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The Next Frontier?

Shape of things to come? Even as Apollo and orbiting Skylab recede into history, American scientists consider a more awesome enterprise—a permanent colony in space.

By ISAAC ASIMOV Paintings by PIERRE MION

I DID NOT REALLY UNDERSTAND what L-5 was like, on this July day in A.D. 2026, until I no longer saw it from my vantage point in space.

On the shuttle flight I had observed by telescope the torus that we all recognize, much like a bicycle wheel, gleaming in the direct light of the sun and in the light reflected from the large mirror floating free above. The six spokes and the central hub were visible too, of course.
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From Steam Engines to Robots… The Hierarchies of Robotic Devices

By F. W. Chesson

The defining of just what constitutes a robot has been dimmed by anthropological bias, or the impediment of seeing the robotic scene through Human-Colored glasses. That shambling and amiable tin-man traveler, on the Yellow Brick Road to Oz may be far more acceptable to the viewer than the most complex but immobile logic device. Consequently, there’s the rub … or byte! When does a computer become a robot brain? Read the rest of this entry »

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The History of Robots

By Forest J. Ackerman

This article is excerpted from a record made by the author. Consequently, to enjoy it to its utmost, turn off all the lights but one, sit back in your easy chair and read. As you read, you will find yourself being taken on a fantastic journey into the world of robots.
—Editor

Hello, this is Forrest Ackerman, Editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland and Spacemen. I’ve heard from thousands and thousands of you fans since the world’s original film monster magazine began in 1958, and many’s the time I wished that I was the beast with a million eyes — in order to read all your letters quicker. Well, having heard from all of you, it seems only fair — doesn’t it — that you should hear from all of me.
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“Radio Shack’s TRS-80 Computer Is the Smartest Way to Write”

Our word processing system changed Isaac Asimov’s mind about writing-and he’s a renowned science and science fiction author! But you don’t have to be an author to use a TRS-80. If you prepare memos, letters and reports-do what Isaac did. It will change your mind, too.

“I may never use a typewriter again!” Isaac likes the time he saves using SuperSCRIPSIT™ (26-1590, $199), our newest word processing program. “For example, I can assign frequently-used words and phrases to a user-defined key. So whenever I press that
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THERE ARE ROBOTS AMONG US

By WILLIAM TENN

Electronic robots, in one form or another, are influencing our daily lives . . . are we due for an “electronic revolution”?

THE AGE OF SCIENCE has made the word “robot” the focus of popular fears and hopes. The hope is that machines with minds, machines that can talk, think, and work like men, will give everyone a life of leisure. The fear is that robots will replace mankind, that they might run amuck and destroy their masters, that the robots will get us if we don’t watch out. What was conceived as a work-saving machine has become the popular bogeyman of the age of science.

The robot nightmare hasn’t been with us long, a little over 25 years. It pops up in films, in fiction, in newspaper editorials, every time someone develops a more advanced piece of programing for automatic machinery. When Remington Rand unveiled a computer which responded to written commands in ordinary English rather than computer code, prophets of mechanical doom made dire predictions on the future of mankind.
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For all you us sci-fi nerds out there.

YOU are an EARTHMAN..
YOU EXIST IN THAT
Exciting INTERPLANETARY
WORLD of TOMORROW!
Here are the newest and best books on ROBOTS by the publishers of the, most popular novels in Science-Fiction.

I ROBOT by Isaac Asimov
$2.50 – A truly great book written by one of the finest science fiction writers of our time. Based on the authors famed POSITRONIC ROBOT in a dramatically warm and exciting novel of thinking machines.
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