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"You have to budget the number of fuzzy rules you use to control a system. It turns out, you can state the optimality principle in three words: 'patch the bumps.'"
- Bart Kosko
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| Force-Field | ||
| A barrier to objects, created by projected forces. |
The notion of a force-field is widely used in science fiction; this is the first reference I know about.
| They approached the aero fearlessly, appearing now as suits of red and white metal with crystal head-pieces above which protruded luminous green horns. As the little figures sped upward or came to rest, these correspondingly came together or diverged, showing that by interaction between them and a force field of some sort these individual flyers were propelled. Where hands would have been, on Earth, twin pivoted ray-tubes were fastened. |
| Technovelgy from A Subterranean Adventure,
by George Paul Bauer. Published by Wonder Stories in 1930 Additional resources -
|
John W. Campbell picked up on this idea in Islands of Space (1931):
Here's another very early reference, from 1931, by 'Doc Smith writing in Space Hounds of IPC:
Compare to other early ideas about projecting force, like attractive ray from Edmond Hamilton's 1928 novel Crashing Suns or the super-photon ray from Campbell's 1932 story Invaders from the Infinite.
Arcot had used the force field that produced the directed motions of the molecules as a weapon.
He first called Mars, the home planet of Alcantro and Fedanzo, the foremost force-field experts of three planets; and was assured in no uncertain terms that those rulers of rays were ready and anxious to follow wherever Brandon and Westfall might lead.
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'Nemourlon armor of reasonable weight resists penetration by most fragments and any bullet that is not both reasonably heavy and fairly high-velocity.'
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'Its slack walls tightened, bulged, were crossed by ripples and waves of movement.'
'Norman... had never ridden any motorized device that lacked onboard steering and balance systems.'
You will note that HG Wells also figured out the aspect ratio of the future!
'As though a switch had been turned off, the pain stopped...'
'At the ringside opposite them a table had been removed to make room for a large transparent plastic capsule on wheels.'
'... he realized that the moving thing inside was - of course - a robot.'
