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"the [science fiction] writer should be able to convince the reader (and himself) that the wonders he is describing really can come true...and that gets tricky when you take a good, hard look at the world around you."
- Frederik Pohl
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| Robot Music | ||
| Music created and performed entirely by robots. |
As far as I know, the earliest use of this phrase in science fiction.
| Festival of the robots. The rocky amphitheatre was lighted now — a great red glare of swaying light from a funnel to one side. And the weird pseudo-factory again was in operation. From this angle the interior of one of its huge sheds was visible. Motley conglomeration of machinery! There was a great clanking upright engine of treadles, winches and a swaying crane. Eccentric cams clattered on another giant metal contrivance, powered by the engine with an intricate system of gears and belts between them. Monstrous fly heels whirled. Pulleys and chains hoisted and dropped huge weights with rhythmic banging thuds. A cacophony of stentorious metal sounds. Raucous shrieks of electronic sirens reverberated out into the rocky darkness. A pandemonium clangor, clanking, jangling — robot music, all in full blast now for this festival of the machines. |
| Technovelgy from The Robot God,
by Ray Cummings. Published by Weird Tales in 1941 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the mechanical tune-maker (1954) from The Last of the Masters by Philip K. Dick.
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Robot God
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and Technology by Ray Cummings
Tech news articles related to The Robot God
Tech news articles related to works by Ray Cummings
| Robots Repair And Modify Themselves |
| Robot Janitors Get To Work |
| Robots Learn To Install Charged Batteries Into Themselves |
| Robot Rabbits Entice Pythons |
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Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
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'...small electric motors at the principal joints worked the prosthetic framework by means of steel cables...'
'Living protoplasm incorporated into the Ampek F-a2 recording system...'
'Twoflower's Luggage, which was currently ambling along on its little legs...'
'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.
