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"...the elements of cyberpunk have dissolved into the whole SF genre, so it’s hard to find anyone writing who doesn’t owe serious debts to Gibson and his crew."
- Richard Morgan
 |
| Boppers | ||
| Self-reproducing robots; they did not obey Asimov's laws for robots (or any other man-made rules). |
These are the machines we fear; independent machines that make their own choices based on their own logic (which owes nothing to us).
| In the shaft's great, vertical tunnel, bright beings darted through the hot light; odd-shaped living machines that glowed with all the colors of the rainbow. These were the boppers; self-reproducing robots who obeyed no man. Some looked humanoid, some looked like spiders, some looked like snakes, some looked like bats. All were covered with flickercladding, a microwired imipolex compound that could absorb and emit light. |
| From Wetware,
by Rudy Rucker. Published by Avon Books in 1988 Additional resources -
|
Compare these robots with the ultimate in sophistication (and servility) - C3PO, the droid from George Lucas' Star Wars.
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Tech news articles related to Wetware
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Boppers-related
news articles:
- Festo's eMotionButterfly, AirJelly And AirPenguin Robots
| MIT Boffins Create Psychopath AI On Purpose |
| China Uses Artificial Intelligence To Grade Student Papers |
| Watch 'Do You Trust This Computer' For Free Today |
| EA Created AI That Taught Itself To Play Battlefield |
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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 Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
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'A worker replaced by a nubot... had to be compensated.'
'... forcing the energy transfer which allowed him to regrow his lost fingers.'
'The car surged and lifted, clearing its top by a negligible margin.'
Science fiction authors are serious about sleep, too.
'I had explained," said Nessus, "that our civilisation was dying in its own waste heat.'
'Just what did I want Flexible Frank to do? - any work a human being does around a house.'
SF writers have thought about this since the 19th century.
