 I've been doing this since 1978 and I'm 58 years old. I was always very interested in technology, even when there wasn't any. I was interested in telling a story in a powerful way. I had a theater background and I knew that the people that really got away with murder, literally, in the case of the military or in the case of corporations, I wanted to really borrow from their successes in that way. And so I decided to call it Survival Research Laboratories and found it as a company. Several times a year we would do these large and increasingly larger demonstrations with a bunch of equipment out in parking lots or sometimes gas stations, and a lot of times just completely unpermitted, and really things that were as out of control as they could possibly be. I think that it's important that there are professional people working to inject a sense of anarchy into our day-to-day lives. I think it's more important than it used to be. You guys had a fire? What's up? We had like a, there was a Trojan horse that caught on fire. It was a prop. It was just some junkie, it was a movie prop that somebody gave us. Okay, you had a permit to do this? Yeah, we had a permit from the city to close off both streets and do this art show here. That thing got caught on fire. It was the only thing that burned. It was just that one thing. Yeah, the permit to do the special effects of fire? We didn't. What happened was there was a jet engine that caught on fire. It wasn't a special effect. We don't use any pyrotechnics at all. Those are illegal. When I was in high school, that was when all that weather underground crazy stuff was going on. I mean, Bill Ayers was like my hero, you know, along with all those other crazy people. The FBI said the Weather Underground Organization, which took credit for the bombing, is the same radical group which was responsible for the bombing of the U.S. Capitol in 1971 and the Pentagon in 1972. Come on, we gotta fight it out. We gotta build a strong base and someday we gotta knock those motherfuckers who control this thing right on their ass. You know, I wanted to grow up and be like that. I wanted to be one of those people like burning down the banks and all that stuff. You know, they call them terrorists now. Back then they didn't call them that. But you know, I wanted to grow up and do that. I wanted to grow up and fight the power. And you know, I ended up growing up and doing this instead. I'm really banned from San Francisco. I pled guilty to misdemeanor arson with intent to injure the public, which is a terrorist charge that Ronald Reagan came up with after they burned down the Bank of America and Isla Vista. The facts on the ground are that technically it's legal and it's not that big of a deal, but somehow it just seems a lot of times these shows, people really get bent out of shape. You know, for instance, this huge burning prop got blown by a giant gust of wind that started in the middle of a show and it blew this burning debris into a crowd of people. One person got a very slight burn on their face, caused a little panic, but the police just, their first instinct was to seize all my machines and they didn't like, someone didn't like the Mr. Satan head that started the fire. So they fined me $6,666.66 or they weren't going to give me the machines back. They were going to keep them. We're doing something right in two senses because on the one hand, we still have a reputation of being really out of control and crazy, but on the other hand, we're doing it in a safe enough way that nobody can point to any injuries that have happened because of what we do. So, and I think that's a good balance. I got a hold of a whole descriptive manual on how to make test batches of rocket fuel from Morton Thiokol. And it was the real thing, like real space shuttle fuel, like the chemicals you need, how to test it, how to test the sensitivity. I was like, wow, this is cool. I just remember I went up in the air and I remember looking up and seeing the roof, which was about 13 feet up. And I remember it seemed really close. And then I landed on my back and then I looked at my hand and it was just bones. And then I just, blood went, I couldn't see because my face was covered with blood because I had rocket fuel tore my face up. The doctor said, you know, a guy like you, we can help you out. And so he hooked me up with this other hospital where they were doing microsurgery research on digits. And they, for free, they put two toes on my hand. And so that's how the gimpan came to be a reality. Close it. Okay. So this is the spine robot here. This is the most recent addition to the SRL family of machines and robots. Dr. Octopus or whatever his name was, his things didn't really work ever. But this is an actual functioning version of that. I'm here 16 hours a day. You know, I go home and hang out with my family for a few hours. I usually come back at night and work till midnight. I do that five times, four or five times a week. And so that's how I do it because I have to fund all this stuff too. I'm the guy that if you see me walk into your company, you know that it's the end. I buy tech companies when they're having a hard time and I sell all their assets. I also buy excess assets from all these big companies like Genentech and BAE Systems and Intel and all these companies. I'm known around here as the guy to go to. If you want to have someone look at your stuff, make you a cash offer on the spot. San Francisco is transitioning from a manufacturing kind of base to high tech. And so what happened was there was all these factories that were just abandoned with full machine shops and complete storerooms full of equipment. I went into one of them and I was like, this is amazing. They like walked out of here one day and left all the equipment in here. And I was like, holy shit. And I was like, wait a minute, these places are all over the city. From 78 to 1992, they were the last ones went away in 92. And so, you know, I would go out a couple times a week and just load up. Never got arrested. So I must not have been doing anything wrong. And that's where all this equipment came from. By hook or by crook. You're rummaging through the pockets of billionaires because they just need to get rid of their junk. And if you know how to play it right, you can. There's just endless streams of money in the Bay Area. You know, so being a parasite here is a good it's a good place to be. We got a bunch of stuff from Pixar, things from their projection rooms and stuff. And then last week, somebody bought one like that I paid 50 bucks for someone from Pixar. I was like, oh, someone bought it for 1300 bucks. It was this rack mount, PV rack mount audio thing. And I looked and it was like somebody in Emeryville from Pixar where they came from. And I was like, no, you're kidding me. We had a couple of times where the Defense Department called us. The people from the place that we sold it to us accidentally, they were panicking on the phone. We had to take pictures of a bunch of weird stuff that looked like it might have come from them. We had to bring those pictures there to look like we were cooperating. And then we had to bring some stuff back there and they destroyed it in front of the unnamed federal people. I'm 58 and I have no regrets. I said, is this, you know, should I really be doing this? And I thought about for a while, I was like, you know what, what else am I going to do? My ultimate fantasy about what people should take away from these shows is that when someone who's been to a show is on their deathbed, the images from an SRL show are some of the last things that are crossing the path of their mind before they expire. If you can get into people's minds so that you're one of the last things they think of before they die, then you've really done it. So that's always been my goal. But I can't prove that that's happened.
 I've been doing this since 1978 and I'm 58 years old.
 I was always very interested in technology, even when there wasn't any.
 I was interested in telling a story in a powerful way.
 I had a theater background and I knew that the people that really got away with murder,
 literally, in the case of the military or in the case of corporations,
 I wanted to really borrow from their successes in that way.
 And so I decided to call it Survival Research Laboratories and found it as a company.
 Several times a year we would do these large and increasingly larger demonstrations
 with a bunch of equipment out in parking lots or sometimes gas stations,
 and a lot of times just completely unpermitted,
 and really things that were as out of control as they could possibly be.
 I think that it's important that there are professional people working to inject a sense of anarchy into our day-to-day lives.
 I think it's more important than it used to be.
 You guys had a fire? What's up?
 We had like a, there was a Trojan horse that caught on fire. It was a prop.
 It was just some junkie, it was a movie prop that somebody gave us.
 Okay, you had a permit to do this?
 Yeah, we had a permit from the city to close off both streets and do this art show here.
 That thing got caught on fire. It was the only thing that burned. It was just that one thing.
 Yeah, the permit to do the special effects of fire?
 We didn't. What happened was there was a jet engine that caught on fire. It wasn't a special effect.
 We don't use any pyrotechnics at all. Those are illegal.
 When I was in high school, that was when all that weather underground crazy stuff was going on.
 I mean, Bill Ayers was like my hero, you know, along with all those other crazy people.
 The FBI said the Weather Underground Organization, which took credit for the bombing,
 is the same radical group which was responsible for the bombing of the U.S. Capitol in 1971 and the Pentagon in 1972.
 Come on, we gotta fight it out. We gotta build a strong base and someday we gotta knock those motherfuckers who control this thing right on their ass.
 You know, I wanted to grow up and be like that. I wanted to be one of those people like burning down the banks and all that stuff.
 You know, they call them terrorists now. Back then they didn't call them that.
 But you know, I wanted to grow up and do that. I wanted to grow up and fight the power.
 And you know, I ended up growing up and doing this instead.
 I'm really banned from San Francisco. I pled guilty to misdemeanor arson with intent to injure the public,
 which is a terrorist charge that Ronald Reagan came up with after they burned down the Bank of America and Isla Vista.
 The facts on the ground are that technically it's legal and it's not that big of a deal,
 but somehow it just seems a lot of times these shows, people really get bent out of shape.
 You know, for instance, this huge burning prop got blown by a giant gust of wind that started in the middle of a show
 and it blew this burning debris into a crowd of people.
 One person got a very slight burn on their face, caused a little panic,
 but the police just, their first instinct was to seize all my machines and they didn't like,
 someone didn't like the Mr. Satan head that started the fire.
 So they fined me $6,666.66 or they weren't going to give me the machines back. They were going to keep them.
 We're doing something right in two senses because on the one hand,
 we still have a reputation of being really out of control and crazy,
 but on the other hand, we're doing it in a safe enough way that nobody can point to any injuries that have happened because of what we do.
 So, and I think that's a good balance.
 I got a hold of a whole descriptive manual on how to make test batches of rocket fuel from Morton Thiokol.
 And it was the real thing, like real space shuttle fuel, like the chemicals you need, how to test it, how to test the sensitivity.
 I was like, wow, this is cool.
 I just remember I went up in the air and I remember looking up and seeing the roof, which was about 13 feet up.
 And I remember it seemed really close. And then I landed on my back and then I looked at my hand and it was just bones.
 And then I just, blood went, I couldn't see because my face was covered with blood because I had rocket fuel tore my face up.
 The doctor said, you know, a guy like you, we can help you out.
 And so he hooked me up with this other hospital where they were doing microsurgery research on digits.
 And they, for free, they put two toes on my hand.
 And so that's how the gimpan came to be a reality.
 Close it.
 Okay.
 So this is the spine robot here. This is the most recent addition to the SRL family of machines and robots.
 Dr. Octopus or whatever his name was, his things didn't really work ever.
 But this is an actual functioning version of that.
 I'm here 16 hours a day.
 You know, I go home and hang out with my family for a few hours.
 I usually come back at night and work till midnight.
 I do that five times, four or five times a week.
 And so that's how I do it because I have to fund all this stuff too.
 I'm the guy that if you see me walk into your company, you know that it's the end.
 I buy tech companies when they're having a hard time and I sell all their assets.
 I also buy excess assets from all these big companies like Genentech and BAE Systems and Intel and all these companies.
 I'm known around here as the guy to go to.
 If you want to have someone look at your stuff, make you a cash offer on the spot.
 San Francisco is transitioning from a manufacturing kind of base to high tech.
 And so what happened was there was all these factories that were just abandoned with full machine shops and complete storerooms full of equipment.
 I went into one of them and I was like, this is amazing.
 They like walked out of here one day and left all the equipment in here.
 And I was like, holy shit.
 And I was like, wait a minute, these places are all over the city.
 From 78 to 1992, they were the last ones went away in 92.
 And so, you know, I would go out a couple times a week and just load up.
 Never got arrested.
 So I must not have been doing anything wrong.
 And that's where all this equipment came from.
 By hook or by crook.
 You're rummaging through the pockets of billionaires because they just need to get rid of their junk.
 And if you know how to play it right, you can.
 There's just endless streams of money in the Bay Area.
 You know, so being a parasite here is a good it's a good place to be.
 We got a bunch of stuff from Pixar, things from their projection rooms and stuff.
 And then last week, somebody bought one like that I paid 50 bucks for someone from Pixar.
 I was like, oh, someone bought it for 1300 bucks.
 It was this rack mount, PV rack mount audio thing.
 And I looked and it was like somebody in Emeryville from Pixar where they came from.
 And I was like, no, you're kidding me.
 We had a couple of times where the Defense Department called us.
 The people from the place that we sold it to us accidentally, they were panicking on the phone.
 We had to take pictures of a bunch of weird stuff that looked like it might have come from them.
 We had to bring those pictures there to look like we were cooperating.
 And then we had to bring some stuff back there and they destroyed it in front of the unnamed federal people.
 I'm 58 and I have no regrets.
 I said, is this, you know, should I really be doing this?
 And I thought about for a while, I was like, you know what, what else am I going to do?
 My ultimate fantasy about what people should take away from these shows is that when someone who's been to a show is on their deathbed,
 the images from an SRL show are some of the last things that are crossing the path of their mind before they expire.
 If you can get into people's minds so that you're one of the last things they think of before they die, then you've really done it.
 So that's always been my goal.
 But I can't prove that that's happened.