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"Science fiction and science have always danced around each other. Science fiction is the subconscious of science."
- Greg Bear
 |
| The Machine (M) | ||
| An autonomous robot able to alter its appearance and functionality at will. |
| The machine was a foot wide and two feet long: it looked like an oversized box of crackers. Silently, with great caution, it climbed the side of a concrete building; it had lowered two rubberized rollers and was now beginning the first phase of its job...
Beam, holding the cigaret lighter, walked toward the M. A receptor stalk waved toward him and the machine retreated. Its lines wavered, flowed, and then painfully reformed. For an interval, the device struggled with itself; then, reluctantly, the portable t-v unit again became visible. |
| From The Unreconstructed M,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Science Fiction Stories in 1957 Additional resources -
|
I don't have text references, but readers might compare the Shrike from Dan Simmon's 1989 novel Hyperion and the Aleph from Gregory Benford's 1983 novel Against Infinity.
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Unreconstructed M
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and Technology by Philip K. Dick
Tech news articles related to The Unreconstructed M
Tech news articles related to works by Philip K. Dick
The Machine (M)-related
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- MorpHex MKII The Unreconstructed Hexapod
| ROBEAR Nursing Care Robot |
| FAA Drone Rules Beta Ready For Comments |
| GuardBot Robotic Sphere Of War |
| Sony Aibo Robotic Dog Now With No Repairmen |
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'Hello, Europa... Is this your robot I'm looking at, in sector 94?'
What other robots are strong enough to carry you? Do you want them to do so?
'I'm going to pump the air from this room... so that the interior will be like airless and pressure-less space.'
'Plates and cups ... slowly floated down to the floor and were not broken.'
'She woke just before the signal from the car which would have called her...'
'You can flip through your several types of radar displays quicker than you can change channels to avoid a commercial...'
'[He] pressed several buttons on the wide bracelet he wore upon his left wrist...'
