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"To get anywhere, or even live a long time, a man has to guess, and guess right, over and over again, without enough data for a logical answer."
- Robert Heinlein
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| Automated Travel Bureau | ||
| A computer program that allows individuals to book their travel arrangements themselves, with a credit card. |
Pretty good prediction of services like Travelocity and Expedia.
| The lobby of the Hilton was pleasanty cool. Best of all, it held a fully automated travel bureau. I went in, found an empty booth, sat down in front of the terminal. |
| Technovelgy from Friday,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by Holt, Rhinehart and Winston in 1982 Additional resources -
|
Friday (the novel's protagonist) then makes a number of reservations, paid with credit cards.
For those of us who remember travel booking prior to the Internet, there were these people called "travel agents." They sat in front of a screen and listened to your requests; they did the typing for you, and ran your credit cards too.
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'Not like me. A T-1000, advanced prototype. A mimetic poly-alloy. Liquid metal.'
'It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
'The massive feet working the pedals, arms and hands flashing and glinting...'
'There were cubic miles of it, and it glistened like a silvery Christmas tree...'
'Jason had been guiding the caravan of cars as usual...'
"The robot solemnly hit a ball against the wall, picked it up and teed it, hit it again, over and again...'
'There was a wall ahead... It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
'...support the interior human structure against Jupiter’s pull.'
