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"Science fiction and science have always danced around each other. Science fiction is the subconscious of science."
- Greg Bear
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| Direct Interface | ||
| A form of computer interface that inputs text into a computer by thinking. |
What I like about Varley's work is that you always get the real world view. It's not all clean and beautiful in Varley's universes, but then, it isn't in mine either.
What sort of computer interface do you use? A keyboard? A microphone? A stylus that writes directly on the screen of your computer? Try this one.
| Looking around me, I saw that all my colleagues were busy at the same task. Eyes were rolled up, mouths hung open, here and there a finger twitched. It had to be either a day trip from the Catatonic Academy, or the modern press at work. Okay, so I lied about the open mouths. Not all D.I. Users look like retarded zombies when they interface… |
| Technovelgy from Steel Beach,
by John Varley. Published by Ace Putnam in 1992 Additional resources -
|
This novel was written in 1984, when the idea that you could actually have an interface between your brain and a computer was pure science fiction. However, you might want to take a look at research done on the idea of a brain computer interface before you dismiss the idea. If it could be made to work, it would be a tremendous boon to disabled people.
For more on altered states while communicating, see sniggertrance.
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Tech news articles related to works by John Varley
| MIT Headset Lets You Communicate Without Speaking |
| Tongue Mouse Created By Valve Engineer |
| Skinput Uses Your Skin As An Input Device |
| AcceleGlove Open-Source Data Glove |
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'I don't have to tell you about the seven two-mile-diameter orbital mirrors that circulate around the satellite, making it habitable.'
'The steel tortoise gave MacKinnon a feeling of Crusoe- like independence.'
'...then back to their work, though little enough it was on these automatic cultivators.'
't came out into plain view. Darkington glimpsed a slim body and six short legs of articulated dull metal.'
'The suit stands up and starts walking, gripping me round the calves and waist, taking the bulk of my weight off my throbbing feet.'
'Internally it’s made up of millions of components, but the most important ones are the thinking and memory parts of the Mind proper.'
'I could look down at that face of carefully molded synthetic rubber, tinted the exact shade of the doctor's living flesh.'
