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
"SF is a controlled way to think and dream about the future."
- Gregory Benford
 |
| Jack In | ||
| To open one's nervous system to a computer's virtual world. |
As far as I know, this is the first reference to the idea that a humanoid being (note that it is an android doing it) can directly perceive information presented by a computer.
The individual who is using the computer feed is an android, a redesigned and (in some ways) perfected form of human being.
| As he pushed the computer's snub-tipped terminal node into the input jack on his left forearm, the android saw Leon Spaulding's lip tighten in a scowl of - what? Contempt, envy, patronizing scorn? ...At the click of contact, the computer impulses came flooding across the interface into his brain and he forgot about Spaulding.
It was like having a thousand eyes... He was in total communion with the computer, making use of all its sensors, scanners and terminals. Why go through the tedious routine of talking to a computer, when it was possible to design an android capable of becoming part of one? The data torrent brought a surge of ecstasy. ...He raised and lowered scooprods, requisitioned next week's blocks, ordered filaments for the tachyon-beam men... No human could handle this, he knew, even if there was some way for humans to jack themselves directly into a computer... Watchman unjacked himself. |
| Technovelgy from Tower of Glass,
by Robert Silverberg. Published by Gollancz in 1970 Additional resources -
|
William Gibson made frequent use of this term and idea in his 1985 blockbuster Neuromancer:
It was exactly the sensation of someone reading over his shoulder.
Compare to eccentric projection from The Girl Who Was Plugged In (1974) by James Tiptree, Jr. See the article on the first use of android in The Cometeers (1936) by Jack Williamson.
He slotted some ice, connected the construct and jacked in.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Tower of Glass
More Ideas
and Technology by Robert Silverberg
Tech news articles related to Tower of Glass
Tech news articles related to works by Robert Silverberg
| Ribbit Amphibian Cellphone Internet Mashup |
| Hypersonic Sound (HSS) - Loudspeaker Just For You |
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
'The suit stands up and starts walking, gripping me round the calves and waist, taking the bulk of my weight off my throbbing feet.'
't came out into plain view. Darkington glimpsed a slim body and six short legs of articulated dull metal.'
'Internally it’s made up of millions of components, but the most important ones are the thinking and memory parts of the Mind proper.'
'I could look down at that face of carefully molded synthetic rubber, tinted the exact shade of the doctor's living flesh.'
'Chris, the City Fathers are not interested in your welfare; I suppose you know that. They're interested in only one thing: the survival of the city.'
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock...'
