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Science Fiction
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"The best fuzzy rules, the best knowledge, deal with the turning points of the system. If a race-car driver teaches you how to drive, you don't need him to show you how to drive on the straightaway. It's how he handles the curves that matters."
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![]() As far as I know, the first use of this word in science fiction. However, the idea had been described several times in earlier works; see below.
Harl Vincent made good use of this new expression in his 1929 story War of the Planets:
“Connections have now been established with the great reflector at Castle Mountain. If you darken your rooms, you will find that the newly discovered phenomenon is dimly visible in the disc of your instrument.’’
Walter switched off the lights and drew two chairs close to the videophone.
Thelda joined him there and the two gazed intently at the disc.
The view was very indistinct at first, but, as their eyes became accustomed to the darkness, a small group of weird objects became visible in the center of the disc...
At this juncture their individual call sounded from the videophone and Walter flipped back the news lever to permit the incoming personal call to be made. The disc flashed brightly and the face of his father appeared.
“Hello, folks,” spoke the cheery voice of the man they both loved, “Why in the world are you sitting in the darkness? Oh. I know — you have been listening to the absurd reports of some menace from the skies...
"All right, dear. I’ll be home in ten minutes, but I’m afraid we’re going to have to keep an eye on that son of ours this evening,” grinned Roy, “So long.”
The disc went dark and the voice was gone.
A videophone could also have a huge screen so many could see, again from The War of the Planets:
In case you're wondering why videophones had a circular screen, it's because the mechanical scan version of television technology of the Twenties made use of a disc:
![]() (1929 advertisement) A.E. van Vogt used this same term in 1945 in The World of Null-A:
He closed the door, fastened the three plasto-windows and put a tracer on his videophone. Not to be outdone, Philip K. Dick, shortens it and makes it more mobile in his 1955 story War Veteran:
LeMarr dropped a coin in the vidphone mounted on the dash-board. He gave the hospital number, and when the monitor appeared, asked hoarsely for Vachel Patterson. FCompare to the detailed article about the telephonoscope from Le Vingtième Siècle (The Twentieth Century) (1882) by Albert Robida, the phonotelephote from In the Year 2889 (1889) by Jules Verne, the telephot from Ralph 124c 41 + (1911) by Hugo Gernsback, the video communicator from The Machine Stops (1909) by E.M. Forster, the zoom call visaphone system from John Jones's Dollar (1915) by Harry Stephen Keeler, the optophone from Too Many Boards! (1931) by Harl Vincent and the opti-phone from The Impossible World (1939) by Eando Binder. Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
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Science Fiction
Timeline
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