Interesting People mailing list archives
Forty-four years ago
From: David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>
Date: Sun, 29 May 1994 16:26:06 -0400
Date: Sun, 29 May 1994 13:17:17 -0700 From: Mike Godwin <mnemonic () well sf ca us> 'You got a Logic in your house. It looks like a vision-receiver used to, only it's got keys instead of dials and you punch the keys for what you wanna get. It's hooked into the tank, which has the Carson Circuit all fixed up with relays. Say you punch in "Station SNAFU" on your Logic. Relays in the tank take over an' whatever vision-program SNAFU is telecastin' comes on your Logic's screen. Or you punch "Sally Hancock's Phone" and' the screen blinks an' sputters and' you're hooked up with the Logic in her house an' if somebody answers you got a vision-phone connection. But besides that, if you punch for the weather forecast or who won today's race at Hialeah or who was mistress of the White House durin' Garfield's administration or what is PDQ and R sellin' for today, that comes on the screen too. The relays in the tank do it. The tank is a big buildin' full of all the facts in creation an' all the recorded telecasts that ever was made -- an' it's hooked in with all the other tanks all over the country -- an' everything you wanna know or see or hear, you punch for it an' you get it. Very convenient. Also it does math for you, an' keeps books, an' acts as consultin' chemist, physicist, astronomer an' tea-leaf reader, with a "Advice to the Lovelorn" thrown in. ...'
From the story "A Logic Named Joe" by Murray Leinster, 1950.
Later adapted as an episode of the "Dimension X" radio series.
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- Forty-four years ago David Farber (May 29)