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"The best fuzzy rules, the best knowledge, deal with the turning points of the system. If a race-car driver teaches you how to drive, you don't need him to show you how to drive on the straightaway. It's how he handles the curves that matters."
- Bart Kosko
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| Automated Travel Bureau | ||
| A computer program that allows individuals to book their travel arrangements themselves, with a credit card. |
Pretty good prediction of services like Travelocity and Expedia.
| The lobby of the Hilton was pleasanty cool. Best of all, it held a fully automated travel bureau. I went in, found an empty booth, sat down in front of the terminal. |
| Technovelgy from Friday,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by Holt, Rhinehart and Winston in 1982 Additional resources -
|
Friday (the novel's protagonist) then makes a number of reservations, paid with credit cards.
For those of us who remember travel booking prior to the Internet, there were these people called "travel agents." They sat in front of a screen and listened to your requests; they did the typing for you, and ran your credit cards too.
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'He came to as the ship went into free flight, arching in a high parabola over the plains...'
'The peculiar quality of this light, which gave it its great preeminence over all other penetrating rays...'
'The overworked leg motor would have to cool down before he could work on it...'
‘Where to, sport?’ the starter at cab relay asked.
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'I guess there's nobody round this table who doesn't have a Crosswell [tapeworm] working for him in the small intestine.'
