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"I prefer working by artificial light."
- Isaac Asimov
 |
| Autonomic Interviewer | ||
| A robotic reporter. |
What is the best way to feed the ravenous maw of pop culture? Robotic reporters, that's how.
| "Mr. Lars, sir."
"I'm afraid I only have a moment to talk to your viewers. Sorry." He started on, but the autonomic TV interviewer, camera in its hand, blocked his path. The metal smile of the creature glittered confidently... "Look," he said, this time gently, as if the autonomic interviewer were really alive and not merely an arbitrarily endowed sentient concoction of the ingenuity of Wes-block technology of A.D. 2004 |
| From The Zap Gun,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Galaxy Publishing in 1965 Additional resources -
|
The use of the word "autonomic" is very clever. Although dictionaries list it as synonymous with "autonomous", most of us associate the word with the "autonomic nervous system", thus blurring the line between mechanical constructs and organic materials. It's as if stepping up to someone and posing irritating questions becomes an involuntary action, unmediated by conscious thought - an autonomic reflex.
The humble autonomic interviewer is exactly the sort of "receptor" that gathered news for the vast cybernetic homeostatic newspapers (also called homeopapes) of PKD's bleak future.
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As far as the future is concerned 'they're the only experts we have'.
'The walls and ceiling bore an irregular spacing of illuminum tiles...'
'The planes flew continuously, twenty-four hours a day...'
'It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time.'
'...a single perfectly level platform, which rose so high above the water that it was not splashed by the waves.'
'Is an extra-factual memory that convincing?' Quail asked.
