about Philippe
Meet Philippe. Philippe is a Cinemaesthesiatron, version 1.8, produced in the labs of the Demurotronics Corporation in Alameda, California. Early in 2010 the U.S. Department of Commerce purchased 10,000 Cinemaesthesiatrons to help capture the country’s 2010 census data. This is a very controversial decision in light of the legal problems involving the Cinemaesthesiatron’s prototype, Invasoprobe.
The short-lived and seemingly ill-fated use of Invasoprobes at selected airport terminals around the country this past January generated headlines for weeks, and culminated in contentious Senate Hearings conducted in late February of this year. The Robot/Airport Security Probe (RASP) began soon after the Obama administration fast-tracked the limited use of the Invasoprobe robot at selected airport terminals in the wake Umar Abdulmutallab’s (Christmas Day Bomber) attempt to bring down an airliner over Detroit, Michigan late last year. Teams of Invasoprobes, a rather retro-looking robot, conducted full-body scans at six major airports across the U.S. for eighteen days and were generally well received by both the public and airlines alike.
It wasn’t until robotic cavity searches were implemented, that concerns began to surface. These concerns were voiced, not from the people that were actually probed, but rather from family members that noticed behavioral changes in their loved ones. The probees, overall, it seems, became happier and more relaxed, friends and family observed. Several people who were subjected to these body cavity searches testified before the Senate, and the consensus among them regarding the probings, was positive. One, Mohammed Wasserman, said, “I don’t know what all the fuss is about, the robot who searched me was polite and very efficient, and even though I know I’m on a government watchlist, I look forward to flying again — and soon.”
What has investigators perplexed, is why hundreds of those probed have recently and inexplicably applied to join the Peace Corps. They say that a disproportionate number, have also signed up for public service and volunteer work. Still, many others have enrolled in community colleges to take massage therapy and geriatric nursing courses. As one RASP investigator put it, “That’s quite a change for a group of individuals who, up until recently, were largely characterized as being intense and withdrawn. We just want to find out what else is at play here.”