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"Writing about the future, I have a vested interest in there being a future for me to write about."
- John Brunner
 |
| Machine Psychologist | ||
| A computer that understands and uses its knowledge of human psychology to benefit human users. |
This seems like a fairly early reference to the idea of a machine psychologist.
| "Dead though they are, the machines aren't ignorant of human psychology - far from it. They know very well that some students respond better to reward than punishment, and that others have to be driven by fear. The second kind is usually the less intelligent, and they know that, too; how could they not know it after so many generations of experience. You're lucky they've put you in the first category."
... Our City Fathers say he's gone off his rocker, and if the machines can see it, you ought to be able to. In fact, you just said you did." |
| Technovelgy from Cities in Flight,
by James Blish. Published by Avon in 1957 Additional resources -
|
The machines referred to here are of course the city fathers, an early sfnal description of artificial intelligence.
The machines also diagnose specific problems:
Compare this device with
the robot psyche tester from Colony (1953) by Philip K. Dick,
Sigrid von Shrink from Gateway (1970) by Frederik Pohl,
the mechanotherapist from Bad Medicine (a 1956 Robert Sheckley story),
Dr. Smile, from Dick's 1964 novel The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.
The sister, the City Fathers tell us now, is borderline psychotic, which is why she never made citizenship herself...
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Cities in Flight
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and Technology by James Blish
Tech news articles related to Cities in Flight
Tech news articles related to works by James Blish
Machine Psychologist-related
news articles:
- MindMentor Computer-Based Psychotherapy
- 'Virtual Space Station' NASA Software Psychologist
- AI Identifies Suicidal Behavior With 93 Percent Accuracy
- Your Computer Therapist Will See You Now
- Fear of Dentists App, iPhone-based Therapist
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'Chris, the City Fathers are not interested in your welfare; I suppose you know that. They're interested in only one thing: the survival of the city.'
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock...'
'It diverts integers of the data, the fundamental message-units, so that they no longer agree.'
'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color and texture that can approximate only crudely to the vagrant human figure...'
'Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.'
