of sour short stories.

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"We're going to see it not only in schools, but in businesses, especially where mental endurance matters." Restak can easily imagine a boss saying, " 'You've been here 14 hours; could you do another six?' It's a very competitive world out there, and this gives people an edge."

"It is about a capitalistic fight for the neurocompetitive advantage: The country with the most drug-enhanced citizens wins."

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"For a society surviving to no purpose is one that makes no provision for purposeless behavior - that is, for actions not directly aimed at survival, which fulfill themselves in being done in the present and do not necessarily imply some future reward. But indirectly and unintentionally, such behaviour is useful for survival because it gives a point to surviving - not, however, when pursued for that reason."

(Alan Watts, The Book On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, 1966)

If you're in the Milan area over the next couple of days, you might want to check out the thesis show of the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea (IDII). The 17 projects featured provide much mental stimulation and hands-on enjoyment in their exploration of novel applications and new models of interaction. From innovative investigations into the development of issue-based voting interfaces to whimsically romantic coincidence-creating media tools, via the application of reputation as currency, the work on show provides lovely-edge examples of inventive uses of technology.

Disclaimer: I was honoured to interact with IDII as visiting faculty a couple of times this last academic year.

The show "Limited edition 17/17" is running at the Galvanotecnica Bugatti up to June 10 (12-20:00).