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"Science Fiction is speculative fiction in which the author takes as his first postulate the real world as we know it, including all established facts and natural laws."
- Robert Heinlein
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| Restraining Bolt | ||
| A device that makes sure a robot does what you want (rather than what it wants). |
As robots become more sophisticated, and are given the capacity for choosing goals and working to meet them, you may want a way to make sure a robot does what you want.
| Luke's gaze was drawn irresistibly back to the hologram. "I wonder who she is." He reached again for the Artoo's internal controls, and the robot scurried backward again, squeaking a blue streak. "He says there's a restraining separator bolt that's circuiting out his self motivational components," Threepio translated. "He suggests that if you move the bolt he might be able to repeat the entire message," Threepio finished uncertainly. Selecting the proper tool, Luke reached down into the exposed circuitry and popped the restraining bolt free. The first noticeable result of this action was that the portrait disappeared. |
| Technovelgy from Star Wars,
by George Lucas. Published by Del Rey in 1976 Additional resources -
|
For an illustrative tale on the subject of computers that do what they want, see the chirpsithra supercomputer, from a great short story by Larry Niven.
Compare to circuit inhibiting destructiveness from To Please the Master (1958) by Margaret St. Clair and the android safety mechanism from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (1968) by Philip K. Dick.
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Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
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'He found a barber shop which, he thought, would be good for an idle hour.'
'Thirty rounds of fighting is tough work. Even for machines.'
'...the excavations were already in progress, for he saw gray slopes of rubble.'
'...the walking mills of Puffy Products began to tread delicately on their centipede legs across the wheat fields of Kansas.'
'Here is a Clerk that would work incessantly, and neither eat, sleep, want payment, or grumble.'
'ZARNAK, YOU'RE TO COMMAND A SCOUTING EXPEDITION --- FIND OUT WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT!'
'These are your rudimentary seed packages... Some will combine in place to form more complicated structures.'
