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"...science fiction is sort of like a sociological genome. It's a huge range of possible futures, most of them useless; some vital. You never really know in advance."
- Peter Watts
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| Automat | ||
| Unusual name for an intelligent robot; short for "automaton"? |
This is an unusual word; in the early part of the Twentieth century, the word "automat" was most commonly used for a place where what we would call automatic vending machines would provide packaged or plated food in exchange for coins.
| “So be it. Scarecrow,’’ he said, holding his features impassive; for he was half afraid that the weird mechanical mind of the automat had somehow gained abnormal wisdom through its derangement, and could read his face. |
| Technovelgy from Mad Robot,
by Raymond Z. Gallun. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1936 Additional resources -
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"The robot solemnly hit a ball against the wall, picked it up and teed it, hit it again, over and again...'
'There was a wall ahead... It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
'...support the interior human structure against Jupiter’s pull.'
'Anything larger than a BB shot it picked up and placed in a tray...'
'The German chemists have discovered how to supply the needed elements in compact, undiluted form...'
'Compounds devised by the biochemists for the rapid building of bone...'
'The car faltered as the external command came to brake...'
'It is about the size and shape of a kitchen stool, gyro-stabilized...'
