Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"The planet's immune system is doing everything it can. The planet's immune system is doing everything it can."
- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
 |
| Computer Vision (Artificial Eye) | ||
| A device which, attached to a suitable computer, will allow the device to see. |
How can you prove that your artificial, metallic brain works and is conscious? You might try providing it with vision.
| "The T-wave, the vibratory current, is produced over there, and led into the brain case to act on the atomic organism inside. Right now that thing is conscious."
"...And I can prove it now. Since you last saw it I've provided it with the sense of sight. See that inset lens? Well, it's like no lens you ever saw, for it's really an artificial eye, that I made myself. There is an artificial retina beneath and it is connected direct to the brain-stuff, and carries its sensations to it, as electric currents. "An artificial retina?" asked Lanier. "Isn't that going a bit too far? An inorganic material sensitive to light?" "Did you never hear of a substance called selenium?" asked Detmold with fine sarcasm, as as Lanier started, he added, "Ah, you begin to see! You remember that the electrical resistance of selenium varies enormously in light and in darkness, and you begin to perceive how the light striking that artificial retina could be translated into electricity and flashed to the brain." |
| Technovelgy from The Metal Giants,
by Edmond Hamilton. Published by Weird Tales in 1926 Additional resources -
|
This is a very early reference to the idea that an inorganic "brain" or computing device could be provided with vision, which today is called "machine vision".
Compare to the more modern conception of a vision strip from Orphans of the Void (1952) by Orville Shaara.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Metal Giants
More Ideas
and Technology by Edmond Hamilton
Tech news articles related to The Metal Giants
Tech news articles related to works by Edmond Hamilton
Computer Vision (Artificial Eye)-related
news articles:
- Robots May Get Compound Insect Eye Vison
- Jumping Spiders And Machine Vision
| AI Worms That Spread |
| Great. Now AIs Have Access To Hacking Tools |
| Tongue-Controlled Tong Wearable Mouth Computer |
| Interpol Launches Metaverse For Law Enforcement |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
'The car had no steering wheel, and no one drove!'
Now that's power walking that Hugo Gernsback would have approved.
'It was disturbing to think of the Flatline as a construct...'
'...he rewired the delivery robot so that it would serve him midnight snacks.'
'On went the electric-yacht faster and still faster.'
'...the huge vessel had spun, with a sickening lurch, through a complete half-circle, the instant the power was reversed.'
'...he realized that it was not quite a clear lens. Speckles of colored brightness swirled and gathered in it.'
