Isaac Asimov's (1950) "I, Robot" is recommended reading.  It ranks with Bates & North's (1951) "The Day the Earth Stood Still", Huxley's (1932) "Brave New World", Orwell's (1949) "1984", Heinlein's (1961) "Stranger in a Strange Land", and Brunner's (1975) "The Shockwave Rider" as thought provoking and eerily predictive classics.

 

Regards,

 

Frank Gribbin



	-----Original Message----- 

	From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion on behalf of Wirt Atmar 

	Sent: Sun 1/2/2005 8:25 PM 

	To: [log in to unmask] 

	Cc: 

	Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] monitor disconnects

	

	



	James writes:

	

	> "There have always been ghosts in the machine.  Random segments of code that

	>  have grouped together to unexpected protocols" ;-)  quoted from iRobot...

	

	I'm very impressed with the level of literacy and poetry of James' response.

	In that regard, the longer quote of the same material is:

	

	"Ever since the first computers here have always been ghosts in the machine.

	Random segments of code... that have grouped together to form unexpected

	protocols. Unanticipated? There free radicals engender questions of free will...

	creativity... and even the nature of what we might call the soul."

	

	The moral being: who knows what your forgotten and unexpressed code segments

	may evolve into?

	

	However, James does have the title a bit wrong. "iRobot" is the company

	founded by Rodney Brooks of MIT's artificial intelligence lab, which makes the

	Roomba vaccuum cleaners. "I, Robot" is actually the title of Isaac Asimov's book

	series.

	

	To pick a nit... Otherwise, no one I know reads science fiction.

	

	Wirt Atmar

	

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