Past predictions: sci-fi can be fun, but don't count on it

Article Abstract:

Science fiction has predicted with a varying degree of accuracy the progress of technology. Authors, including Thomas More, Edward Bellamy, HG Wells, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Ray Bradbury and Arthur C Clarke, have all predicted technologies that have either come to fruition or are on the verge of coming to fruition. Some of the more bizarre forecasts include Bradbury's story about walls that can create sounds and sights that represent reality; the corresponding technology in 1991 is called virtual reality. Other technologies, such as Clarke's PicturePhone, are possible but not feasible because of existing infrastructures. Science fiction often carries with it a political or social commentary about how technology can go awry and cause distress to the human race.

Computers, Digital computers, Forecasts and trends, High technology, Literature, Science fiction, Forecasting, Virtual reality, Future Technologies

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Scientists produce an electronic device that mimics the behavior of brain cell

Article Abstract:

Scientists have developed an electronic computer device that can mimic the human brain cell. Software publishers previously had tried to develop programs that approximated human functioning, but these required more time and memory than the software could reliably handle. The model presented by a British neuroscientist and a US computer scientist simulates patterns of the brain by sending electrical currents that fade or grow and are not limited to on- and off- transmissions. The device was measured with the same tools that are used to measure nerve cells, with similar results reported. There is no evidence yet that this model is necessarily more accurate or useful for the study of the human brain than the complex software and on-off models presented by others.

Research, Product development, Neural networks, Artificial intelligence, Nervous system, Brain, Computer science, Scientific Research, Experimental Computers, Neural Network

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