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"My father was a master mechanic; I grew up with a screwdriver in one hand and a pair of pliers in the other."
- Frank Herbert

Live Memo  
  A paper memo or short letter that reads itself and can even argue with or exhort its reader.  

Once more he picked up the memo, squeezed it, and it instantly whined "... this opportunity presents EME with an acute challenge, Nat... Eh, Nat?"

"Yes," Nat Flieger said, nodding absently, replying to Leo Dondoldo's voice.

The memo was trying to sell him on that, too. "...everybody knows that Kongrosian has up until quite recently played before private gatherings," the memo declared fervently... "

He answered the memo. "I'll handle it, Mr. Dondoldo..."

"Whee," the memo exulted. Nat Fleiger felt sympathy for it.

Technovelgy from The Simulacra, by Philip K. Dick.
Published by Ace in 1964
Additional resources -

Compare this idea to the talking tape from Distraction (1998), memo-voice from War Game (1959), the e-sheet from Darwin's Children (2003) and the talking pamphlet from do-it-yourself (1974).

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Simulacra
  More Ideas and Technology by Philip K. Dick
  Tech news articles related to The Simulacra
  Tech news articles related to works by Philip K. Dick

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