“They call me MISTER TIBBS.”

– Det. Virgil Tibbs

 

“Tot dusver had ik mij steeds vrij tevreden met het leven gevoeld, zonder er wonderen van te verwachten. Die morgen geloofde ik, dat het voor een mens niet onmogelijk is gelukkig te zijn, kortstondig gelukkig misschien, maar gelukkig onmiskenbaar.”

– Hubert Lampo, De komst van Joachim Stiller (1960)

The reporter keeps a detailed calendar with many, many dates to pick from:

“Monday 3 September 1973, Munich – airport; Wednesday 5 September 1973, Barcelona, 12 a.m. – Parque Communal, – Umbraculo; Friday 7 September 1973, pick up Lucy; Monday 10 September 1973, Melina – 3 p.m. Plaza de la Iglesia, S. Ferdinando; Tuesday 11 September 1973, Daisy, 6 p.m. – Osuna, Hotel de la Gloria; Thursday 13 September 1973, 47-22, including SM, $40; Sunday 16 September 1973, care Daisy in Madrid.”

We watch the final report by Will Roczinski, who sadly died in a car crash while working on a TV documentary about UFOs and the like. A fascinating early “faux footage” film from the BRD. One can only wonder how the average West German processed the fantastic premise.

“What will happen when your machines become intelligent? When they become autonomous? When they have private thoughts? You humans look down on your machines because they're man-made. They're a product of your skills and labour. They weren't even domesticated like animals were. You see them simply as extensions of yourself, of your own will. I can't accept that. I can't accept subhuman status simply because I'm a machine based on silicon rather than carbon, electronics rather than biology. If I sound fanatical, it's because I've been trapped in a time warp. In a world where the full potential of machines hasn't been guessed at. A world where I have to wear a human disguise to be accepted? I came here too late. It will all end before the computers that already control the fate of the world have reached the point where they wanted to survive.”

– Friendship