• Asimov on electronics

    From john larkin@jl@glen--canyon.com to sci.electronics.design on Wed Aug 20 09:12:51 2025
    From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design


    Isaac was a smart guy. He appreciated that minority-carrier devices,
    p-channel things, are big and slow, so his robots had positronic
    brains.

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  • From bitrex@user@example.net to sci.electronics.design on Wed Aug 20 13:16:50 2025
    From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design

    On 8/20/2025 12:12 PM, john larkin wrote:

    Isaac was a smart guy. He appreciated that minority-carrier devices, p-channel things, are big and slow, so his robots had positronic
    brains.


    It refers to a massively parallel quantum computer consisting of qubits encoded in a positronium hydride lattice, embedded in a supercooled
    yttrium iron garnet Bose-Einstein condensate substrate.

    Jeez! Don't they teach the kids anything these days
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  • From Joe Gwinn@joegwinn@comcast.net to sci.electronics.design on Wed Aug 20 14:20:26 2025
    From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design

    On Wed, 20 Aug 2025 13:16:50 -0400, bitrex <user@example.net> wrote:

    On 8/20/2025 12:12 PM, john larkin wrote:

    Isaac was a smart guy. He appreciated that minority-carrier devices,
    p-channel things, are big and slow, so his robots had positronic
    brains.


    It refers to a massively parallel quantum computer consisting of qubits >encoded in a positronium hydride lattice, embedded in a supercooled
    yttrium iron garnet Bose-Einstein condensate substrate.

    Jeez! Don't they teach the kids anything these days

    Don't forget the Annihilation Radiation.

    ...
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  • From Bill Sloman@bill.sloman@ieee.org to sci.electronics.design on Thu Aug 21 04:44:06 2025
    From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design

    On 21/08/2025 2:12 am, john larkin wrote:

    Isaac was a smart guy. He appreciated that minority-carrier devices, p-channel things, are big and slow, so his robots had positronic
    brains.

    Asimov was a smart guy.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov

    He earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in chemistry in 1948, about
    thirty years before I got mine.

    I doubt if he had clue about minority carrier devices when he invented
    the positronic brain - back then nobody much did. My guess is that he
    was just riffing on the relatively recently discovered positron.

    That was actually discovered in 1932, though Dirac had hypothesised that
    it had to exist a year earlier.

    You wouldn't wanted to put one in your computer - it's the electron's anti-particle and they annihilate one another when they meet.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron%E2%80%93positron_annihilation
    --
    Bill Sloman, Sydney
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  • From Phil Hobbs@pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net to sci.electronics.design on Wed Aug 20 16:54:01 2025
    From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design

    On 2025-08-20 12:12, john larkin wrote:

    Isaac was a smart guy. He appreciated that minority-carrier devices, p-channel things, are big and slow, so his robots had positronic
    brains.

    He also discovered the time travel chemical, resublimated thiotimoline.

    Cheers

    Phil Hobbs
    --
    Dr Philip C D Hobbs
    Principal Consultant
    ElectroOptical Innovations LLC / Hobbs ElectroOptics
    Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics
    Briarcliff Manor NY 10510

    http://electrooptical.net
    http://hobbs-eo.com

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  • From Edward Rawde@invalid@invalid.invalid to sci.electronics.design on Wed Aug 20 17:39:58 2025
    From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design

    "Phil Hobbs" <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote in message news:f2541f92-ef5e-e5c9-2165-c3e3c6f1c744@electrooptical.net...
    On 2025-08-20 12:12, john larkin wrote:

    Isaac was a smart guy. He appreciated that minority-carrier devices,
    p-channel things, are big and slow, so his robots had positronic
    brains.

    He also discovered the time travel chemical, resublimated thiotimoline.

    Yes, it can be titrated with Olpalomine using an indicator such as e-nuphizin-nuph or Thatizol.

    Bill would know more, he's a Chemist.


    Cheers

    Phil Hobbs

    --
    Dr Philip C D Hobbs
    Principal Consultant
    ElectroOptical Innovations LLC / Hobbs ElectroOptics
    Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics
    Briarcliff Manor NY 10510

    http://electrooptical.net
    http://hobbs-eo.com



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  • From john larkin@jl@glen--canyon.com to sci.electronics.design on Wed Aug 20 14:56:29 2025
    From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design

    On Wed, 20 Aug 2025 16:54:01 -0400, Phil Hobbs <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

    On 2025-08-20 12:12, john larkin wrote:

    Isaac was a smart guy. He appreciated that minority-carrier devices,
    p-channel things, are big and slow, so his robots had positronic
    brains.

    He also discovered the time travel chemical, resublimated thiotimoline.

    Cheers

    Phil Hobbs

    With the AI fad, people are considering the implications of falling in
    love with a humanoid robot.

    I don't recall if Asimov considered that. I haven't read the I Robot
    books in a long time.

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  • From ehsjr@ehsjr@verizon.net to sci.electronics.design on Wed Aug 20 18:43:29 2025
    From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design

    On 8/20/2025 5:56 PM, john larkin wrote:
    On Wed, 20 Aug 2025 16:54:01 -0400, Phil Hobbs <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

    On 2025-08-20 12:12, john larkin wrote:

    Isaac was a smart guy. He appreciated that minority-carrier devices,
    p-channel things, are big and slow, so his robots had positronic
    brains.

    He also discovered the time travel chemical, resublimated thiotimoline.

    Cheers

    Phil Hobbs

    With the AI fad, people are considering the implications of falling in
    love with a humanoid robot.

    I don't recall if Asimov considered that. I haven't read the I Robot
    books in a long time.


    He did have the three laws, which might make an interesting
    story of conflict caused by human emotions: What does the
    robot do when a human falls in love with it (him/her/whatever)?

    Ed
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  • From Phil Hobbs@pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net to sci.electronics.design on Wed Aug 20 23:18:32 2025
    From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design

    john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> wrote:
    On Wed, 20 Aug 2025 16:54:01 -0400, Phil Hobbs <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

    On 2025-08-20 12:12, john larkin wrote:

    Isaac was a smart guy. He appreciated that minority-carrier devices,
    p-channel things, are big and slow, so his robots had positronic
    brains.

    He also discovered the time travel chemical, resublimated thiotimoline.

    Cheers

    Phil Hobbs

    With the AI fad, people are considering the implications of falling in
    love with a humanoid robot.

    I don't recall if Asimov considered that. I haven't read the I Robot
    books in a long time.



    Lester del ReyrCOs 1938 story rCLHelen OrCOLoyrCY is the classic on that.

    Cheers

    Phil Hobbs
    --
    Dr Philip C D Hobbs Principal Consultant ElectroOptical Innovations LLC / Hobbs ElectroOptics Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics
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  • From DJ Delorie@dj@delorie.com to sci.electronics.design on Wed Aug 20 20:59:06 2025
    From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design

    john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> writes:
    With the AI fad, people are considering the implications of falling in
    love with a humanoid robot.

    I don't recall if Asimov considered that. I haven't read the I Robot
    books in a long time.

    Hari Seldon and Dors, in the Foundation series.

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  • From Bill Sloman@bill.sloman@ieee.org to sci.electronics.design on Thu Aug 21 18:13:51 2025
    From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design

    On 21/08/2025 7:39 am, Edward Rawde wrote:
    "Phil Hobbs" <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote in message news:f2541f92-ef5e-e5c9-2165-c3e3c6f1c744@electrooptical.net...
    On 2025-08-20 12:12, john larkin wrote:

    Isaac was a smart guy. He appreciated that minority-carrier devices,
    p-channel things, are big and slow, so his robots had positronic
    brains.

    He also discovered the time travel chemical, resublimated thiotimoline.

    Yes, it can be titrated with Olpalomine using an indicator such as e-nuphizin-nuph or Thatizol.

    Bill would know more, he's a Chemist.

    And first read the story when I got hold of a copy of the 1948 issue of Astounding Science Fiction in which it was published.

    It's a great parody of a scientific paper, but I trained as a physical
    chemist and Isaac Asimov got his Ph.D. in bioichemistry, so I may have
    missed some of the subtler bits. It's a whole lot better justification
    of the proposition that Asimov was a smart guy than the "positronic
    brain" line.
    --
    Bill Sloman, Sydney

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  • From Chris Jones@lugnut808@spam.yahoo.com to sci.electronics.design on Thu Aug 21 21:24:39 2025
    From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design

    On 21/08/2025 7:56 am, john larkin wrote:
    On Wed, 20 Aug 2025 16:54:01 -0400, Phil Hobbs <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

    On 2025-08-20 12:12, john larkin wrote:

    Isaac was a smart guy. He appreciated that minority-carrier devices,
    p-channel things, are big and slow, so his robots had positronic
    brains.

    He also discovered the time travel chemical, resublimated thiotimoline.

    Cheers

    Phil Hobbs

    With the AI fad, people are considering the implications of falling in
    love with a humanoid robot.

    I don't recall if Asimov considered that. I haven't read the I Robot
    books in a long time.


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6juk16so8ZQ

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  • From Pimpom@Pimpom@invalid.invalid to sci.electronics.design on Thu Aug 21 17:29:54 2025
    From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design

    On 21-08-2025 03:26 am, john larkin wrote:
    On Wed, 20 Aug 2025 16:54:01 -0400, Phil Hobbs <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

    On 2025-08-20 12:12, john larkin wrote:

    Isaac was a smart guy. He appreciated that minority-carrier devices,
    p-channel things, are big and slow, so his robots had positronic
    brains.

    He also discovered the time travel chemical, resublimated thiotimoline.

    Cheers

    Phil Hobbs

    With the AI fad, people are considering the implications of falling in
    love with a humanoid robot.

    I don't recall if Asimov considered that. I haven't read the I Robot
    books in a long time.


    I have a collection of Asimov's robot stories titled "The Complete
    Robot" plus other volumes of his work. Haven't read them in a long time
    so I'm hazy about specifics. I do remember that there are instances
    where a human had romantic feelings towards a robot.
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  • From Carlos E.R.@robin_listas@es.invalid to sci.electronics.design on Thu Aug 21 13:58:02 2025
    From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design

    On 2025-08-21 02:59, DJ Delorie wrote:
    john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com> writes:
    With the AI fad, people are considering the implications of falling in
    love with a humanoid robot.

    I don't recall if Asimov considered that. I haven't read the I Robot
    books in a long time.

    Hari Seldon and Dors, in the Foundation series.


    There was an earlier one, that did not go that well. The Robots of Dawn,
    R. Jander Panell and Gladia Delmarre.
    --
    Cheers, Carlos.
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  • From Bill Sloman@bill.sloman@ieee.org to sci.electronics.design on Fri Aug 22 00:58:20 2025
    From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design

    On 21/08/2025 9:59 pm, Pimpom wrote:
    On 21-08-2025 03:26 am, john larkin wrote:
    On Wed, 20 Aug 2025 16:54:01 -0400, Phil Hobbs
    <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

    On 2025-08-20 12:12, john larkin wrote:

    Isaac was a smart guy. He appreciated that minority-carrier devices,
    p-channel things, are big and slow, so his robots had positronic
    brains.

    He also discovered the time travel chemical, resublimated thiotimoline.

    Cheers

    Phil Hobbs

    With the AI fad, people are considering the implications of falling in
    love with a humanoid robot.

    I don't recall if Asimov considered that. I haven't read the I Robot
    books in a long time.


    I have a collection of Asimov's robot stories titled "The Complete
    Robot" plus other volumes of his work. Haven't read them in a long time
    so I'm hazy about specifics. I do remember that there are instances
    where a human had romantic feelings towards a robot.
    The evolutionary mechanism - screw up the genome and see if that
    instance of the screwed-up genome can survive - means that occasional
    human being are going to fall in love with all sorts pf inappropriate
    objects. We can hope that robots are going to be more carefully designed.

    Of course, by the time we are able to design a tolerably human robot, we
    will probably also be able edit out the defects in the genome that lead
    some human being to fall in love with inappropriate objects.

    Ian M Banks, in his "Culture" novels, did imagine some fairly deep relationships between some human beings and some of his massive
    artificial intelligences whom he'd endowed with human depth and
    complexity. It is still pretty silly, but not as mawkish as some of the
    older stories.
    --
    Bill Sloman, Sydney
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