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
"in 1974 I experienced an invasion of my mind by a transcendentally rational mind, as if I had been insane all my life and suddenly I had become sane."
- Philip K. Dick
 |
| Jack In | ||
| To open one's nervous system to a computer's virtual world. |
As far as I know, this is the first reference to the idea that a humanoid being (note that it is an android doing it) can directly perceive information presented by a computer.
The individual who is using the computer feed is an android, a redesigned and (in some ways) perfected form of human being.
| As he pushed the computer's snub-tipped terminal node into the input jack on his left forearm, the android saw Leon Spaulding's lip tighten in a scowl of - what? Contempt, envy, patronizing scorn? ...At the click of contact, the computer impulses came flooding across the interface into his brain and he forgot about Spaulding.
It was like having a thousand eyes... He was in total communion with the computer, making use of all its sensors, scanners and terminals. Why go through the tedious routine of talking to a computer, when it was possible to design an android capable of becoming part of one? The data torrent brought a surge of ecstasy. ...He raised and lowered scooprods, requisitioned next week's blocks, ordered filaments for the tachyon-beam men... No human could handle this, he knew, even if there was some way for humans to jack themselves directly into a computer... Watchman unjacked himself. |
| From Tower of Glass,
by Robert Silverberg. Published by Gollancz in 1970 Additional resources -
|
William Gibson made frequent use of this term and idea in his 1985 blockbuster Neuromancer:
It was exactly the sensation of someone reading over his shoulder.
Compare to eccentric projection from The Girl Who Was Plugged In (1974) by James Tiptree, Jr.
He slotted some ice, connected the construct and jacked in.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Tower of Glass
More Ideas
and Technology by Robert Silverberg
Tech news articles related to Tower of Glass
Tech news articles related to works by Robert Silverberg
| Ribbit Amphibian Cellphone Internet Mashup |
| Hypersonic Sound (HSS) - Loudspeaker Just For You |
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 car surged and lifted, clearing its top by a negligible margin.'
Science fiction authors are serious about sleep, too.
'I had explained," said Nessus, "that our civilisation was dying in its own waste heat.'
'Just what did I want Flexible Frank to do? - any work a human being does around a house.'
SF writers have thought about this since the 19th century.
There's a lesson in this for neural net AI engineers everywhere.
