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"I have been a soreheaded occupant of a file drawer labeled 'Science Fiction' and I would like out, particularly since so many serious critics regularly mistake the drawer for a urinal."
- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
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| Robot Judge | ||
| Artificially intelligent legal machine - robes and all. |
Carl Tritt, opportunistic payroll robber, receives a carefully calculated verdict.
| The judge was impressive in his black robes and omniscient in the chromium perfection of his skull. His voice rolled like the crack of doom; rich and penetrating.
"Carl Tritt, this court finds you guilty as charged. On 218, 2143 you did willfully and maliciously steal the payroll of the Marcrix Corporation, a sum totaling 318,000 cr., and did attempt to keep these same credits for your own. The sentence is twenty years." The black gavel fell with the precision of a pile driver and the sound bounced back and forth inside Carl's head. Twenty years. He bloodless fingers on the steel bar of justice and looked up into the judge's electronic eyes. There was perhaps a hint of compassion, but no mercy there. The sentence had been passed and recorded in the Central Memory. There was no appeal. |
| Technovelgy from Robot Justice,
by Harry Harrison. Published by Fantastic Universe in 1959 Additional resources -
|
Let's hope none of us hears this sound:
A sudden humming came from the robot judge as he stirred to life...
Harrison has this idea quite early; compare to the lawyer program in David Brin's 1990 novel Earth and LEX (Law Expert System) from Greg Egan's 1991 short story The Moat.
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Tech news articles related to Robot Justice
Tech news articles related to works by Harry Harrison
Robot Judge-related
news articles:
- Artificial Neural Network Predicts Death Row Executions
- Judges Who Google: The Tip Of The Iceberg?
| Will Robots Become Family Caregivers? |
| RoboBallet The Dance Of Cooperative Robots |
| Does CloneRobotics Offer A True Android? |
| Robots Repair And Modify Themselves |
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'He was in a high-ceilinged windowless cell with walls of glittering white porcelain.'
'I don't have to tell you about the seven two-mile-diameter orbital mirrors...'
'The robant and the tiny old woman entered the control room slowly...'
'Guy named Otto Octavius winds up with eight limbs... What are the odds?'
'It is as you thought when you constructed the time crystal, my master Vaylan.'
'This was their world, their planet — this swift-traveling, yet seemingly moveless vessel.'
