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"I realized there was a heavy-duty change coming in biology, and I could write a really compelling novel about catastrophic evolution, punctuated equilibrium."
- Greg Bear
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| Talking Head | ||
| A mechanical head (with an analog voice) used as the output terminal for a computer. |
One of the elements I most admire in Gibson's work is the use of archaic devices to provide a background for the high technology elements. A favorite is this talking head, which spurns inexpensive digital voice reproduction in favor of an elaborate mechanism which creates a woodwind-like sound.
| …a head, an intricately worked bust, cloisonné over platinum, studded with seed pearls and lapis. ..The thing was a computer terminal…it could talk. And not in a synth-voice, but with a beautiful arrangement of gears and miniature organ pipes. It was a baroque thing for anyone to have constructed, a perverse thing, because synth-voice chips cost next to nothing…Smith jacked the head into his computer and listened as the melodious, inhuman voice piped the figures of last year's tax return. |
| Technovelgy from Neuromancer,
by William Gibson. Published by Phantasia Press in 1984 Additional resources -
|
There are lots of other examples; I particularly liked his description of the living quarters of the owner of an entire orbital village, which contained "old" pieces of technology that are current in the 1980's, when the novel was written.
Compare to the artificially produced speech from Hotel Cosmos (1938) by Raymond Z. Gallun.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Neuromancer
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and Technology by William Gibson
Tech news articles related to Neuromancer
Tech news articles related to works by William Gibson
Talking Head-related
news articles:
- WT-6 Waseda Talking Robot Head From Neuromancer
- WAHHA GO GO Laughing Head
- Musical Robotic Head
- Korean Talking Robotic Head
| Great. Now AIs Have Access To Hacking Tools |
| Tongue-Controlled Tong Wearable Mouth Computer |
| Interpol Launches Metaverse For Law Enforcement |
| AVATECT Prevents Spoofing Of Avatars |
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'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'
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'Then the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and they stood an instant transfixed...'
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'...copy two of the original document no longer can be superimposed on copy one.'
My prize robot, tall, dashing would speak and act for me...
'A palm lock must be keyed to one individual's hand shape and palm lines.'
'I have transferred the ego of a dog to a synthetic dog brain in the skull case of a robot dog.'
