science (fiction) marches on

From: Anton Sherwood (dasher@netcom.com)
Date: Fri Aug 01 1997 - 01:39:16 MDT


Found in _Rogue Queen_ (1951), a novel by Sprague de Camp:

        The Terrans had spread a dead leipag [native animal] out on
        the ground and taken the beast thoroughly apart. ... Bloch was
        removing all the muscles and organs .... Every few seconds he
        stopped to dictate notes to Barbe, or to tell her to draw a
        sketch or point a camera at the remains ....

If that were written after 1980, Bloch wouldn't have a human assistant:
he'd have a head-mounted camera, which responds to coded movements of
his jaw or eyelids, and a microphone feeding either an AI or a tape.

Anybody want to improve my guess of 1980 as the transition date?

Anton Sherwood *\\* +1 415 267 0685 *\\* DASher@netcom.com



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