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"SF looks towards an imaginary future, while fantasy, by and large, looks towards an imaginary past."
- Frederik Pohl
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| Verhaeren Factor | ||
| Provides autonomous robots with the capacity for independent creative action. |
What provisions could a roboticist make to ensure creativity in an autonomous robot?
| "I'll bet I know why android cooks were never too successful. Nobody ever included the Verhaeren factor in their brains."
The Verhaeren factor, if you've studied this stuff at all, is what makes robots capable of independent creative action. For instance, in the robots that turn out popular fiction - in a very small proportion, of course. "Yes, that's the trouble. They never realized that a cook is an artist as well as a servant Well, we'll give him in his brain what he needs for creation and in his body the tools he needs to carry it out..." |
| Technovelgy from Robinc,
by Anthony Boucher. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1943 Additional resources -
|
See also the entry for light-sculpture for one idea from Isaac Asimov. Also, can this robotic painter create masterpieces like his namesake?
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Robinc
More Ideas
and Technology by Anthony Boucher
Tech news articles related to Robinc
Tech news articles related to works by Anthony Boucher
Verhaeren Factor-related
news articles:
- Robot Painter 'Action Jackson' Mimics Jackson Pollock
- Midjourney AI Creates 'Théâtre D'opéra Spatial', Wins Art Fair First Prize
| Drones In Vast Airborne Grids |
| Robot Hand Separate From Robot |
| Is Optimus Autonomous Or Teleoperated? |
| Robot Masseuse Rubs People The Right Way |
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'...they moved with the ease of dandelion puffs.'
'...some bored drone pusher in a remote driving centre...'
'These pods were programmed to hang in space in a hexagonal grid pattern...'
'...the meteor caught and halted just as a small boy catches a swift ball in his cap.'
'We have decided that it shall be but one ship... it must contain everything needed to take us through the generations.'
'You’re the robopsychologist of the plant, so you’re to study the robot itself...'
