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"Science fiction is the very literature of change. In fact, it is the only such literature we have."
- Frederik Pohl
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| Screening Software | ||
| Rules-based software trained to eliminate spam email. |
This idea is taken from a 1991 story, which seems very early for this idea. I couldn't find anything like it until at least 1998.
| We used to get megabytes of automated invective via email, but that, at least, turned out to be easily fixed; we installed the latest screening software, and fed it a few samples of the kind of transmission we preferred not to receive. |
| Technovelgy from The Moat,
by Greg Egan. Published by Aurealis in 1991 Additional resources -
|
The first recorded instance of a mass-mailing (which was done by mistake) occurred in 1978 when a DEC marketer wanted to trumpet a new feature.
I used company email systems as early as 1986; I don't remember anything like this, because there was no problem. As far as I know, the first use of "spam" to describe repetitive, unwanted email occurred in 1993.
However, Egan is proposing an automated way to remove unwanted email by simply pointing out emails that you don't like. This sounds like "statistical filtering," a technique that was proposed in 1998 and, judging by how well PCs do it, still needs work.
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- Spam Kiwi Kings Of Spam Sent Third Of All Spam Emails
| Huawei Pura X Folding Phattie Phone |
| Positioned Cybertrucks With Free Starlinks WiFi In LA |
| Will Whales Be Our First Contact? |
| NYC/Dublin Portal Fails To Meet 'Guardian Of Forever' Standards |
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'Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface... and the amount of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.'
'I guess there's nobody round this table who doesn't have a Crosswell [tapeworm] working for him in the small intestine.'
'Figments of his mind in one sense, of course, for he had shaped them...'
'So the parent drone carries a spotter that it launches...'
'...nurse drones that would cruise around dumping large amounts of power into randomly selected pods.'
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'
'...for months Grantline bores had dug into the cliff.'
'I hope all those other cars are on automatic,' he said anxiously.
'It’s smart enough to go wrong in very complicated ways, but not smart enough to help us find out what’s wrong.'
