Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to re: And we can thank Star Trek

Heinlein kept up to date...
Adam — (archived)

Hi Tom

His "Space Jockey" (1947) story had a computer on a Moon-liner, and computers featured in his starship stories. "Citizen of the Galaxy" had targeting computers on a starship's defense systems. By the late 1950s computers were like furniture in every story - but no one expected pocket computers... except Asimov. Start of "Foundation" (1950) has Hari Seldon working with a graphics capable calculator pad. Asimov had said, post calculators, that he didn't imagine it to be much smarter than a slide-rule. In "End of Eternity" (1953) the main character, Harlan, has a desk-top super-computer, so Asimov wasn't too far wrong. He even had a molecular memory recorder capable of storing 50 million words... about iPod size, though from the 55th Century.

Oh well... seems John Barnes' assumption about every technology wave producing 10% magic isn't too far wrong. Micro-computer systems were hand-waved into the distant future - Asimov's Galactic Lens with 100 million micro-circuits is some ~ 25,000 years from now. Such a system would be a couple of Moore's Law cycles behind us now.

Adam

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