Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"I don't know why I write science fiction. The voices in my head told me to!"
- Charles Stross
 |
| Chemical Brain | ||
| A purely chemical artificial intelligence. |
In the story, the author specifically calls out R.U.R. as an inspiration.
| The
problem engrossing the captain and
me is this: Can we build a mechanical, a chemical brain delicate
enough to respond to thought as it
now does to sound or other stimuli?
Can we give such a command as this
to our chemical and mechanical
brain: ‘Keep the motor running;
every four hours feed it gas and
oil’? Can we do more than that?
Can we set our machine certain tasks
to do, fixing those tasks in its ‘mind,’
and then going away and forgetting
it? Don’t you see what that would
mean? It would mean the creation
of a genuine Robot, an independent
metal creature that would work
without supervision, eat its daily ration of fuel, and never get sick or
go on strike.”
The machine grew under our hands until it was six feet tall. It stood, as I have said before, on rollers, the rollers being encased in caterpillar belts. At the base it was about four feet around, tapering to twelve inches at the top. It was built, not in one piece but in segments, jointed ball-and-socket fashion, with various springs and rubber cushions separating the different parts. To describe it further is beyond me; only it had two armlike pistons, one on each side, possessed a central electric dynamo, and was wired so profusely as to make the interior seem a tangled mass of cord. Came the day when the brain of this monstrous mechanism was put in place. The part that fitted into what I must call the neck was made of aluminum, all except the cover, which was transparent glass and screwed into place. A small cylinder, which emitted an intense bluish light when brought into contact with electricity, was inside the aluminum howl. The captain connected the necessary wires. His face was very red. I watched breathlessly as Parsons filled the hollow globe with a glutinous mixture of opaque liquid. My hands unconsciously gripped each other until they hurt while I waited for something to happen, but nothing did. He screwed the glass cap into place and stepped down and back from the machine. |
| Technovelgy from The Chemical Brain,
by Francis Flagg. Published by Weird Tales in 1929 Additional resources -
|
Alas, the tale does not end well for its creators:
The sight sickened me. My bowels
turned to water. The awful monstrosity was bent over like a bow,
screaming as if in rage, and the
pulsing matter under the glass cap
on the top of its head sent out its
reddish-blue tinge and glared at me
like an evil eye.
Insane with terror I showered
blow after blow on it with my Stilson wrench. The glass cap broke;
the glutinous mass rolled out and
pulsed on the floor like a living thing
in its death throes. Even as it
fell the whole body of the machine straightened up convulsively.
Through all its sinuous wires and
lengths ran a sighing sob. Then
with a terrible crash it fell over on
the already horribly mutilated body
of its victim and was still.
Parsons had evidently turned on
the lights as he entered, for the room
was well lighted. At the sight of
what I saw strength nearly left me.
I stood as if petrified. There before
me—believe it or not, as you like—
was lying the crushed and bleeding
body of Walter Parsons, his features
fixed in a set grimace of stark horror
and agony, while crouching over him
like some fearsome prehistoric monster was the metal man he had
helped to.make, the hideous Robot,
driving its short, armlike pistons
into his still quivering flesh.
('The Chemical Brain' by Francis Flagg)
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Chemical Brain
More Ideas
and Technology by Francis Flagg
Tech news articles related to The Chemical Brain
Tech news articles related to works by Francis Flagg
| Is Agentic AI The Wrong Kind Of Smartness? |
| Jetson Orin Nano Super 70 Just $249 |
| Automatic Bot Traffic Is 38 Percent Of HTTP Requests |
| Neuroplatform Human Brain Organoid Bioprocessor Uses Less Electricity |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface... and the amount of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.'
'I guess there's nobody round this table who doesn't have a Crosswell [tapeworm] working for him in the small intestine.'
'Figments of his mind in one sense, of course, for he had shaped them...'
'So the parent drone carries a spotter that it launches...'
'...nurse drones that would cruise around dumping large amounts of power into randomly selected pods.'
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'
'...for months Grantline bores had dug into the cliff.'
'I hope all those other cars are on automatic,' he said anxiously.
'It’s smart enough to go wrong in very complicated ways, but not smart enough to help us find out what’s wrong.'
