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"the [science fiction] writer should be able to convince the reader (and himself) that the wonders he is describing really can come true...and that gets tricky when you take a good, hard look at the world around you."
- Frederik Pohl
 |
| Novel-Writing Machines | ||
| A device that automatically produces fiction. |
| Julia was twenty-six years old... and she worked, as he had guessed, on the novel-writing machines in the Fiction Department. She enjoyed her work, which consisted chiefly in running and servicing a powerful but tricky electric motor... She could describe the whole process of composing a novel, from the general directive issued by the Planning Committee down to the final touching-up by the Rewrite Squad. But she was not interested in the final product. She "didn't much care for reading," she said. Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces. |
| Technovelgy from 1984 (Nineteen Eighty-Four),
by George Orwell. Published by Secker & Warburg in 1948 Additional resources -
|
I should also point out this classic cartoon from 1923, introducing the Cartoon Dynamo:
(The Cartoon Dynamo)
Compare to the knowledge engine from Gulliver's Travels (1726) by Jonathan Swift, the rthetorizer from The Penultimate Truth (1964) by Philip K. Dick, the electronic bard from The Cyberiad: Fables for the Cybernetic Age (1965) and the verse transcriber from Studio 5, The Stars (1971) by J.G. Ballard.
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More Ideas
and Technology from 1984 (Nineteen Eighty-Four)
More Ideas
and Technology by George Orwell
Tech news articles related to 1984 (Nineteen Eighty-Four)
Tech news articles related to works by George Orwell
Novel-Writing Machines-related
news articles:
- What-If Machine Concocts Creative Premises
- SciFiQ Science Fiction Writing Aid
| Who First Thought Of A Tin Foil Hat? |
| Robot Baristas Learn Their Trade Without Paying Royalties |
| Vesuvius Challenge Accepted - Ancient Burnt Scroll Read! |
| Humans Love Helping Other Species |
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Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
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'...Anything was possible in my imaginary environment.'
'Somewhere in space, a chrome and blue automobile raced the green light of Earth.'
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair...'
'We had discovered that metal was relatively impervious to the telepathic effect.'
'Detailed plans for the construction of the Gundstetter-Halone warp drive were flowing.'
'Do not waste your priceless company on the unappreciative folds of a sleep pod...'
'...so we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
