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"It was my preferred entertainment when I was a kid, so when I set out to be a writer, it was perfectly natural that I should write the sort of stories that I used to enjoy reading."
- John Brunner
 |
| Big Computer | ||
| Just like it says; this computer knows it all. |
The Big Computer plays an important role in the novel; I don't want to say more. What I really liked was the way it was characterized in the book; it would appear to you the way you want. If you had a BC, a computer that could pass the Turing test, how would you have it serve you?
| No toadying servomechanisms for me. When I accessed, I wanted to feel like I was talking to something at least as nasty as I was. Everybody I know likes to have the BC simper at them like a receptionist or baritone its words like a wide-screen Jehovah. Not me. The BC obliges by seeming to barely tolerate me. |
| Technovelgy from Millennium,
by John Varley. Published by Berkley Books in 1983 Additional resources -
|
Would your computer be servile, or just serviceful?
An interesting comparison can be made with the City Fathers, from Cities in Flight, published by James Blish in 1957.
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Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
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'You couldn't have the capstone without the pyramid to hold it up.'
'the unobtrusive inspections with tiny remote-cast snoopers...'
I'm hoping that this procedure becomes a normal part of medical practice!
'... nothing was perfected until M. Pantalon announced the completion of his automatic valet.'
'...its streets were of remarkable width, with few or no buildings so high as mosques, churches, State-offices, or palaces in Tellurian cities.'
'...it was all composed of tiny, identical cubes, carefully laid to form a tilelike surface.'
