 |
Metal Calculator Planet
A planet covered entirely with machinery to a height of twenty miles and covered with a metal roof. (Read the full article)
| "I'm guessing way before New Detroit: http://www.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/marcnewdetroit1.jpg" (Sabre Runner 11/1/2007 10:33:50 AM ) |
| "Trantor was conceived by Asimov in the early 1940s so Simak's metal-covered planet might have been inspired by Asimov's?" (Adam 11/9/2007 1:32:27 PM ) |
| "E.E.Smith conceived an artificial planet-sized "Brain" in his book "The Skylark of Valeron" - a 1,000 km wide computer/spaceship designed to handle unimaginable forces. It was also composed of essentially self-replicating seed components and thus used exponential growth to build itself to large size rapidly. The ship-computer used brain-machine interfaces to take commands from its occupants, with automatic protective circuits to ignore random thoughts." (Adam 11/9/2007 1:34:05 PM ) |
| "I should have realized that what you said about Asimov was true; I own the Astounding Science-Fiction issue that contains Asimov's short story "The Mule," and that was published in 1945. I corrected the article. The reference from "The Skylark of Valeron" is great - I haven't read that book and didn't know that. How about sending in a quote? However, it looks like the idea of using a planet as a calculator still rests with Simak. As Holmes once remarked to a chastened Watson (me) "It is good not to be proven wrong on all points."" ( 11/9/2007 1:43:31 PM ) |
More info on Metal Calculator Planet
Leave a comment:
Tediously, spammers have returned. Please send your comments to @technovelgy and I'll post them. Thanks!
Current News Articles
The Zapata Air Scooter Would Be Great In A Science Fiction Story
'Betty's slapdash style.'
Thermostabilized Wet Meat Product (NASA Prototype)
There are no orbiting Michelin stars. Yet.
Could Crystal Batteries Generate Power For Centuries?
'Power could be compressed thus into an inch-square cube of what looked like blue-white ice'
India Ponders Always-On Smartphone Location Tracking
'It is necessary... for your own protection.'
Amazon Will Send You Heinlein's Knockdown Cabin
'It's so light that you can set it up in five minutes by yourself...'
Is It Time To Forbid Human Driving?
'Heavy penalties... were to be applied to any one found driving manually-controlled machines.'
Replace The Smartphone With A Connected Edge Node For AI Inference
'Buy a Little Dingbat... electropen, wrist watch, pocketphone, pocket radio, billfold ... all in one.'
Artificial Skin For Robots Is Coming Right Along
'... an elastic, tinted material that had all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
Robot Guard Dog On Duty
I might also be thinking of K-9 from Doctor Who.
Wearable Artificial Fabric Muscles
'It is remarkable that the long leverages of their machines are in most cases actuated by a sort of sham musculature...'
BrainBridge Concept Transplant Of Human Head Proposed
'Briquet’s head seemed to think that to find and attach a new body to her head was as easy as to fit and sew a new dress.'
Google's Nano Banana Pro Presents Handwritten Math Solutions
'...copy was turned out in a charming and entirely feminine handwriting.'
