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blakes7-d Digest Volume 99 : Issue 1
Today's Topics:
[B7L] voice recognition
Re: [B7L] voice recognition
Re: [B7L] voice recognition
Re: [B7L] Post-War Politics
Re: [B7L] Post-War Politics
re [B7L] Voice recognition
Re: re [B7L] Voice recognition
[B7L] Celestial Toymaker
Re: re [B7L] Voice recognition
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1999 21:52:10 +0100 (BST)
From: Judith Proctor <Judith@blakes-7.demon.co.uk>
To: Lysator List <Blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: [B7L] voice recognition
Message-ID: <Marcel-1.46-0101205210-9eeRr9i@blakes-7.demon.co.uk>
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On Wed 30 Dec, Kathryn Andersen wrote:
> ObB7: This of course reminds me of my usual perennial wondering; what
> is a Tarriel Cell really? And how widespread were voice-recognition
> computers in the Federation? I got the impression that they were rare
> because the standard interface we see the plebs and Servalan's people
> using was a keyboard. I assumed that this was because computers able
> to understand voice commands were really expensive.
Two possible reasons. If several people in the same room as using computers
with voice control, they are all going to find one anotehr very distracting.
Keyboard work is silent.
Second possibility - I believe some people are already experiencing problems
with voice strain on existing voice control systems. (I'd never dare use one
myself - I'm prone to voice problems at the best of times) Mind you, victims of
RSI would probably stand up to be counted here.
>
> However, another thought has just occurred to me -- maybe at least in
> the military, voice-recognition computers weren't used for security
> reasons. Yes, voice-recognition as a way of preventing unauthorised
> persons *using* the computer would seem to be a *positive* security
> aspect - but get one audio bug in a command centre, and there goes all
> your security.
It's certainly a thought.
> The other thing is that it might be clearer if spoken commands only went to
> people; it might confuse the computer if a lot of people were talking at once.
Possibly, though I think they could be trained to recognise individual voices
pretty quickly. Software seems to be learning voices right now.
> After all, Slave was considered to be *unusually* sophisticated, so maybe
> other voice-recognition computers were limited to being rich people's
> playthings, or academic perks.
Maybe there had been laws restricting the development of computers with
personalities?
Judith
--
http://www.hermit.org/Blakes7
Redemption 99 - The Blakes 7/Babylon 5 convention
26-28 February 1999, Ashford International Hotel, Kent
http://www.smof.com/redemption/
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 2 Jan 1999 19:54:42 +1100
From: Kathryn Andersen <kat@welkin.apana.org.au>
To: "Blake's 7 list" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] voice recognition
Message-ID: <19990102195442.09881@welkin.apana.org.au>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
On Fri, Jan 01, 1999 at 09:52:10PM +0100, Judith Proctor wrote:
> On Wed 30 Dec, Kathryn Andersen wrote:
>
> > ObB7: This of course reminds me of my usual perennial wondering; what
> > is a Tarriel Cell really? And how widespread were voice-recognition
> > computers in the Federation? I got the impression that they were rare
> > because the standard interface we see the plebs and Servalan's people
> > using was a keyboard. I assumed that this was because computers able
> > to understand voice commands were really expensive.
>
> > After all, Slave was considered to be *unusually* sophisticated, so maybe
> > other voice-recognition computers were limited to being rich people's
> > playthings, or academic perks.
>
> Maybe there had been laws restricting the development of computers with
> personalities?
C'mon, this is the Federation! They have *slaves*, they wouldn't balk
at the ethics of artificial personalities. Or were you thinking in
terms of the fear of true independent Artificial Intelligence, as
distinct from personality simulations? I got the impression from what
Avon said about Zen in particular, that true AI was something which
the experts took for granted to be impossible.
Kathryn Andersen
--
_--_|\ | Kathryn Andersen <kat@welkin.apana.org.au>
/ \ | http://home.connexus.net.au/~kat
\_.--.*/ | #include "standard/disclaimer.h"
v |
------------| Melbourne -> Victoria -> Australia -> Southern Hemisphere
Maranatha! | -> Earth -> Sol -> Milky Way Galaxy -> Universe
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 02 Jan 1999 13:30:04 PST
From: "Penny Dreadful" <pdreadful@hotmail.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] voice recognition
Message-ID: <19990102213004.28125.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain
Judith:
>> Maybe there had been laws restricting the development of computers
with
>> personalities?
>
Kathryn:
>C'mon, this is the Federation! They have *slaves*, they wouldn't balk
>at the ethics of artificial personalities.
Maybe it wasn't ethics, but efficiency. Orac and Slave's "personalities"
both seem to beg for a baseball-bat to the CPU. Disadvantage. Does there
exist -- *could* there exist -- a personality type that doesn't irk the
heck out of *someone*? The Federation prefers its people to behave as
machines: why would it want its machines to behave otherwise?
-- Penny "Daisy, Daisy, Give Me Your Answer Do" Dreadful
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 02 Jan 1999 13:47:26 PST
From: "Penny Dreadful" <pdreadful@hotmail.com>
To: Blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Post-War Politics
Message-ID: <19990102214726.16711.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain
Judith pointed out:
>Actually, she changed her clothing in the late third season. I think
you'll
>find she's wearing black in Moloch, Deathwatch and Terminal and her
dress in
>Rumours of Death is half black, half white.
Damn! Another perfectly good theory crushed 'neath the iron heel of
pragmatism.
>Jackie Pearce once said Servalan wore black as a form of mourning the
loss of
>her 'children' in 'Children of Auron'. Adding that as an actress she'd
>discovered that she looked better in black in any case.
Okay, well then my *pragmatic* take on it is: she wore white from the
start as a counterpoint to Travis' black ensemble.
([white : black :: male : female :: sex : violence] I think I said on
one of my web-pages)
In the third season with him gone *she* adopted the traditional black
garb of The Villain -- and started taking a more hands-on approach with
the Violence too. Became more of your renaissance villain.
--Penny "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Semioticians"
Dreadful
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 02 Jan 1999 15:47:23 PST
From: "Penny Dreadful" <pdreadful@hotmail.com>
To: Blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Post-War Politics
Message-ID: <19990102234723.24908.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain
I said:
>[white : black :: male : female :: sex : violence]
Whups. I meant "female : male". Freudian slip? Discuss...
-- Penny "Always Grateful For A Rough Analogy" Dreadful
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1999 00:54:59 -0000
From: "Neil Faulkner" <N.Faulkner@tesco.net>
To: "lysator" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: re [B7L] Voice recognition
Message-ID: <001e01be36b7$81398c60$0f17ac3e@default>
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="utf-7"
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Shouldn't we be bearing in mind that when B7 was made, the idea of a
computer you could talk to, and have talk back to +ACo-you+ACo-, seemed pretty
outlandish? About as improbable as having one in your own home, and using
it to send messages right around the globe?
Let's face it, when it comes to information technology, the entire series is
way out of date. Anyone on this mailing list knows more about computers
than Avon ever did (ie+ADs- knows more than any of the scriptwriters).
How are we to cope with this when I.T. creeps into fan fiction? I tend to
assume that speech circuits and voice recognition are commonplace (certainly
not expensive), and if that contradicts the series then the series can go
fry.
Neil
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 02 Jan 1999 19:47:21 -0600
From: Lisa Williams <lcw@dallas.net>
To: <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: re [B7L] Voice recognition
Message-Id: <199901030153.TAA20056@mail.dallas.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Neil Faulkner wrote:
>Shouldn't we be bearing in mind that when B7 was made, the idea of a
>computer you could talk to, and have talk back to +ACo-you+ACo-, seemed
pretty
>outlandish?
Of course, it was even more outlandish in '66 when Star Trek portrayed it
as standard equipment. The concept of voiced and voice-activated computers
has been around for a long time in SF; it was pretty much old hat by the
time B7 rolled around.
- Lisa
_____________________________________________________________
Lisa Williams: lcw@dallas.net or lwilliams@rsc.raytheon.com
Lisa's Video Frame Capture Library: http://lcw.simplenet.com/
New Riders of the Golden Age: http://www.warhorse.com/
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 02 Jan 1999 20:33:19 -0800
From: "Adam L. Fuller" <adfuller@ix.netcom.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] Celestial Toymaker
Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19990102203319.007cfaa0@ix.netcom.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Hi,
Does anyone happen to know where in the United States I can get a copy of
the Dr. Who: "The Celestial Toymaker" novelization? I really want to find
that book. If anyone has any knowledge of this, please send me an e-mail.
Thanks!
-Adam.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1999 13:30:08 +1100
From: Kathryn Andersen <kat@welkin.apana.org.au>
To: "Blake's 7 list" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: re [B7L] Voice recognition
Message-ID: <19990103133008.46005@welkin.apana.org.au>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
On Sat, Jan 02, 1999 at 07:47:21PM -0600, Lisa Williams wrote:
> Neil Faulkner wrote:
>
> >Shouldn't we be bearing in mind that when B7 was made, the idea of a
> >computer you could talk to, and have talk back to +ACo-you+ACo-, seemed
> pretty
> >outlandish?
>
> Of course, it was even more outlandish in '66 when Star Trek portrayed it
> as standard equipment. The concept of voiced and voice-activated computers
> has been around for a long time in SF; it was pretty much old hat by the
> time B7 rolled around.
Exactly. In Trek, voice recognition was commonplace, Trek came before
Blake's 7, so why did the writers choose for it not to be commonplace?
One reason could be that Blake's 7, *not* being a utopia, had to be a
bit more run-down and less luxurious.
Of course, my problem is that I am trying to find an *internal*
explanation, not an external one.
> >How are we to cope with this when I.T. creeps into fan fiction? I
> >tend to assume that speech circuits and voice recognition are
> >commonplace (certainly not expensive), and if that contradicts the
> >series then the series can go fry.
And Neil stands by that, as I have noticed in Neil's fiction,
particularly the wonderful very cyberpunk "A Casting of Swords" (in
Stadler Link), which, IMHO goes so much in that direction that it is
hardly Blake's 7 at all. Really good story, and a delightfully
chilling explanation for Gan's limiter, but the pure cyberpunk seems
grafted on to the Blake's 7 universe, IMHO.
Kathryn A.
--
_--_|\ | Kathryn Andersen <kat@welkin.apana.org.au>
/ \ | http://home.connexus.net.au/~kat
\_.--.*/ | #include "standard/disclaimer.h"
v |
------------| Melbourne -> Victoria -> Australia -> Southern Hemisphere
Maranatha! | -> Earth -> Sol -> Milky Way Galaxy -> Universe
--------------------------------
End of blakes7-d Digest V99 Issue #1
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