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
"I prefer working by artificial light."
- Isaac Asimov
 |
| Auto-Clerk | ||
| An automated accounting system. |
| Some place down in the innards of the auto-clerk who handled the sale for the Gadget Shoppe four holes were punched in a continuous role of paper; the item appeared in the cost accounting of the owner, and was reflected the accounting of the endless chain of middle distributors, transporters, processers, original producers, service companies, doctors, lawyers, merchants, chiefs - world without end. |
| Technovelgy from Beyond This Horizon,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1942 Additional resources -
|
What Heinlein appears to imagine here is an automated system using paper tape that uses holes to indicate information about a sale, and that the facts about the sale would be echoed throughout a supply chain.
The first loom controlled with punched holes in paper tape was created in 1725 by Basile Bouchon. The first to propose punched cards for use in informatics was Semyon Korsakov in 1832. Herman Hollerith invented machine-readable data recording in time for the 1890 census, using his punched cards - Hollerith cards.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Beyond This Horizon
More Ideas
and Technology by Robert Heinlein
Tech news articles related to Beyond This Horizon
Tech news articles related to works by Robert Heinlein
| Moonwalkers AI-Controlled Electric Shoes |
| Electric Catamaran 'Explorer Eco 40m' Has 'Solar Skin' |
| Harvest Power From Tears And Blinking With Smart Contact Lens |
| AI Enhances Images Your Brain Sees |
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
'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
'The car had no steering wheel, and no one drove!'
Now that's power walking that Hugo Gernsback would have approved.
'It was disturbing to think of the Flatline as a construct...'
'...he rewired the delivery robot so that it would serve him midnight snacks.'
'On went the electric-yacht faster and still faster.'
'...the huge vessel had spun, with a sickening lurch, through a complete half-circle, the instant the power was reversed.'
'...he realized that it was not quite a clear lens. Speckles of colored brightness swirled and gathered in it.'
