it's my blog and I cry if I want to @chateau-technicolor - Tumblr Blog

I went to a library book sale this weekend and I found a very old book called “Electronic Life: How to Think About Computers,” which was published in I think 1975? I’ve been reading it kind of like how I would read a historical document, and it’s lowkey fascinating

smol-blue-bird

There’s a whole paragraph that’s like “okay, find the keyboard. Don’t panic if it has more keys than a typewriter, that’s normal. Really, it’s fine. The extra keys don’t make things harder. It’s FINE”

smol-blue-bird

Thought this section was particularly interesting:

Can the computer create something? At first glance it seems obvious that it can. Animated computer graphics, with their fluid transitions and whiplash perspectives, look strikingly new. And if one watches the machine doing animation work, there seem to be lengthy periods when the computer is acting “on its own.”

But if one observes these processes in more detail, it becomes clear that creation is not occurring within the machine. First of all, computer graphics are not unique. Computers have yet to generate anything that cannot be done by hand—and usually already has been done. Second, the apparent ability of the computer to “act on its own” is the outcome of thousands of hours of patient human effort to refine its instructions. The computer can manipulate a shape for us if we have already informed it what a shape is, what the rules for shape manipulation are, what this specific shape is, and so forth.

You can start an automobile engine and it will run by itself, too, but that doesn’t mean it’s being creative. It’s just running.

theriu

Somebody in 1975 had a better understanding of why artificial intelligence is not in any way “intelligence” than the majority of today’s intellectual minds.

poolsofchrome

I'd like to request a late checkout

jmfenner91

👻

rosenkranz-does-things

some attempts at vintage pulp covers style

rocals

does anyone know if we have the time loop today

70sscifiart

This Control Panel Saturday, we're doing skeletons! Here's Karl Stephan’s 1961 cover to "Utopia Zukunftsroman" #299.

#Karl Stephan #sci fi

rocals

does anyone know if we have the time loop today

dracs-deactivated20230903

drenamigmofridgemagnets

No Wrong Answer

I saw this writing prompt a while back and it was stuck in my head until I finally cranked out a short story about it.

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

drenamigmo

I submitted this story and one other one to the Next Generation Short Story Awards. My other one didn't place, but it was a story that was deeply soul-enriching and I was extremely proud of it.

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

inbabylontheywept

These are both absolutely stupidly good stories. I'm actually flabbergasted that they're not like. Explodingly popular here. This is a super-recc.

thinkstooohard

chills...these were indeed hella good

beholdingslut

in absolute tears about the pride module at my work

dikdikpronouncedxylophone

bigfoots-biggest-fan

HOLY SHIT GUYS, I WAS INSPIRED BY THIS POST TO TRY MAKE THE SONG AND YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE THE SCREAM I SCRUMPT WHEN I DRAGGED THE TRAINING AUDIO OVER THE BACKING TRACK AND IT LINED UP PERFECTLY