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"I've got this beautiful panoramic three-dimensional painting of Mars based on Martian photos. It's 30 feet wide. You can pick out every pebble on the Martian landscape. And who'd have dreamed you could do that?"
- Arthur C. Clarke
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| Chirpsithra Supercomputer | ||
| An alien race thoughtfully provides mankind with blueprints for the most intelligent computer ever made. |
This terrific short story by Larry Niven gives a somewhat less rosy view of the logical future of computing than you'll read in the typical PC magazine.
The chirpsithra are an alien race who have been around, well, practically forever from a human standpoint. They are regulars at the Draco Tavern, a watering hole (pub) built for humans and aliens right here on Earth. They're not easy to talk to, though, and you're never quite sure what they mean.
| One slow afternoon I asked a pair of chirpsithra about intelligent computers. "Oh yes, we built them," one said. "Long ago." "You gave up? Why?" One of the salmon-colored aliens made a chittering sound. The other said, "Reason enough. Machines should be proper servants. They should not talk back. Especially they should not presume to instruct their masters. Still, we did not throw away the knowledge we gained from the machines."
 (Chirpsithra Supercomputer from 'The Schumann Computer' by Larry Niven) |
| Technovelgy from The Schumann Computer,
by Larry Niven. Published by Destinies in 1979 Additional resources -
|
The Chirpsithra have great knowledge but are also inveterate practical jokers:
Td like that,” I said.
She came back the next morning without her companion. She carried a stack of paper that looked like the page proofs for the Brothers Karamazov and turned out to be the blueprints for a chirpsithtra super-computer. She stayed to chat for a couple of hours, during which she took ghoulish pleasure in pointing out the trouble I’d have building the thing.
Gifts, like the blueprints for this computer, are especially suspect. This short quote is from a short story worth reading - it is a 1979 short story called The Schumann Computer, found in the collection cited below. The collection features a number of stories set in the Draco Tavern.
"...If you are seriously interested in this subject, I can give you designs for the most intelligent computer ever made.”
(Chirpsithra with computer plans from 'The Schumann Computer' by Larry Niven)
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Schumann Computer
More Ideas
and Technology by Larry Niven
Tech news articles related to The Schumann Computer
Tech news articles related to works by Larry Niven
Chirpsithra Supercomputer-related
news articles:
- Make Money With Artificial Intelligence
| ChatGPT Now Participates in Group Chats |
| 'AI Assistants' Are Actually Less Reliable For News |
| Will AIs Give Better Results If You're Rude To Them? |
| Chinese Tokamak Uses AI To Keep Fusion Plasma Stable |
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'The observation vehicle was of that peculiar variety used in conveying a large number of people across rough terrain.'
'The real border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.'
'I ... set my automatic astronomical instruments to searching for a habitable planet.'
'...haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?'
'... oblongs were all over the floor and surfaces.'
