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"The science fiction method is dissection and reconstruction. You look at the world around you, and take it apart into its components. Then you take some of those components, throw them away, and plug in different ones, start it up and see what happens."
- Frederik Pohl
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| Headset | ||
| Wireless headsets provide computer language translation. |
Chi and Mitsuko converse easily in the novel, with the help of wireless headsets and translation software.
| Now they were both wearing wireless ear-clip headsets. The translation was generally glitch-free, except when Mitsuko used Japanese slang that was too new, or when she inserted English words that she knew but couldn't pronounce. [My brother] Masahiko is seventeen," Mitsuko said. "He is a 'pathological techno-fetishist-with-social-deficit,'" this last all strung together like one word, indicating a concept that taxed the lexicon of the earclips. |
| Technovelgy from Idoru,
by William Gibson. Published by Putnam in 1996 Additional resources -
|
This is almost as good as a babelfish. One of the biggest limitations to current translation software is the limited vocabulary; how can you make sure you get a good translation for the latest slang? You wouldn't need to be a techno-fetishist to appreciate being able to access the latest information straight from the wireless headset maker's server.
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Tech news articles related to Idoru
Tech news articles related to works by William Gibson
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news articles:
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| MAI-Voice-2 Microsoft Text-To-Speech |
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| US Army IBEX Exoskeleton Walks Troops Out Of Danger |
| Terraformer Industries Make Methane |
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Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
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2000's 2010's
'And now they wre busily transforming all their companions, and so on, and so on...'
'Why, a clockwork dancer, or, better still, one that would go by electricity and never run down...'
'Maybe the individual intelligence of each Cubic pools into a group intelligence...'
'Looks like she has bought the Avatar Construction Set and put together her own...'
'Across the ground something small and metallic came, flashing in the dull sunlight of midday.'
'A broken circle with arrows pointing to a right-hand flow appeared in the chalf.'
'The object seemed melted together like wax — nothing was distinguishable.'
