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"Science Fiction is speculative fiction in which the author takes as his first postulate the real world as we know it, including all established facts and natural laws."
- Robert Heinlein
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| Chirpsithra Supercomputer | ||
| An alien race thoughtfully provides mankind with blueprints for the most intelligent computer ever made. |
This terrific short story by Larry Niven gives a somewhat less rosy view of the logical future of computing than you'll read in the typical PC magazine.
The chirpsithra are an alien race who have been around, well, practically forever from a human standpoint. They are regulars at the Draco Tavern, a watering hole (pub) built for humans and aliens right here on Earth. They're not easy to talk to, though, and you're never quite sure what they mean.
| One slow afternoon I asked a pair of chirpsithra about intelligent computers. "Oh yes, we built them," one said. "Long ago." "You gave up? Why?" One of the salmon-colored aliens made a chittering sound. The other said, "Reason enough. Machines should be proper servants. They should not talk back. Especially they should not presume to instruct their masters. Still, we did not throw away the knowledge we gained from the machines."
 (Chirpsithra Supercomputer from 'The Schumann Computer' by Larry Niven) |
| Technovelgy from The Schumann Computer,
by Larry Niven. Published by Destinies in 1979 Additional resources -
|
The Chirpsithra have great knowledge but are also inveterate practical jokers:
Td like that,” I said.
She came back the next morning without her companion. She carried a stack of paper that looked like the page proofs for the Brothers Karamazov and turned out to be the blueprints for a chirpsithtra super-computer. She stayed to chat for a couple of hours, during which she took ghoulish pleasure in pointing out the trouble I’d have building the thing.
Gifts, like the blueprints for this computer, are especially suspect. This short quote is from a short story worth reading - it is a 1979 short story called The Schumann Computer, found in the collection cited below. The collection features a number of stories set in the Draco Tavern.
"...If you are seriously interested in this subject, I can give you designs for the most intelligent computer ever made.”
(Chirpsithra with computer plans from 'The Schumann Computer' by Larry Niven)
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Schumann Computer
More Ideas
and Technology by Larry Niven
Tech news articles related to The Schumann Computer
Tech news articles related to works by Larry Niven
Chirpsithra Supercomputer-related
news articles:
- Make Money With Artificial Intelligence
| Light Society: Simulates Earth-Scale Society With A Billion AI Agents |
| Collective Superintelligence Is At Hand! |
| AI Operates An Excavator |
| Grok And The City Fathers From 'Cities In Flight' By James Blish |
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'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
'...the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and Then one toppled and fell. Then another.'
'Within seconds the material was spread out over fifty yards, in a matter of hours it might occupy several cubic miles of space...'
'The men are dead, but their acquired wisdom lives on and I am the beneficiary.'
'Young people found the driverless car admirable for petting.'
'After twenty generations of shillyshallying...'
