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"We're about 20 minutes away from the point where Clarke's law kicks in and technology becomes indistinguishable from magic."
- Peter Watts
 |
| Big Computer | ||
| Just like it says; this computer knows it all. |
The Big Computer plays an important role in the novel; I don't want to say more. What I really liked was the way it was characterized in the book; it would appear to you the way you want. If you had a BC, a computer that could pass the Turing test, how would you have it serve you?
| I said, "Listen up, motherfucker."
And the Big Computer answered, "What the hell do you want?" No toadying servomechanisms for me. When I accessed, I wanted to feel like I was talking to something at least as nasty as I was. Everybody I know likes to have the BC simper at them like a receptionist or baritone its words like a wide-screen Jehovah. Not me. The BC obliges by seeming to barely tolerate me. |
| Technovelgy from Millennium,
by John Varley. Published by Berkley Books in 1983 Additional resources -
|
Would your computer be servile, or just serviceful?
An interesting comparison can be made with the City Fathers, from Cities in Flight, published by James Blish in 1957.
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Tech news articles related to Millennium
Tech news articles related to works by John Varley
Big Computer-related
news articles:
- Will AIs Give Better Results If You're Rude To Them?
| Grok Scores Best In Psychological Tests |
| Google's Nano Banana Pro Presents Handwritten Math Solutions |
| Woman Marries Computer, Vonnegut's Dream Comes True |
| ChatGPT Now Participates in Group Chats |
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Science Fiction
Timeline
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'...support the interior human structure against Jupiter’s pull.'
'Anything larger than a BB shot it picked up and placed in a tray...'
'The German chemists have discovered how to supply the needed elements in compact, undiluted form...'
'Compounds devised by the biochemists for the rapid building of bone...'
'The car faltered as the external command came to brake...'
'It is about the size and shape of a kitchen stool, gyro-stabilized...'
'The greatest problem of all was the elimination of the human element of braking together with its inevitable time lag.'
