There is an interesting take on the possible nature of hyperspace. Beam Piper in the 1940s and 50s, and Richard C. The idea is similar to that in Paratime written by H. This does not describe coventional time travel to the past or future, but rather alternate realities on parallel timelines. The interesting part of this story is the Imposter Syndrome which plagues the main character: given Leinster's lack of attention to the human psyche up until now, it's impressive that he hit the nail on the head with this one. You know, the old Maunder Minimum that may or may not be exacerbating the human contribution to 21st-century climate change.
"Critical Difference", in which different solar cycles (6-month, 7-year, 136-year) all reach their low points at the same time, causing the inhabited planets to experience a new Ice Age. A nice thought-experiment, especially in an era of Alice-meets-Bob security protocols. The set-up is a bit clunky, but the problem of establishing initial trust is a very real one, and the solutions attempted are all quite good. They have no choice but to fight it out: otherwise, the first ship to make it home will be able to launch a surprise attack on the homeworld of the other species. "First Contact", in which two species encounter each other for the first time, each on a deep space mission. It's not as tiring as it sounds, but it sure ain't good writerin'. As each story plays out, the same stock phrases are used again and again to drive the point home ("This was the end.
Calling the characters even one-dimensional is charitable. Entertaining, but rather formulaic ("oh look! another alien race that evolved telepathy in place of speech!"). All in all, it's just another "Monkey's Paw" story.Īs for the rest? Eh, they're fine. So, there's AI for you, sort of, except the AI here answers each question in the most Ray Bradbury/Twilight Zone way possible, and isn't prone to the embarrassing blinkered reasoning that characterizes *actual* AI.
My favorite is the children that got the box to show them documentary footage of cannibals - undoubtedly a prediction of the horror film genre and its audience.īasically, the box has access to relays which connect all information in the world. People being what they are, the questions tend towards committing the perfect crime rather than getting just the right level of juiciness in a pork roast. The short story is about a set-top box (a cable box, possibly managing Internet-of-things devices like thermostats, but still not out of the ordinary for early sci-fi where the most pressing problems to which technology could be applied seem to be cooking meals and pressing a light switch) that, through a manufacturing glitch, starts pestering users to ask it for solutions to any problems they need help with. Much has been made of the short story in this collection, "A Logic Named Joe", predicting the Internet as we know it.
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