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"I am first of all not a science fiction writer … I write, I suppose, what the Latin Americans call magic realism."
- Harlan Ellison
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| Unlocker Robot | ||
| An autonomous device that unlocked doors, as needed. |
| Most of the machines here
were clerical, and consequently
small. They stood about in little
groups, eyeing each other, not
conversing. Among the many
non-differentiated types, the unlocker was easy to find. It had fifty arms, most of them with
more than one finger, each finger
tipped by a key; it looked like a
pin cushion full of variegated
hat pins. The field-minder approached it. "I can do no more work until warehouse three is unlocked," it said. "Your duty is to unlock the warehouse every morning. Why have you not unlocked the warehouse this morning?" "I had no orders this morning," replied the unlocker. "I have to have orders every morning." "Why have you had no orders this morning?" asked the fieldminder. "Because the radio issued none," said the unlocker, slowly rotating a dozen of its arms. |
| Technovelgy from But Who Can Replace A Man,
by Brian Aldiss. Published by Infinity in 1958 Additional resources -
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Science Fiction
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'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
'...the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and Then one toppled and fell. Then another.'
'Within seconds the material was spread out over fifty yards, in a matter of hours it might occupy several cubic miles of space...'
'The men are dead, but their acquired wisdom lives on and I am the beneficiary.'
'Young people found the driverless car admirable for petting.'
'After twenty generations of shillyshallying...'
