Science meets fiction after WWII

1. Post World War II

2. A new generation of Science Fiction writers • Shaped by World War II, advances in nuclear research, rocketry and computing

3. Isaac Asimov • Born Isaak Ozimov on January 2, 1920 in Russia • Died April 6, 1992 • Became a professor of biochemistry at Boston University • Had a Bachelor of Science, a Master of Arts and a Doctor of Philosophy from Columbia University • Known for works of science fiction and popular science • Considered one of the “Big Three” science fiction writers

4. KNOWN FOR FUTURISM • Robot Series • Galactic Empire Series

5. Robots and Ethics • The robot stories of Isaac Asimov introduced the "three laws of robotics." Later, he added the "zeroth" law. • Law Zero: •         A robot may not injure humanity, or, though inaction, allow humanity to come to harm. • Law One: •         A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, unless this would violate a higher order law. • Law Two: •         A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would confict with a higher order law. • Law Three: •         A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with a higher order law.

6. LAWS OF ROBOTICS

7. “Robot” Etymology • The word "Robot" comes from the 1921 play "R.U.R." (Rossum's Universal Robots) by the Czech writer Karel Capek (pronounced "chop'ek").  "Robot" comes from the Czech word "robota", meaning "forced labor." • The word "robotics" first appeared in the short story "Runaround" (1942) by Isaac Asimov.

8. Ray Bradbury • Born August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois • One of the most prominent American Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, and Mystery Fiction writers of the 20th and 21st Centuries

9. Ray Bradbury • Best known for his dystopian novels • Explored the human condition and commented on the human consequences of progress • Explored the human heart and would seek to flesh out the darkest parts of human nature

10. Famous Works Bradbury published more than thirty books, close to 600 short stories, and numerous poems, essays and plays.

11. Ray Bradbury If we listened to our intellect, we'd never have a love affair. We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go into business, because we'd be cynical. Well, that's nonsense. You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down. Ray Bradbury

12. Post world war II • Anti-communist movement led by Senator Joseph McCarthy—blacklisted Hollywood actors, banned books—in the 1940s-1950s (McCarthy Era). • Cold War Era • Korean War • Meteoric rise of TV • Increase of technology

13. Technology • A technological revolution transformed war efforts like the Manhattan Project into a collection of post–war scientists hard at work to improve transportation, satellites, and a expanding range of consumer goods that were often the byproducts of military research • The new field of computers also reflected the technology of the era; tiny transistors would help miniaturize computers for use in many items from ovens to vacuum cleaners

14. CYBERNETICS 1948 • Cybernetics began as the science of communication and control in the animal, machine, and society; i.e. special types of systems. It operates on two levels: study of an observed system & study of the people studying a system. Originated from the R & D process in the development of the atomic bomb- applied scientific theory & principles in real-world setting.

15. CYBERNETICS • Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. • Cybernetics is closely related to control theory and systems theory • The term cybernetics stems from the Greek κυβερνήτης (kybernētēs, steersman, governor, pilot, or rudder — the same root as government).

16. 1944 – Howard Aiken & Grace Hopper – Harvard Mark I Computer • The IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC) Computer was created by IBM for Harvard University, which called it the Mark I. First universal calculator.

17. 1943/1944 – Colossus Mark I & II • The Colossus Mark I & II are widely acknowledged as the first programmable electric computers, and were used at Bletchley Park to decode German codes encrypted by the Lorenz SZ40/42.

18. 1946 –John Eckert & John W. Mauchly – ENIAC 1 Computer • ENIAC was short for Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer. It was the first general purpose (programmable to solve any problem) electric computer. It contained over 17,000 vacuum tubes, weighed 27 tones and drew 150 kW of power to operate.

19. 1947 –The transistor • Invented by William Shockley (seated) John Bardeen & Walter Brattain at Bell Labs.The transistor would eventually replace bulky vacuum tubes with a smaller, more reliable, and power saving solid sate circuit.

20. 1951 – UNIVAC 25 feet by 50 feet in size 5,600 tubes, 18,000 crystal diodes 300 relays Internal storage capacity of 1,008 fifteen bit words was achieved using 126 mercury delay lines • First commercial computer - Between 1951 and 1958, 47 UNIVAC I computers were delivered.

21. 1951 – UNIVAC • UNIVAC tape units.

22. 1951 – UNIVAC • UNIVAC tube board and individual vacuum tube.

23. 1960 – First commercial transistorized computers • DEC introduced the PDP-1and IBM released the 7090 which was the fastest in the world.

24. 1964 – The mouse and window concept • Douglas Engelbart demonstrates the worlds first “mouse”, nicknamed after the “tail”. SRI (Stanford Research Institute) received a patent on the mouse in 1970, and licensed it to apple for $40,000.

25. 1969 - ARPANET • The precursor to the Internet as we know it, funded by ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency now DARPA) begins. • The first four nodes were located at: • UCLA • Stanford Research Institute • UC Santa Barbara • University of Utah

26. 1970 – Intel 1103 Dynamic Memory Chip • Worlds first commercially available dynamic memory chip, 1024 bytes or 1KB

27. 1971 – Intel 4004 Microprocessor • Worlds first microprocessor with 2,300 transistors, had the same processing power as the 3,000 cubic-foot ENIAC.

28. Questions • Describe some of the social and technological changes that influenced the science fiction of the post world war II era • Compare and contrast Asimov and Bradbury. • Define Cybernetics • Summarize some of the significant developments in computing from 1943-1971