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"I don't know why I write science fiction. The voices in my head told me to!"
- Charles Stross

Smart Gel  
  Intelligent paste made of neurons; spread upon a substrate for computing.  

See the entry for head cheese.

"It's one of those smart gels," Ray said at last... "Head cheese. Cultured brains on a slab. The same things they've been plugging into the Net to firewall infections."
Technovelgy from Starfish, by Peter Watts.
Published by Tor Books in 1999
Additional resources -

The term "smart gel" is already in use; it refers to a class of liquids that have unusual properties in response to being compressed. Since smart gels expand or contract in response to external stimuli, they could be useful in applications such as an artificial pancreas that releases insulin inside the body in response to high sugar level. Smart gels might someday be used to make exotic foods, cosmetics, medicines, and sensors. See the article Smart Gels and Shake Gels.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Starfish
  More Ideas and Technology by Peter Watts
  Tech news articles related to Starfish
  Tech news articles related to works by Peter Watts

Smart Gel-related news articles:
  - Nerve Cells Grown On Microchip
  - Neuron Network Cyborg Has Memory
  - DARPA Funding AI Fighter Pilots

Articles related to Artificial Intelligence
LLM 'Cognitive Core' Now Evolving
When Your Child's Best Friend Is An AI
Australian Authors Reject AI Training Of Llama
Does AI Provide A Way Forward For Talk Therapy

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Science Fiction in the News

LLM 'Cognitive Core' Now Evolving
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Australian Authors Reject AI Training Of Llama
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'

Is China Mining Helium-3 On The Moon's Farside?
'...for months Grantline bores had dug into the cliff.'

Maybe It's Too Soon To Require Autonomous Mode
'I hope all those other cars are on automatic,' he said anxiously.

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'It’s smart enough to go wrong in very complicated ways, but not smart enough to help us find out what’s wrong.'

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