TIL that it wasn’t Star Trek TNG that came up with the idea for a positronic brain for androids. Isaac Asimov used that terminology in I, Robot in the 1950s. I’m not sure if he was the first but that’s still decades before Commander Data was imagined into existence. #scifi #StarTrek #IsaacAsimov
@jcct I don't have an authoritative source on this, but I heard that Roddenberry actually explicitly asked Asimov about using the nomenclature for Data
How do they hold up? I read some of them back when they were comparatively new. The field has, shall we say, moved on, since. Maybe time to do a reread. I have a lot of those on my shelves.
I’m only 8% of the way into I, Robot but I’m enjoying it. Have to make allowances for things that sounded high tech that sound anachronistic now. Like the computational machinery making clicking noises or robots looking like bundled pipes.
I've been having that cognitive dissonance with #StarTrek #StrangeNewWorlds as they try to thread the needle between The Far-ar-ar-ar Future-er-er-er and the fact that a lot of the *props* they're using are tech far in advance of what TOS was even positing. ::woggle::
@cavyherd Personally, I resolved that dissonance when I was watching Enterprise. But I'm happy to apply enough handwavium to simply allow for the lack of budget and tech when revisiting the older media.
@cavyherd There is no in-universe way to resolve the problem, and I think people should stop trying. If you can enjoy two completely different productions of "Hamlet", you should be able to accept that a show made in 2021, but set before a show made in 1966, is still going to (and should) look like a show made in 2021.
@cavyherd My personal experience is that the old Asimov novels remain fun to read. Some of his humor relies on things that are no longer familiar, but I'm old enough to appreciate that. There *are* problems with his writing from today's sensibilities (his treatment of women, for example) but it's not too heavy-handed for me, personally, to still enjoy the stories.
@dervish I'll have to go do a reread. I'm old enough that "Golden Age SF" is still my native language, and I can (usually) squint past the problematic bits.
@cavyherd Yes. In "Datalore", the first episode to explore Data's background to any significant extent, Yar refers to Noonien Soong (Data's creator) trying to make "Asimov's dream of a positronic brain" come true.
§ Jason
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matt_panaro
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§ Jason
in reply to matt_panaro • • •It would not surprise me.
Winchell Chung ⚛🚀
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Cavyherd
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in reply to Cavyherd • •CDCastillo
in reply to Hank G ☑️ • • •@cavyherd Man, you’re in for a treat!
May I suggest this reading order?
#Asimov #Foundation #CavesOfSteel #Robots #Empire
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Hank G ☑️
in reply to CDCastillo • •Cavyherd
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Hank G ☑️
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DopeGhoti
in reply to Cavyherd • • •Personally, I resolved that dissonance when I was watching Enterprise. But I'm happy to apply enough handwavium to simply allow for the lack of budget and tech when revisiting the older media.
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Uncle Mikey
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Cavyherd
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My touchstone on that score is Sherlock Holmes, but yes.
I'm trying! (As a favorite teacher would reassure me: I'm very trying!) But as an old school first-gen Trekkie, it's really f'n hard.
Not a problem I would ever, in a thousand years, anticipated to have found myself having....🤯
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Dervishpi
in reply to Cavyherd • • •There *are* problems with his writing from today's sensibilities (his treatment of women, for example) but it's not too heavy-handed for me, personally, to still enjoy the stories.
Cavyherd
in reply to Dervishpi • • •I'll have to go do a reread. I'm old enough that "Golden Age SF" is still my native language, and I can (usually) squint past the problematic bits.
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Thunderstrike
in reply to Cavyherd • • •Yes. In "Datalore", the first episode to explore Data's background to any significant extent, Yar refers to Noonien Soong (Data's creator) trying to make "Asimov's dream of a positronic brain" come true.
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Cavyherd
in reply to Thunderstrike • • •THANK YOU. So, yes, it is actually an in-story reference. Excellent. I thought so, I just didn't remember the specifics.
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Hank G ☑️
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It's early in the episode and it's really just a throwaway, really easy to miss. But I appreciated the nod to Asimov when I first heard it.
Isaac Kuo
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