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"At its best, SF is the medium in which our miserable certainty that tomorrow will be different from today in ways we can't predict, can be transmuted to a sense of excitement and anticipation, occasionally evolving into awe."
- John Brunner
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| Robot Music | ||
| Music created and performed entirely by robots. |
As far as I know, the earliest use of this phrase in science fiction.
| Festival of the robots. The rocky amphitheatre was lighted now — a great red glare of swaying light from a funnel to one side. And the weird pseudo-factory again was in operation. From this angle the interior of one of its huge sheds was visible. Motley conglomeration of machinery! There was a great clanking upright engine of treadles, winches and a swaying crane. Eccentric cams clattered on another giant metal contrivance, powered by the engine with an intricate system of gears and belts between them. Monstrous fly heels whirled. Pulleys and chains hoisted and dropped huge weights with rhythmic banging thuds. A cacophony of stentorious metal sounds. Raucous shrieks of electronic sirens reverberated out into the rocky darkness. A pandemonium clangor, clanking, jangling — robot music, all in full blast now for this festival of the machines. |
| Technovelgy from The Robot God,
by Ray Cummings. Published by Weird Tales in 1941 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the machine music from The Machine Stops (1909) by EM Forster, the meloderge from Saboteur of Space (1944) by Robert Abernathy, the mechanical tune-maker (1954) from The Last of the Masters by Philip K. Dick and the computer-created dub from Neuromancer by William Gibson.
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Robot God
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Tech news articles related to The Robot God
Tech news articles related to works by Ray Cummings
| Atlas Robot Makes Uncomfortable Movements |
| Humanoid Robots Tickle The Ivories |
| Golf Ball Test Robot Wears Them Out |
| PaXini Supersensitive Robot Fingers |
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Science Fiction
Timeline
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'...there's a narrow belt where the climate is moderate.'
'... with the Master-operator all you have to do is push one! A remarkable achievement!'
'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...'
