![]() |
Science Fiction
Dictionary Latest By
"Evolutionary success ... is going to absolutely require mobility on, at a minimum, an interplanetary scale. We either go or we die out."
|
![]() |
![]() Cities in Flight deals with long-term space travel. The cities are actual Earth cities (like New York and Scranton, Pa.) that were able to literally pick up and leave the planet thanks to the development of the spindizzy. Some of the city inhabitants were able to live effectively forever, thanks to drugs that were available; but only if they had the skills needed by the city. The City Fathers tutored the children of the city, decided who would be a citizen with skills that were needed (and live forever with geriatric drugs) and who would be a passenger with a normal life span.
This is an interesting early look at the idea of intelligent computer systems. One of the most important aspects of the City Fathers is that the plural is used because the system consists of a group of computers. The different units monitor each other, and constantly gauge each other's behavior and make repairs. The system has both redundancy and internal error-checking.
One of the essential functions of the City Fathers was to act as the memory for the people under their care. In the novel, the city administrators (as opposed to passengers) were practically immortal.
This excerpt describes one of the machines which comprised the City Fathers:
“CARD A CCEPTED. PROCEED...”
[After getting the answer,] Chris sat back, scratching his head in exasperation. He had hoped for a clear-cut, yes-or-no answer, but what he had gotten stood squarely in the middle.
Then he noticed that the booth had not returned his card to him. This was quite usual; it meant only that the Librarian, which spent its whole mechanical life substituting free association for thinking, had a related subject it would talk about if he liked. Usually it wasn’t worth while exploring these, for the Librarian could go on forever if so encouraged; all he needed to do now was to say “Return,” and he could take his card and go. But the take-cover alert wasn’t over yet; so, instead, he said, “Proceed.”
Compare this system to another which seems to consist of a single entity; check out the Big Computer, from Millennium, by John Varley.
The oldest reference I know about is the Government Machine from Mechanocracy (1932) by Miles J. Breuer. Comment/Join this discussion ( 2 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
resources: City Fathers-related
news articles:
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
|
![]() |
Science Fiction
Timeline
The Mojo Smart Contact Lens Experience
'... the lens displays would be useless without a wearable computer to do the graphics.'
Small Town Wants 60 License Plate Readers
'the registration number which the traffic control automatically photographed as she left the controlway...'
Lightyear 0 World's First Production-Ready Solar Car
'It could maintain a steady six miles per hour...'
AI Robots Excel At Trash Sorting And Recycling
'Then they press one of these here thirteen buttons...'
Could Increased Space Rocketry Damage The Ozone Layer?
'...without burning a single hydrocarbon molecule to injure the diseased atmosphere any further.'
Festo BionicSwift Bird Robots Described In 1930
'Bird-like robots now descended from the ceiling of the theatre...'
Robotics Jobs In The Food Industry
'The efficient robot waiter of the Sky Club had cleared away the remnants of an epicurean meal.'
Prototype 3D Printer Could Print Arteries In Seconds
'...in the tank the new body and the new mind and memory and life has taken almost instant form.'
|
![]() |
![]() |
Home | Glossary
| Science Fiction Timeline | Category | New | Contact
Us | FAQ | Advertise | ![]() Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™ Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved. |
![]() |