Philadelphia . . . the City of Brotherly love. Birthplace of the Declaration of Independence. Cradle of hoping beyond hope that the Eagles will someday bring home a Lombardi trophy.
The city that booed and then threw snowballs at Santa Claus at an Eagles game.
Now the city that killed Hitchbot.
Hitchbot is an experiment from a series of researchers in Ontario to see how far a robot that sends regular tweets can get on the kindness of strangers. His maiden voyage was last year from one coast of Canada to the other in twenty six days.
Think about that - it went coast to coast in Canada from the help of those who picked up Hitchbot and gave it a ride. It actually returned to its makers unscathed.
Only 300 miles into its US voyage it was savagely attacked by a moron this morning at 5am outside of Philly.
Why?
What possible purpose is there in abusing someone's science experiment? Those researchers were looking to study the behavior of strangers. They were looking for the social dynamics involved with how people interact with technology.
I was embarrassed by my favorite city.
In shock about what the city 10 minutes from my birthplace did to Hitchbot.
But then I looked at the photo of the offender and it all made sense. The guy was wearing a Patriots Jersey. Number 12. There is only one thing lower than a guy who dismembers people's science experiments - and that is a Patriots fan.
Phew. Was feeling bad for my city when it was really a bonehead from New England.
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