Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"The world is really so surreal these days that it's necessary for us to blunt it somehow in order to stay sane. The artist functions to short-circuit the buffering mechanism, so that people can occasionally perceive the weirdness of things as they are."
- William Gibson
 |
| Interests Profile | ||
| An intelligent agent; a software program with your personal tastes on file. |
The interests profile is the only way to deal with the profusion of goods and services in a worldwide networked economy.
| "...Have you filled out an interests profile?"
"I don't think so." "Oh, do! Then it will tell you what programs are on, what parties you will be welcomed at, who you would wish to know. It's terrible to go on impulse, Charles," she said earnestly. "Let the joymaker help you." He discovered that his own teacup had been replenished and he took a sip. "I don't understand," he said. "You mean I should let the joymaker decide what I'm going to do for fun?" "Of course. There's so much. How could you know what you would like?" |
| Technovelgy from The Age of The Pussyfoot,
by Frederik Pohl. Published by Ballantine in 1966 Additional resources -
|
This is a remarkable prediction from Pohl; the interests profile along with the networked software applications that use it corresponds very closely to what were called autonomous "intelligent agents" in the 1990's.
Knowledge engineering Professor Nikola Kasabov provides the following description of an autonomous intelligent agent's feature set:
This also anticipates the Personal Interest Profile that Arthur C. Clarke mentions in his Fountains of Paradise about a decade later. See also the the personalized news from Ralph 124c 41 + (1911), by Hugo Gernsback, which had the idea of a newspaper printed based on general subscriber interests.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Age of The Pussyfoot
More Ideas
and Technology by Frederik Pohl
Tech news articles related to The Age of The Pussyfoot
Tech news articles related to works by Frederik Pohl
Interests Profile-related
news articles:
- Aroxo Intelligent Agents Negotiate For You
- Her Majesty's 'Web Robot' Catches Tax Dodgers
- Rity - Sobot Longs To Be Near You
- Web Services Wizard And Frederik Pohl's Joymaker
- Re Google: William Gibson, Read More SF
| Muxcard Redditor's DIY Credit Card-Sized Computer |
| Cortex 1 - Today A Warehouse, Tomorrow A Calculator Planet |
| Is Agentic AI The Wrong Kind Of Smartness? |
| Jetson Orin Nano Super 70 Just $249 |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'It diverts integers of the data, the fundamental message-units, so that they no longer agree.'
'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color and texture that can approximate only crudely to the vagrant human figure...'
'Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.'
'...it rears and spreads its fan. It can pick one man out of a crowd.'
'...a new plastic with the characteristics of an avian eggshell.'
