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"We [science fiction writers] always wanted to believe in "private sector" space -- hucksters make better characters than a government does."
- Larry Niven
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| Interactive Blackboard | ||
| Early description of an interactive display device for lectures and demonstrations. |
Managing Director Jason Dill, Coordinating Director of the Unity system, is the highest ranking human in the world. He takes orders directly from Vulcan 3, the underground supercomputer that directs all human endeavor.
When asked a question by schoolchildren, however, he steps up to the interactive blackboard.
| Director Dill was unshaken. He stopped in front of the blackboard. Experimentally, he raised his hand and moved it in a figure. White lines traced themselves on the dark surface. He made a few thoughtful motions and the date 1992 traced itself.
"The end of the war," he said. |
| Technovelgy from Vulcan's Hammer,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Ace Books in 1956 Additional resources -
|
This is a very early description of an interactive display that is acted upon solely by gestures.
You can see a good representation of this idea a generation later in wired glove interface display from Spielberg's Minority Report (Movie).
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