|
1726
|
Jonathan Swift:
Gulliver's Travels (Academy of Lagado: satirized inventors
and anticipated machine-produced literature) |
|
1818
|
Mary Shelley:
Frankenstein (novel). Sometimes called the first science fiction
novel |
|
1872
|
Samuel Butler:
Erewhon (novel): satirical anti-technological utopia |
|
1888
|
Edward Bellamy:
Looking Backwards (novel): naive but popular utopia in which
society seen as a giant factory |
|
1890
|
William Morris:
News From Nowhere (novel): pastoral utopia |
|
1893
|
Ambrose Bierce:
'Moxon's Master' (story): artificial chess-player kills its maker |
|
1905
|
H. G. Wells:
A Modern Utopia (novel): optimistic view of technologically-dependent
society |
|
1909
|
E. M. Forster:
'The Machine Stops' (story/novella). First technological dystopia,
highlighting over-dependence on machines |
|
1920
|
Yevgeny Zamiatin:
We (novel), (US translation 1924): dystopian vision of society in
which people treated like machines |
|
1921
|
Karel Capek:
R.U.R. [Rossum's Universal Robots] (Czech play): creation of robots
(actually androids) which develop consciousness but satire on treating
people like machines |
|
1926
|
Hugo Gernsback
founded Amazing Stories (magazine)
Fritz Lang: Metropolis (film): regimented society with people dwarfed
by machines |
|
1930
|
Miles J. Breuer:
'Paradise and Iron' (story): mechanical brain coordinating technological
utopia turns into tyrant
Laurence Manning & Fletcher Pratt: 'City of the Living Dead' (story):
machines simulate real experience for people |
|
1931
|
Frankenstein
(film) with Boris Karloff: nothing like novel but established mad
scientist |
|
1932
|
Aldous Huxley:
Brave New World (novel): dystopian rejection of technological 'progress'
|
|
1933
|
H. G. Wells:
The Shape of Things to Come (novel). Last major technologically utopian
novel (film 1936) |
|
1934
|
J. Storer Clouston:
Button Brains (novel): mistaken identity (robot/human) |
|
1934
|
Harl Vincent:
'Rex' (story): robot Rex takes over the world but commits suicide
|
|
1936
|
Modern Times
(film): Charlie Chaplin trying to adapt to the discipline of the machine
|
|
1937
|
John W. Campbell
became editor of Astounding (Stories of) Science Fiction, or ASF (US
science fiction magazine) |
|
1939
|
The Son of Frankenstein
(film) |
|
1940
|
Isaac Asimov:
'Robbie' (story): amiable robot saves child's life |
|
1941
|
Isaac Asimov:
'Reason' (story): robot becomes curious about own existence |
|
1942
|
First appearance
of Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics: |
|
|
A robot may
not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being
to come to harm. |
|
|
A robot must
obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders
would conflict with the First Law. |
|
|
A robot must
protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict
with the First or Second Law. |
|
1943
|
Robert Bloch:
'It Happened Tomorrow' (story): over-dependence on technology |
|
1944
|
Theodore Sturgeon:
'Killdozer' (story): parable about machines acting independently of
human control |
|
1945
|
[DROPPING OF
ATOM BOMB] |
|
1946
|
[FIRST ELECTRONIC
COMPUTER: ENIAC]
Isaac Asimov: 'Evidence' (story): robot simulates human
Murray Leinster (as Will F. Jenkins): 'A Logic Named Joe' (story):
over-dependence on technology |
|
1947
|
Isaac Asimov:
'Little Lost Robot' (story): robot lacks humour |
|
|
Jack Williamson:
'With Folded Hands' (story): robots prepared to use lobotomies to
'protect' human beings |
|
1949
|
George Orwell:
Nineteen Eighty-Four (novel): dystopia in which technology is used
repressively |
|
1950
|
Isaac Asimov:
'The Evitable Conflict' (story): optimistic vision of computer-controlled
world government
Clifford D. Simak: 'Skirmish' (story): machines revolt
Kurt Vonnegut: 'EPICAC' (story): computer produces poetry |
|
1951
|
[FIRST COMMERCIAL COMPUTER - UNIVAC]
Isaac Asimov: 'The Fun They Had' (story): mechanical teacher
Isaac Asimov: 'Satisfaction Guaranteed' (story): mistaken identity
(robot/human)
Lord Dunsany: The Last Revolution (novel): revolution of the machines
C. M. Kornbluth: 'With These Hands' (story): mechanical sculpture
A. E. van Vogt: 'Fulfilment' (story): artificial 'Brain' has developed
consciousness and self-determination |
|
1952
|
Walter Miller: 'Dumb Waiter' (story): we fail to
understand and control our tools
Kurt Vonnegut: Player Piano (novel): dystopian vision of automation
|
|
1953
|
Poul Anderson: 'Sam Hall' (story): technology used
for state surveillance
Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451 (novel, filmed 1966): dystopia in which
technology is used repressively
Arthur C. Clarke: 'The Nine Billion Names of God' (story): computer
ends everything
Philip K Dick: 'Second Variety' (story): robot out of control
Philip K Dick: 'Imposter' (story): mistaken identity (robot/human)
Fritz Leiber: 'Bad Day for Sales' (story): blindness of technological
systems |
|
1954
|
Isaac Asimov: 'Caves of Steel' (story)
Fredric Brown (1954): 'The Answer' (story): Computer as God
Frederick Pohl: 'The Midas Plague' (story): blindness of technological
systems |
|
1955
|
Isaac Asimov: 'Risk' (story): robot test-pilot of
spaceship has to be replaced by a human being
Robert Bloch: 'Comfort Me, My Robot' (story): mistaken identity (robot/human)
Philip K. Dick: 'Autofac' (story): machines can self-reproduce
Walter Miller: 'The Darfsteller' (story): actor made redundant by
robot theatre; mistaken identity (robot/human) |
|
1956
|
Isaac Asimov: 'The Last Question' (story)
Isaac Asimov: 'The Jokester' (story): computer discovers origin of
jokes
Isaac Asimov: The Naked Sun (novel): robot out of control
Robert Silverberg: 'The Macauley Circuit' (story): computers compose
music
Clifford D. Simak: 'So Bright the Vision' (story): machine-produced
literature
The Forbidden Planet (Film) |
|
1957
|
[LAUNCH OF SPUTNIK SATELLITE USHERS IN 'THE SPACE
AGE']
The Invisible Boy (film): First to depict computer as threat to humanity
|
|
1958
|
Brian Aldiss: 'But Who Can Replace a Man?' (story):
human survivor in machine-governed world discovers that they still
obey direct orders |
|
1959
|
[FIRST INDUSTRIAL COMPUTER CONTROL SYSTEM] |
|
1960
|
[INTEGRATED CIRCUIT]
Philip K. Dick: Vulcan's Hammer (novel): development of computer consciousness
R. C. Phelan: 'Something Invented Me' (story): machine-produced literature
|
|
1961
|
J. G. Ballard: 'Studio 5, The Stars' (story): machine-produced
literature
Hal Draper: 'Ms Fnd in a Lbry' (story): indexing system collapses
Fritz Leiber: The Silver Eggheads (novel): machine-produced literature
|
|
1963
|
Dr Who (British SF TV series) began |
|
1964
|
Philip K. Dick: The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
(novel): robotic psychiatrist
Stanislav Lem: The Invincible (novel): machines as autonomous |
|
1965
|
[COMMERCIAL MINICOMPUTER]
Peter Currell Brown: Smallcreep's Day (novel): surreal satire of automation
Gordon R Dickson: 'Computers Don't Argue' (story): bookclub mix-up
and succession of errors leads to death sentence for kidnap and murder
of Robert Louis Stevenson!
Ron Goulart: 'Badinage' (story): blindness of technological systems
|
|
1966
|
Robert Escarpit The Novel Computer (trans. from French):
machine-produced literature
Robert Heinlein: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (novel): development
of computer consciousness
Frank Herbert: Destination Void (novel): development of computer consciousness
Olof Johannesson: The Tale of the Big Computer (novel): machines as
autonomous; development of computer consciousness
Keith Roberts: 'Synth' (story): development of computer consciousness
Roger Zelazny: 'For a Breath I Tarry' (story): development of computer
consciousness
Star Trek (US SF TV series) began |
|
1967
|
Harlan Ellison: 'I Have no Mouth and I Must Scream'
(story): development of computer consciousness
Bruce Kawin: 'Form 5640A: Report of a Malfunction' (story): blindness
of technological systems
Stanislav Lem: The Cyberiad (novel): development of computer consciousness
Fred Saberhagen: Berserker series begins (stories and novels): machines
as autonomous; development of computer consciousness; computers seek
to wipe out all life in universe |
|
1968
|
[EARLY INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS]
Richard Brautigan: 'All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace'
(poem): elegiac blending of Nature and Technology or ironic?
Martin Caidin: The God Machine (novel): development of computer consciousness
Philip K. Dick: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (novel): blurred
distinction between life and mechanism
Michael Frayn: A Very Private Life (novel): dystopian vision of automation
Stanley Kubrick: 2001: A Space Odyssey (film): HAL the computer kills
crew
Robert Silverberg: 'Going Down Smooth' (story): robotic psychiatrist
John Sladek: The Reproductive System (novel): machines can self-reproduce
|
|
1969
|
[FIRST MANNED MOON LANDING; MICROPROCESSOR]
John Brunner: The Jagged Orbit (novel): over-dependence on technology
Philip K. Dick: 'The Electric Ant' (story): man awakes to discover
he's a robot |
|
1970
|
[POCKET ELECTRONIC CALCULATOR]
D. G. Compton: The Steel Crocodile (novel): benevolent repression
with technology
Norman Corwin: 'Belles Lettres, 2272' (story): machine -produced literature
Philip K Dick: We Can Build You (novel): blurred distinction life
and mechanism
Ira Levin: This Perfect Day (novel): dystopia |
|
1971
|
[COMMERCIAL MICROPROCESSOR]
The Andromeda Strain (film, based on novel by Michael Crichton 1969):
claustrophobic vision of scientists dwelling underground, dwarfed
by machines
Richard and Nancy Carrigan: The Siren Stars (novel): development of
computer consciousness
John Sladek: The Muller-Fokker Effect (novel): computers produce visual
art |
|
1972
|
[EARLY VIDEO GAMES]
David Gerrold: When Harlie Was One (novel): development of computer
consciousness
Ira Levin: The Stepford Wives (novel, filmed 1975): women replaced
by robots |
|
1973
|
Westworld (film) with Yul Brynner: robots go out
of control |
|
1974
|
Isaac Asimov: 'That Thou Art Mindful of Him' (story):
robot develops judgement
Barrington J Bayley: The Soul of the Robot (novel)
John Carpenter: Dark Star (film), novelized by Alan Dean Foster: smart
bomb on board spaceship has to be talked out of exploding prematurely
Robert Pirsig: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (novel) |
|
1975
|
[FIRST MICROCOMPUTERS]
Isaac Asimov: 'The Life and Times of Multivac' (story): computer which
runs peaceful society is shut down by people who feel like slaves
John Brunner: The Shockwave Rider (novel): benevolent repression with
technology |
|
1976
|
Isaac Asimov: 'The Bicentennial Man' (story): robot
produces carvings; blurred distinction life/mechanism as robot becomes
more humanlike |
|
1977
|
George Lucas: Star Wars (film): technological extravaganza
Frederik Pohl: Gateway (novel): robotic psychiatrist |
|
1978
|
['PERSONAL COMPUTERS' FIRST RETAILED AS SUCH IN U.K.]
|
1726-1978