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This, and "The Machine Stops" by E M Forster (http://www.plexus.org/forster/index.html) are my two favorite science fiction shorts.

Both very relevant, and slightly humorous where we surpassed the technology in the stories. A computer weighs more than two humans! And still has crippled computing power. Makes me smile every time.

*Edit: Asimov probably imagined our missiles looking like this: http://www.yellow-llama.com/wp-content/uploads/harddrive.jpg . That dish washer being the hard drive (is actually a hard drive). And minus the humans inside.



Upvoted for "The Machine Stops". What vision from 1908! I notice that it's copyright EMF 1947. Any idea what that means? There's something about 'dying in France' that made me think of the Great War.


And to think, this is by the same author who wrote A Passage to India, which is in the entirely different genre. It's amazing that someone who wasn't even a science fiction writer could have such skill at seeing the future.




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