 |
City Fathers
A set of computer systems which run every mechanical system in a city. (Read the full article)
| "Another interesting aspect of the city fathers: they are mechanically separated. There is one scene where the human characters are watching city fathers trundle about. Apparently, they only make contact to repair and communicate. The repair part makes certain sense, but to a person living in our connected age of internet and cloud computing, it seems ludicrous. If Cities in Flight were written today, the "city fathers" might be primarily software, running on a substrate of connectivity." (Grapeshot 3/12/2010 1:40:53 PM ) |
| "This might seem be less ludicrous than it seems. Look at the Wikipedia entry "sneakernet". No matter how connected the world seems to be, there are reasons that certain computer systems are not connected to others all of the time. One reason is security. I've never read the stories in question, so I don't know if security is an issues with them. The other reason is bandwidth. In the Wikipedia entry it mentioned that sneakernets are used when datasets are just too large to send over the internet in a reasonable amount of time." (Jarrod 1/24/2011 12:12:30 PM ) |
Leave a comment:
Tediously, spammers have returned. Please send your comments to @technovelgy and I'll post them. Thanks!
Current News Articles
'If Anyone Is Watching Earth...'
'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
Epirus High-Power Microwave Defeats Drones
'...the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and Then one toppled and fell. Then another.'
Cloud Of Space Rubbish From China's Long March Rocket
'Within seconds the material was spread out over fifty yards, in a matter of hours it might occupy several cubic miles of space...'
Biomimetic Tendons From Rochu Robotics
'... the curious parallelism to animal motions.'
Living Human Neuron Biological Compute Rack
'The men are dead, but their acquired wisdom lives on and I am the beneficiary.'
Martha Stewart Approves Ojai 'Living Room On Wheels'
'Young people found the driverless car admirable for petting.'
ESA's Draco To Study Heat Of Reentry
'...a synthetic which air-friction would erode.'
Buy A Galaxy? Maybe Start Smaller
'The sky is the limit' just got higher.
The United States Space Academy Is Official
'Is our orbit to Space Academy clear?'
Is There A Global Problem With Who Is Having Children?
'After twenty generations of shillyshallying...'
You Will Eat The Cookies Made From Plastic...
'Our planes are going to start bringing in bales of discarded plastics...'
It's A Giant Robot! You Reporters Have Been Warned!
'... completely forgetting the ship at sight of the awesome figure and great head of the giant Gaut...'
