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"If we're going to be consistent and advocate freedom of speech we have to advocate freedom of encrypted speech too. The genie is out of the bottle, cryptologically."
- Neal Stephenson
 |
| Eager Beaver | ||
| Your friendly robot helper. |
The Eager Beaver is a specialist; it works in a hospital and has additional subroutines to assist hospital staff. However, when it fails to understand a command, it proffers a card with the following information.
| IMPORTANT NOTICE! This service automaton does not understand human speech. It has no
understanding at all, being merely a machine. But for your convenience it has been designed to
respond to a list of spoken orders. It will ignore anything else said in its presence, or (if any phrase triggers it incompletely or such that a circuit dilemma is created) it will offer this instruction sheet. |
| Technovelgy from The Door Into Summer,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by Fantasy & Science Fiction in 1956 Additional resources -
|
To me, this provides evidence of real engineering effort and thought. This is not magically waving a wand and making a perfect robot with perfectly human understanding. This is a device; it has limits and states them clearly for the user.
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Door Into Summer
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and Technology by Robert Heinlein
Tech news articles related to The Door Into Summer
Tech news articles related to works by Robert Heinlein
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'...Anything was possible in my imaginary environment.'
'Somewhere in space, a chrome and blue automobile raced the green light of Earth.'
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair...'
'We had discovered that metal was relatively impervious to the telepathic effect.'
'Detailed plans for the construction of the Gundstetter-Halone warp drive were flowing.'
'Do not waste your priceless company on the unappreciative folds of a sleep pod...'
'...so we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
