Seldon's Technology
As a fictional portrayal of a far-future Professor of Psychohistory, Hari Seldon is presented at the beginning of "Foundation" as making use of a powerful hand-held computer, which he uses to calculate probability estimates in real-time. At the time of publication of the first novel, in 1951, such technology was pure science fiction. By the second decade of the 21st century, with the development of high memory capacity and touch-screen tablet computer products, the real-time derivation of probability density estimates - even within the context of the casual conversation Seldon has at the beginning of Foundation - has become an evident reality.
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Famous quotes containing the word technology:
“The real accomplishment of modern science and technology consists in taking ordinary men, informing them narrowly and deeply and then, through appropriate organization, arranging to have their knowledge combined with that of other specialized but equally ordinary men. This dispenses with the need for genius. The resulting performance, though less inspiring, is far more predictable.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)