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"...in fifty years, do you believe that people will be recognizably human?"
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In this book of novellas, Roger Zelazny shows us some of the life experience of a man who doesn't exist. That is, according to the computer systems of this near future world, he did not exist.
One of the original programmers, he was able to assign himself an identity whenever he wished. Each of the stories is a case he accepted as a contractor from a private investigative agency.
In this story, the Hangman is a remarkable device that was part telefactoring device and part autonomous robot. Using an advanced brain, it learned while being used as a telefactoring device. However, this robot learned more than anyone thought possible from his trainers, returning from a space mission to kill them one by one.
The above quote describes the experience of both seeing from the robot's point of view and one's own.
This novel explores, in a very thoughtful way, a very unexpected manner in which machine intelligence might arise. It's an interesting question: how much of the complexity of our own thinking and feeling do we want to pass on to machines?
In the story, the sensitive neuristor brain of the Hangman teleoperated robot is subjected to the impressions, thoughts and feelings of the operators when a night watchman is inadvertently killed by the robot during a test run out of the lab, and into a bank.
(From 'Home is the Hangman' by Roger Zelazny) Compare to the control helmet from Dawn of the Demigods, by Raymond Z. Gallun, published by Planet Stories in 1954. Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
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Science Fiction
Timeline
Europa Clipper Plate Carries A Special Message
'...a universal cryptogram — yet it is one which can be interpreted by any intelligent creature on any planet in the Solar System!'
Micro-Robots Are Smallest, Fully Functional
'With a whir, the Scarab shot from the concealing shadows of the corner where it had hidden itself.'
AI Enhances Images Your Brain Sees
'I could have sworn the psychomat showed pictures almost as sharp and detailed as reality itself'
Illustrating Classic Heinlein With AI
'Stasis, cold sleep, hibernation, hypothermia, reduced metabolism, call it what you will - the logistics-medicine research teams had found a way to stack people like cordwood and use them when needed.'
Deflector Plasma Screen For Drones ala Star Wars
'If the enemy persists in attacking or even intensifies their power, the density of the plasma in space will suddenly increase, causing it to reflect most of the incoming energy like a mirror.'
DIY Robotic Hand Made After Loss Of Fingers
'I made them... with the fine work of the watchmaker...'
Can A Human Land A SpaceX Rocket On Its Tail?
'If she starts to roll sideways — blooey! The underjets only hold you up when they’re pointing down, you know.'
Robot Snakes No Longer Stopped By Stairs
'...she dropped her hands from the wheel, took the robot snake from his box.'
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