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
 |
Re Google: William Gibson, Read More SF
In today's New York Times, William Gibson says that "Science fiction never imagined Google," and continues:
Gibson gets even more specific, and quotes an earlier interview with Google's CEO Eric Schmidt:
As it turns out, science fiction writer Frederik Pohl has imagined this future rather precisely in his 1965 novel Age of the Pussyfoot. In the story, every person is provided with a Joymaker, which is a kind of voice-enabled smartphone. Starting in childhood, the Joymaker mediates all of a person's social and life activities, learning everything there is to know about that user's individual tastes.
The capacity to make these determinations lies in the backbone network that serves the Joymakers:
"I don't think so."
"Oh, do! Then it will tell you what programs are on, what parties you will be welcomed at, who you would wish to know. It's terrible to go on impulse, Charles," she said earnestly. "Let the joymaker help you."
..."I don't understand," he said. "You mean I should let the joymaker decide what I'm going to do for fun?"
"Of course. There's so much. How could you know what you would like?"
The Joymaker does precisely what Eric Schmidt envisions that Google will someday be able to do.
Read more sf, Mr. Gibson. Especially the old stuff.
Find out more about how reality has aligned itself with Pohl's Joymaker ideas:
See Mr. Gibson's op ed piece at Google's Earth, and the Eric Schmidt interview. Gibson fans will rejoice in the eighty sf ideas and inventions of William Gibson and the sixty William Gibson SF in the News stories right here at Technovelgy.com.
"We have yet to take Google’s measure. We’ve seen nothing like it before, and we already perceive much of our world through it. We would all very much like to be sagely and reliably advised by our own private genie; we would like the genie to make the world more transparent, more easily navigable."
"I actually think most people don't want Google to answer their questions," he [Schmidt] elaborates. "They want Google to tell them what they should be doing next."
"...Have you filled out an interests profile?"
- Cellular Phone Robot And iPhone - Joymaker Wannabes
- GOOG-411 Google's Free Talking Phone Search
- Wellness Mobile Phone Personal Trainer In A Cellphone
- DoCoMo S0703i Smellular Phone Makes Scents
- Ribbit Amphibian Cellphone Internet Mashup
- iPhones For Freshmen At ACU
- What Apple Could Learn From SF: iPhone As Mediator
- SIRI Virtual Assistant Like Pohl's Joymaker
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 8/31/2010)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 6 )
Related News Stories - (" Artificial Intelligence ")
AI Welfare Position At Anthropic Filled By Human
'You’re the robopsychologist of the plant, so you’re to study the robot itself...' - Isaac Asimov, 1941.
Are The Thought Police Listening To Everyone All The Time?
'... they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to.' - George Orwell, 1948.
Nevada Will Use AI To Decide Worker Benefits
'They had screwed up and been blacklisted by Manna.' - Marshall Brain, 2002.
AI Note-Taking From Google Meet
'... the new typewriter that could be talked to, and which transposed the spoken sound into typed words.' - Dr. David H. Keller, 1934.
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 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
Current News
Miss Alabama Beauty Contest Offers Different Standards
'...they moved with the ease of dandelion puffs.'
Has Musk Given Up On Full Self Driving (FSD)?
'...some bored drone pusher in a remote driving centre...'
Prufrock-3 'The Monster' Ready To Launch
Just go for it.
Drones In Vast Airborne Grids
'These pods were programmed to hang in space in a hexagonal grid pattern...'
Starship Special Edition For Lunar Shuttle
Love those special edition spaceships.
Capturing Asteroids With Nets
'...the meteor caught and halted just as a small boy catches a swift ball in his cap.'
Project Hyperion - Generation Ship Designers Needed!
'We have decided that it shall be but one ship... it must contain everything needed to take us through the generations.'
AI Welfare Position At Anthropic Filled By Human
'You’re the robopsychologist of the plant, so you’re to study the robot itself...'
Marslink Proposed By SpaceX
'It was the heart of the Solar System's communication line...'
Simple Way To Defeat AI Face Recognition
'... designed to foil facial recognition systems.'
Wood-Panelled LignoSat Launched
'The Consul remembered his first glimpse of the kilometer-long treeship...'
Laser-Beam Welding In Orbital Factories
'His contract with Space Industries required him to work summers in their orbital factory.'
'Iceberg House' Of Travis Kelce Reflects Science Fiction Of Past Century
'The basement was huge... carved deep into the rock that folded up to underlie the ridge...'
Mechazilla Arms Catch A Falling Starship, But Check Out SF Landing-ARMS
'...the rocket’s landing-arms automatically unfolded.'
A System To Defeat AI Face Recognition
'...points and patches of light... sliding all over their faces in a programmed manner that had been designed to foil facial recognition systems.'
Robot Hand Separate From Robot
'The crawling, exploring object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...'
