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"I think a lot of kids whose mental growth outruns their maturity gravitate to science fiction."
- Dan Simmons
 |
| Mike (Mycroft Holmes - Fair Dinkum Thinkum) | ||
| A large computer that woke up - an artificially intelligent, self-aware machine. |
Manuel O'Kelly, private computer consultant on the Moon in 2075, had an unusual experience when called upon to fix some problems with a large computer. He named the computer Mike, after Mycroft Holmes, who did nothing but sit and think. And Mike "was a fair dinkum thinkum, sharpest computer you'll ever meet."
| When Mike was installed in Luna, he was pure thinkum, a flexible logic - "High-Optional, Logical, Multi-evaluating Supervisor, Mark IV, Mod. L" - a HOLMES FOUR. He computed ballistics for pilotless freighters and controlled their catapult. This kept him busy less than one percent of time and Luna Authority never believed in idle hands. They kept hooking hardware into him - decision-action boxes to let him boss other computers, bank on bank of additional memories, more banks of associational neural nets, another tubful of twelve-digit random numbers, a greatly augmented temporary memory. Human brain has around ten-to-the-tenth neurons. By third year Mike had better than one and a half times that many neuristors.
And woke up. |
| Technovelgy from The Moon is a Harsh Mistress,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by GP Putnam in 1966 Additional resources -
|
Another quote:
Everybody dealt with Mike every minute every day—his outputs that is. But hardly anybody saw him. So-called computermen—programmers, really—of the Authority's civil service stood watches in outer read out room and never went in machines room unless tell-tales showed misfunction.
(Mike from The Moon is a Harsh Misstress)
Thanks to SMOF for the picture and the quote.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
More Ideas
and Technology by Robert Heinlein
Tech news articles related to The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Tech news articles related to works by Robert Heinlein
Mike (Mycroft Holmes - Fair Dinkum Thinkum)-related
news articles:
- SCIgen - Computer Generates CS Papers
- NELL Computer Learns To Surf The Web For Facts
- Lunar Supercomputer Complex
- Xiaoice Will Text You And Be Your Friend
- ANNABELL AI Can Learn English From Scratch
- Tay, Microsoft Chatbot, Offline To 'Absorb It All'
- Robots And AIs Will Replace Humans At 7 Percent Of U.S. Jobs
- 51 Percent Of Job Activities Could Be Automated
- Alibaba's AI May Read Better Than You
| Microsoft VASA-1 Creates Personal Video From A Phto |
| Bespoke Environment Music From AIs |
| Steve Jobs: 'Capture The Next Aristotle - With AI' |
| BMind Smart Mirror from Baracoda |
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'...to build up a video picture would require, say, ten million decisions every second. Mike, you're so fast I can't even think about it. But you aren't that fast.'
'The area affected was five hundred kilometres across, and perfectly circular.'
'Hasan always pitched a Gauzy - a one-molecule-layer tent, opaque, feather-light, and very tough.'
'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...'
