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"Science fiction writers, I am sorry to say, really do not know anything. We can't talk about science, because our knowledge of it is limited and unofficial, and usually our fiction is dreadful."
- Philip K. Dick
 |
| Unattended Factory | ||
| A factory that works entirely automatically, without human guidance. |
This is an early explicit mention of this in science fiction.
| "My father's dream! The complete utilization of mechanical power. It's the working out of a model he himself built. A single pressure on a button, and the work of a whole factory begins without anyone to watch or guide it... |
| Technovelgy from The Hidden Colony,
by Otfrid von Hanstein. Published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1935 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the automated factory from The Peacemongers (1957) by Poul Anderson, which is the first use I know about for this phrase.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Hidden Colony
More Ideas
and Technology by Otfrid von Hanstein
Tech news articles related to The Hidden Colony
Tech news articles related to works by Otfrid von Hanstein
| DARPA Wants 'Large Bio-Mechanical Space Structures' |
| Robot Bricklayer Or Passer-By Bricklayer? |
| Organic Non-Planar 3D Printing |
| Laser-Beam Welding In Orbital Factories |
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'Power could be compressed thus into an inch-square cube of what looked like blue-white ice'
'It's so light that you can set it up in five minutes by yourself...'
'Heavy penalties... were to be applied to any one found driving manually-controlled machines.'
'Buy a Little Dingbat... electropen, wrist watch, pocketphone, pocket radio, billfold ... all in one.'
'... an elastic, tinted material that had all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
'It is remarkable that the long leverages of their machines are in most cases actuated by a sort of sham musculature...'
