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"Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not."
- Isaac Asimov
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| Voice-Clock | ||
| A clock that could state the time out loud. |
I included this item because I thought that it might be an early use of this idea.
| In the living room the voice-clock, Tick-tock, seven o'clock, time to get up, time get up, seven o'clock! as if it were afraid that nobody would.
Somewhere in the walls, relays clicked, memory tapes glided under electric eyes. Eight-one, tick-tock, eight-one o'clock, off to school, off to work, run, run, eight-one! |
| Technovelgy from The Martian Chronicles,
by Ray Bradbury. Published by Various in 1950 Additional resources -
|
This item comes from the story There Will Come Soft Rains, published in 1950.
I was surprised to find that the talking clock was one of the earliest proposed uses of the Edison 'talking machine', also known as the phonograph. Thomas Edison signed a contract with the Ansonia Clock Company on January 7, 1878 to develop a talking clock using the phonograph.
It turns out that one of the original lead cylinders survives from 1878, and is probably the world's oldest playable recording. Read a bit more at early talking machines.
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Martian Chronicles
More Ideas
and Technology by Ray Bradbury
Tech news articles related to The Martian Chronicles
Tech news articles related to works by Ray Bradbury
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Science Fiction
Timeline
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'There was a wall ahead... It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
'...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...'
