Ilse

The first intelligent ship brain. (Read the full article)

"An earlier ship brain than Vinge's Ilse would have to be OLGA in the strange novel "Half Past Human" by TJ Bass published in 1971. Incidentally this and Bass' other book "The Godwhale" are chockers with new technology, biology, implants, etc and throw off ideas like sparks, often to the detriment of the plot! My favourite idea is that the length of a planet's year, multiplied by the acceleration due to gravity must be equal to the speed of light for a planet to be habitable. The ship brain OLGA, before blasting off with colonists for another star, prints this equation "gy = c" on all the screens of the starship. A nice touch."
(TomH 4/17/2004 9:26:36 PM )
"Even earlier would be Stanislas Lem novel "The Hammer" (circa 1961 published in French in 1967) in which a human is sent on an experimental cruise to the nearest star system, along an electric syntetic personality that control every aspect of the ship. The human is confined in the role of passive passenger, the only optional task left for him is to plot his course on starchart paper (yes, with a compass and ruler!) and verify that the "compagnon" also refered to as the "steel case", follows the planned course wich is supposed to loop around the nearest star system. problems starts when the human thinks the steel case is is slowly flattenning the trajectory, thus sending the ship into eternity; The discrepency on paper is less than half a milimeter; The human end up opening the lid of the steel case and smashing the innard of the compagnon with a hammer (hence the title); If you taught that Bowman unpluging HAL's memory was chilling, this is worse."
(nexl 12/2/2004 7:38:09 PM )
"Curiousity killed the cat, doc"
(De Renzo 12/28/2005 9:43:59 PM )
"A little later than Lem, Larry Niven's short story "Becalmed in Hell" (1965) features a spacecraft with an implanted human brain. Assuming you're not restricting the discussion to AIs."
(Gnoitall 7/7/2009 2:39:32 PM )

More info on Ilse

Leave a comment:

Tediously, spammers have returned. So, send me your comments to bill at the site name (be sure to mention the page) and I'll post them. Thanks!

 

 

 

Current News Articles

Stargate $500 Billion Investment in Artificial Intelligence
'... an artificial intelligence equal to the human.'

Jetson Orin Nano Super 70 Just $249
'Rayno folded up the microterm and tucked it back inside his jumper.'

Nano-Chainmail 2D Mechanically Interlocked Polymer
'Nemourlon armor of reasonable weight resists penetration by most fragments and any bullet that is not both reasonably heavy and fairly high-velocity.'

Anker's SOLIX Solar Umbrella Portable Power
As predicted by science fiction thirty-five years ago!

Positioned Cybertrucks With Free Starlinks WiFi In LA
'Several thousand of them formed the positioning grid on the rubble pile.'

AI-THu Shapeshifting Transformer Home
'Its slack walls tightened, bulged, were crossed by ripples and waves of movement.'

Xiaomi Self-Driving Self-Balancing Scooter
'Norman... had never ridden any motorized device that lacked onboard steering and balance systems.'

Transparent 4K OLED Wireless TV From LG
You will note that HG Wells also figured out the aspect ratio of the future!

TSA 2 - Advanced Thermosensory Stimulator Is A Dune Pain Box
'As though a switch had been turned off, the pain stopped...'

Humans Love Helping Other Species
'At the ringside opposite them a table had been removed to make room for a large transparent plastic capsule on wheels.'

Organic Non-Planar 3D Printing
'It makes drawings in the air following drawings...'

Your Window For Being A Tesla Optimus Remote Operator May Be Closing
'... he realized that the moving thing inside was - of course - a robot.'

Home | Glossary | Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.