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"The way you write science fiction is: you sit down at your writing machine and you open your mind to the first thought that comes through."
- Frederik Pohl
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| Autonomic Interviewer | ||
| A robotic reporter. |
What is the best way to feed the ravenous maw of pop culture? Robotic reporters, that's how.
| "Mr. Lars, sir."
"I'm afraid I only have a moment to talk to your viewers. Sorry." He started on, but the autonomic TV interviewer, camera in its hand, blocked his path. The metal smile of the creature glittered confidently... "Look," he said, this time gently, as if the autonomic interviewer were really alive and not merely an arbitrarily endowed sentient concoction of the ingenuity of Wes-block technology of A.D. 2004 |
| From The Zap Gun,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Galaxy Publishing in 1965 Additional resources -
|
The use of the word "autonomic" is very clever. Although dictionaries list it as synonymous with "autonomous", most of us associate the word with the "autonomic nervous system", thus blurring the line between mechanical constructs and organic materials. It's as if stepping up to someone and posing irritating questions becomes an involuntary action, unmediated by conscious thought - an autonomic reflex.
The humble autonomic interviewer is exactly the sort of "receptor" that gathered news for the vast cybernetic homeostatic newspapers (also called homeopapes) of PKD's bleak future.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Zap Gun
More Ideas
and Technology by Philip K. Dick
Tech news articles related to The Zap Gun
Tech news articles related to works by Philip K. Dick
Autonomic Interviewer-related
news articles:
- Roving Robotic Reporter
- Robot Journalist Provides Autonomic News Coverage
- World's First Android Newscaster (Video)
| LoadRunner Robot Works Alone, Or In A Group |
| Mobot Robot Tests Smartphone Apps With Its Finger |
| Robotic Surgeons Outperform Human Surgeons |
| In Your Orchard, Do You Want Buzzing Suction Drones, OR Dick's Claw Hand Drones? |
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'... iron tubes... the ends of the tubes were joined to each other...to preserve it from the action of the seawater.'
'Mr. Garden, you are in no condition to drive....'
'A cable, here, from the controller to the interface plug... wires from that to the brain.'
'The slender stalks of a sunshade-photocell collector...'
'Holodeck 4 was waiting to be programmed...'
'... he rewired the delivery robot so that it would serve him midnight snacks.'
'I stood in line for half an hour for this, and it's just a blob!'
