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
"There was a time when one old eccentric guy with a notebook could do something important to science. Now even the resources of a major university are often not enough."
- Jerry Pournelle
 |
| Carson Circuit | ||
| A means of distinguishing betweem millions of different information sources - the secret of the Internet. |
The Carson Circuit is defined here as a hardware device, connected with relays.
| I was servicing televisions before that guy Carson invented his trick circuit that will select any of 'steenteen million other circuits - in theory there ain't no limit...
You know the Logics set-up. You got a Logic in your house. It looks like a vision-receiver used to, only it's got keys instead of dials and you punch the keys for what you wanna get. It's hooked in to the Tank, which has the Carson Circuit all fixed up with relays. Say you punch "Station SNAFU" on your Logic. Relays in the Tank take over an' whatever vision program SNAFU is telecastin' comes on your logic's screen. Or you punch "Sally Hancock's Phone" an' the screen blinks an' sputters an' you're hooked up with the Logic in her house an' if someone answers you got a vision-phone connection. But besides that, if you punch for the weather forecast or who won today's race at Hialea or who was mistress of the White House durin' Garfield's administration or what is PDQ and R sellin' for today, that comes on the screen too. The relays in the Tank do it. The Tank is a big buildin' full of all the facts in creation and all the recorded telecasts that ever was made - an' it's hooked in with all the other Tanks all over the country - an' everything you wanna know or see or hear, you punch for it an' you get it. Very convenient. |
| Technovelgy from A Logic Named Joe,
by Murray Leinster. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1946 Additional resources -
|
Although the Carson Circuit is seen as a hardware device, it is a pretty good functional description of what every Internet server does with a URL. The URLs you use to get what you want on the Internet consist of an IP address and then the specific file location. Except for reserved addresses, there are 256 to the fourth power IP addresses, or 4,294,967,296 different network device locations possible. Not quite "ain't no limit" but they are working on it.
The IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6), a new and improved network layer IP standard, will offer (among other improvements) an increase in the number of addresses for networked devices. The current standard, IPv4 supports about 4.3 billion, as mentioned above. Which seems like a lot, but hardly up to Carson Circuit standards.
IPv6 will support 3.4 times ten to the thirty-eighth power addresses. It's hard to come up with a set of physical things that can give you an idea of how big a number that is; the total number of stars in the observable universe is estimated at only about 7 times ten to the twenty-second power.
The story gives a perfectly recognizable description of what we call the Internet today.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 2 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from A Logic Named Joe
More Ideas
and Technology by Murray Leinster
Tech news articles related to A Logic Named Joe
Tech news articles related to works by Murray Leinster
Carson Circuit-related
news articles:
- Our Futuristic Data-Net Is In Trouble
- Sony Internet TV Foreseen In 1946
| Is Agentic AI The Wrong Kind Of Smartness? |
| Jetson Orin Nano Super 70 Just $249 |
| Automatic Bot Traffic Is 38 Percent Of HTTP Requests |
| Neuroplatform Human Brain Organoid Bioprocessor Uses Less Electricity |
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> |
|
|
|
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
'Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface... and the amount of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.'
'I guess there's nobody round this table who doesn't have a Crosswell [tapeworm] working for him in the small intestine.'
'Figments of his mind in one sense, of course, for he had shaped them...'
'So the parent drone carries a spotter that it launches...'
'...nurse drones that would cruise around dumping large amounts of power into randomly selected pods.'
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'
'...for months Grantline bores had dug into the cliff.'
'I hope all those other cars are on automatic,' he said anxiously.
'It’s smart enough to go wrong in very complicated ways, but not smart enough to help us find out what’s wrong.'
