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Showing posts with label Isaac Asimov. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Isaac Asimov. Show all posts

Friday, February 28, 2014

What Did The World's Fair of 2014 Look Like 50 Years Ago?

Issac Asimov was pretty accurate when he predicted what the world would look like in 50 years. Check out one of his prognostications.

Robots will neither be common nor very good in 2014, but they will be in existence. The I.B.M. exhibit at the present fair has no robots but it is dedicated to computers, which are shown in all their amazing complexity, notably in the task of translating Russian into English. If machines are that smart today, what may not be in the works 50 years hence? It will be such computers, much miniaturized, that will serve as the "brains" of robots. In fact, the I.B.M. building at the 2014 World's Fair may have, as one of its prime exhibits, a robot housemaid*large, clumsy, slow- moving but capable of general picking-up, arranging, cleaning and manipulation of various appliances. It will undoubtedly amuse the fairgoers to scatter debris over the floor in order to see the robot lumberingly remove it and classify it into "throw away" and "set aside." (Robots for gardening work will also have made their appearance.)

Exactly what they look like now. The whole piece is amazing. Read it!