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
" I try to sit down at the typewriter four times a day, even if it's only five minutes, and write three sentences. And if I feel like going on, or if something turns me on I'll just keep writing till I'm written out."
- Roger Zelazny
 |
| Hangman | ||
| A telefactoring device that also was able to function independently. |
In this book of novellas, Roger Zelazny shows us some of the life experience of a man who doesn't exist. That is, according to the computer systems of this near future world, he did not exist.
One of the original programmers, he was able to assign himself an identity whenever he wished. Each of the stories is a case he accepted as a contractor from a private investigative agency.
In this story, the Hangman is a remarkable device that was part telefactoring device and part autonomous robot. Using an advanced brain, it learned while being used as a telefactoring device. However, this robot learned more than anyone thought possible from his trainers, returning from a space mission to kill them one by one.
| My mind was filled to the splitting point with the double vision of the sleek, gunmetal body of the advancing telefactor and the erect, crazy-crowned image of myself - left hand extended, laser pistol in my right, that arm pressed close against my side. |
| From My Name is Legion,
by Roger Zelazny. Published by Del Rey in 1976 Additional resources -
|
The above quote describes the experience of both seeing from the robot's point of view and one's own.
This novel explores, in a very thoughtful way, a very unexpected manner in which machine intelligence might arise. It's an interesting question: how much of the complexity of our own thinking and feeling do we want to pass on to machines?
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from My Name is Legion
More Ideas
and Technology by Roger Zelazny
Tech news articles related to My Name is Legion
Tech news articles related to works by Roger Zelazny
Hangman-related
news articles:
- Teleo-Reactive Programs Are Reaching Their Goals
- 'Schizophrenic' Computer Aids Researchers
| Computer Simulates Daydreaming |
| ZenRobotics Sorts Trash With Artificial Intelligence |
| 'Hello, Computer!' Google Now Highlighted at IO13 |
| Universal Translator: Google Translate Has 51 Offline Language Packs |
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 Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
'The gas gave sufficient heat for the culinary apparatus...'
'He pressed hard with his tongue against his right upper first molar.'
'The prototype blue-bellied, gray-backed tracer-bird with the wide-angle eye...'
'See Vee Threepio - Vee for versatility - at your service...'
'Three and a half centimetres in diameter, permanently fixed in the centre of his forehead.'
