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

"[Science fiction] is the only kind of writing that allows you to look at the world we live in and change one piece at a time."
- Frederik Pohl

Synthetic Intellect  
  A machine mind, created and improved by more primitive machine minds.  

I can’t think of an earlier reference to this idea.

However, there were things there which did not belong in the pilot chamber of any ordinary vessel. Among them was a large, square case, from which many wires radiated. It contained the cool, synthetic intellect of MZ-1. Minds that could compare with it in keenness and power, existed only in the Place of Knowledge. MZ-1 was not like the worker and soldier robots whose simple reasoning faculties are adapted only to routine duties. MZ-1 was the first of its kind; it was a superthing, for in it were united the strength and mobility of the fastest space ship, and the mental powers of a thought machine.

The latter were marvelous fabrications now. Five hundred years ago a genius named Benz had invented the first. Its mental abilities had been about equal to those of a man, though its memory and its mathematical capacities were more accurate. Benz had made a score of the machines, and he had put them to the task of designing others. Improvements had been rapid. The first machines had swiftly become obsolete. Those they had invented had taken their place ; and these latter, in turn, invented sentient mechanisms which were a little ahead of themselves. So it had gone, stop by step, year after year, until the synthetic intellects at the Place of Knowledge had far outstripped the minds of men, and had reached a level of thought that was truly deific.

It might have been said that Benz was the last human being really to think. After his time, all thought and all invention was mechanical.

Technovelgy from The Machine That Thought, by William Callahan.
Published by Science Fiction in 1939
Additional resources -

Compare to computers improve computers from The Feeling of Power (1958) by Isaac Asimov and Vulcan 3 from Vulcan's Hammer (1960) by Philip K. Dick.

Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |

Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Machine That Thought
  More Ideas and Technology by William Callahan
  Tech news articles related to The Machine That Thought
  Tech news articles related to works by William Callahan

Synthetic Intellect-related news articles:
  - Virtual Rat Predicts Actual Rat Neural Activity

Articles related to Artificial Intelligence
Will AIs Give Better Results If You're Rude To Them?
Chinese Tokamak Uses AI To Keep Fusion Plasma Stable
Alexa+ And Its AI Brain Improvements
Are AIs Going Rogue Like Hal 9000

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>

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

 

 

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

Science Fiction in the News

Will AIs Give Better Results If You're Rude To Them?
'I said, "Listen up, motherf*cker.'

Black Fungus Blocks Radiation
'You were surrounded by Astrophage most of the time'

Liuzhi Process Now In Use In China
'He was in a high-ceilinged windowless cell with walls of glittering white porcelain.'

Reflect Orbital Offers 'Sunlight on Demand' And Light Pollution
'I don't have to tell you about the seven two-mile-diameter orbital mirrors...'

Will Robots Become Family Caregivers?
'The robant and the tiny old woman entered the control room slowly...'

Chinese Tokamak Uses AI To Keep Fusion Plasma Stable
'Guy named Otto Octavius winds up with eight limbs... What are the odds?'

Time Crystals Can Now Be Seen Directly
'It is as you thought when you constructed the time crystal, my master Vaylan.'

RoboBallet The Dance Of Cooperative Robots
'...an integrated seven-unit robot team.'

Chrysalis Generation Ship to Alpha Centauri
'This was their world, their planet — this swift-traveling, yet seemingly moveless vessel.'

More SF in the News

More Beyond Technovelgy

Home | Glossary | Science Fiction Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.