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"Every scientist worth his salt that I know of has read science fiction."
- Greg Bear
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| Computer Translator | ||
| A computer translator; software that provides automatic translation when jacked into a data port. |
In Idoru, Chia journeys to Japan to meet with the fan club of her favorite musician. She overcomes the language barrier by using her customized computer (Sandbenders) and a variety of software and services.
| Chia used a public dataport in the deepest level of the station. The Sandbenders sent the number they'd given her for Misuko Mimura.. A girl's sleepy voice in Japanese came from the Sandbenders' speakers. The translation followed instantly. "Hello, yes?" "It's Chia McKenzie from Seattle." "Are you coming here now?" The voice began to explain the route. "It's okay," said Chia, "my computer can do it. Just give me your address." "Addresses in Japan are difficult." "I've got global positioning." The Sandbenders, working the Tokyo Telco, was already showing her Mitsuko's latitude and longitude. |
| Technovelgy from Idoru,
by William Gibson. Published by Putnam in 1996 Additional resources -
|
She leaves her bag partly unzipped to follow its prompts. As she continues in her journey, her computer translates what she hears around her like station announcements, demonstrating the capacity for speech recognition and translation.
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'...they moved with the ease of dandelion puffs.'
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'...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...'
