Comments on Paleo-Future: The Answer Machine (1964)

OMG, this reminded me of Married With Children, wh...

2008-03-25T16:59:00.000-04:00

OMG, this reminded me of Married With Children, where they got a computer.

Kelly says, "I typed in 'Ishmael'. And you know what it told me? 'Ishamel'!"

actually, this one is called google today :)

2007-09-21T01:39:00.000-04:00

actually, this one is called google today :)

I recall having read, maybe in The Jargon File, ab...

2007-06-08T18:34:00.000-04:00

I recall having read, maybe in The Jargon File, about an early prototype of a machine to write in a TV screen via a typewriter. Not like a modern (or even old) computer, forget about memory or processors, you just type and the letters appear in the screen.

The future is tricky because everything is joined ...

2007-05-23T06:28:00.000-04:00

The future is tricky because everything is joined together. Change one thing and everything else changes. But when he think about the future it's easier to imagine adding one cool new feature (an artificial intelligence answer machine) and leaving everything else (the typewriter, the clothes) pretty much the same. One of my favourite examples of "Getting It So Wrong, It's Right" is Kelly Freas's cover for Murray Leinster's "The Pirates of Ersatz" in the February 1959 "Astounding Science Fiction" (http://www.noosfere.com/showcase/IMAGES/AST_5902.jpg) showing a space pirate clamber about to clamber into an airlock, blaster in hand and slide rule clenched firmly between his teeth. Well, he might have to do some tricky astrogational calculation once the ship has been captured.