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"I kind of take it for granted that our great-grandchildren will regard us as a sort of precursor species. That they won't think of us as human and if we could see them, we probably wouldn't think of them as human either."
- William Gibson
 |
| Skrode | ||
| A small mobile platform designed for a legless race. |
| Ravna looked across the surf. When the waves backed down the sand, she could see the Skroderiders' fronds peeping out of the spray... They sat in the surf, thinking thoughts that left no imprint on their minds...
Then some unknown race had chanced upon the dreamers and decided to "help them out." Someone had put them on mobile platforms, the skrodes. With wheels they could move along the seashores, could reach and manipulate with their fronds and tendrils. With the skrode's mechanical short-term memory, they could learn fast enough that their new mobility would not kill them... |
| Technovelgy from A Fire Upon The Deep,
by Vernor Vinge. Published by Tor Books in 1992 Additional resources -
|
Skroderiders sometimes performed an action repeatedly; their only short-term memory lay in their skrodes:
Compare to the Martian perambulators from Between Planets (1951) by Robert Heinlein.
When the Riders tried to think on more than one thing at a time, their Skrodes were sometimes unable to maintain short-term memory. Blueshell especially got trapped into cycles of behavior, repeating an action and then immediately forgetting the accomplishment.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from A Fire Upon The Deep
More Ideas
and Technology by Vernor Vinge
Tech news articles related to A Fire Upon The Deep
Tech news articles related to works by Vernor Vinge
Skrode-related
news articles:
- Cockroach-Controlled Mobile Robot
- Terranaut - Fish Explore Land With Robotic Vehicle
- Mothbot: Moth Controls Robotic Vehicle
- PlantBot: Humans Provide Gift Of Greater Mobility With 'Skrodes'
- Solar Nomad Plant A Robotic Urban Parasite
- Hamster Powers, Controls Strandbeest Walking Robot
- Project Shellter 3D Prints Homes For Crabs
- Pepper The Parrot's Bird Buggy
- Male Moths Cruise For Girls In Robotic Vehicle
- Mattel Bug Racer Driven By Live Cricket
- HEXA Robotic Help For Plants
- Giving Snakes Their Legs Back
- Mushroom 'Robot' Is Just A Start
| Waymo And Tesla 'Autonomous Cabs' Are Piloted By Remote Drivers |
| Maybe It's Too Soon To Require Autonomous Mode |
| Caterpillar Electric Mining Loader Not Yet Ready For Moon |
| Engineer Creates Crazy Motorized Track Hospital Bed |
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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.'
