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"In my mind I have gone all over the universe, which may make it less important for me to make piddling little trips... I did enjoy seeing Stonehenge. It looked exactly the way I thought it would look."
- Isaac Asimov
 |
| GPP Genuine People Personalities | ||
| Giving mechanisms their own unique affect. |
| “Listen,” said Ford, who was still engrossed in the sales brochure, “they make a big thing of the ship's cybernetics. A new generation of Sirius Cybernetics Corporation robots and computers, with the new GPP feature.”
“GPP feature?” said Arthur. “What's that?” “Oh, it says Genuine People Personalities.” “Oh,” said Arthur, “sounds ghastly.” A voice behind them said, “It is.” The voice was low and hopeless and accompanied by a slight clanking sound. They span round and saw an abject steel man standing hunched in the doorway... “Ghastly,” continued Marvin, “it all is. Absolutely ghastly. Just don't even talk about it. Look at this door,” he said, stepping through it. The irony circuits cut into his voice modulator as he mimicked the style of the sales brochure. “All the doors in this spaceship have a cheerful and sunny disposition. It is their pleasure to open for you, and their satisfaction to close again with the knowledge of a job well done.” As the door closed behind them it became apparent that it did indeed have a satisfied sigh-like quality to it. “Hummmmmmmyummmmmmm ah!” it said... "Thank you the marketing division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation," said Marvin, and trudged desolately up the gleaming curved corridor that stretched out before them. "Let's build robots with Genuine People Personalities," they said. So they tried it out with me. I'm a personality prototype. You can tell, can't you?" Ford and Arthur muttered embarrassed little disclaimers... |
| Technovelgy from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,
by Douglas Adams. Published by Harmony Books in 1979 Additional resources -
|
Here's another version of this idea from Robots Don't Bleed (1950) by JW Grove:
She likes us to plug her work whenever we get the chance. And we don’t mind. We think we’re good, too.”
I was breathing heavily by now. For one thing I don’t like to be laughed at. Not even by talking rabbits. And for another my curiosity had grown almost ravenous. “All right,” I grunted. “If you are not an intelligent form of life from another world, what the blazes are you ?”
“Robots, of course,” chuckled the one called Clarence.
“H.B. robots,” added Claude. “Unlike the mass-produced article, we have distinct and amusing personalities of our own. At least, that’s what she tells the customers.”
I stopped being annoyed and started chuckling. “She does ?” I said. “Well I must say I think she’s right, whoever ‘she’ is.”
I genuinely meant it too. Getting the things to look like real rabbits was nothing, of course. Ordinary three-di, tactile-true photography could take care of that any day. But giving them personalities was something else again.
Compare to the porter televox robot from On Board the Martian Liner by Miles J. Breuer, basic robot personality from Simultaneous Worlds (1938) by Nat Schachner and the robot cab driver from A Present for Pat (1952) by Philip K. Dick.
...the two rabbits hopped up on to my table.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
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and Technology by Douglas Adams
Tech news articles related to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Tech news articles related to works by Douglas Adams
GPP Genuine People Personalities-related
news articles:
- Rity Software Agent Has 'Genomic' Personality
- Robot Vacuums Need Personalities!
- Google Patents Douglas Adam's Genuine People Personalities For Robots
- Honda To Offer Car With Emotions
- Disney Vyloo Robots With Personality
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