positronic adj.
related to or designed to use positrons
The 1936 James Blish quote aside, this term is chiefly associated with Isaac Asimov, in the ‘positronic brain’ that controlled robots. The supposed technical details were vague, but it was not practical to create a positronic brain that did not incorporate the Three Laws of Robotics. In later use among other authors, still generally used in reference to computer circuitry.
Robotics
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1936
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James Blish
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‘What’s up?’ The Planeteer brought out a heavy hammer and applied it diligently to the slats of the crate. ‘Positronic—uh—secondary screen—’ he replied, between mightly [sic] tugs.
Trail of the Comet in Planeteer (#5) Mar. 6
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1941
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Isaac Asimov
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By exact count, there are seventy-five thousand, two hundred and thirty-four operations necessary for the manufacture of a single positronic brain.
Liar! in Astounding Science Fiction May 44/1
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1941
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Isaac Asimov
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We've produced a positronic brain of supposedly ordinary vintage that’s got the remarkable property of being able to tune in on thought waves.
Liar! in Astounding Science Fiction May 44/1
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1956
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Isaac Asimov
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He knew a positronic brain…nestled in the hollow of the skull. He knew that Daneel’s ‘thoughts’ were only short-lived positronic currents.
Naked Sun in Astounding Science Fiction Oct. 24/2 -
1995
Peter David
Thousands of landing-party assignments had been fed into a vast database, processed through positronic circuitry as perfected in the M9 computer.
Captain’s Daughter ii. 16
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1996
William Shatner
His positronic brain had had enough processing time to review the contents of the last four standard years of the journal.
Return xix. 154
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1998
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My positronic net is capable of operating within a relativistically accelerated frame of reference for short periods of time.
Spectre xxvi. 308
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2005
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Cory Doctorow
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But it gave Arturo the willies. It was a machine designed to kill other machines, and that was all right with him, but it was run by a non-three-laws positronic brain. Someone in some Eurasian lab had built this brain—this machine intelligence—without the three laws’ stricture to protect and serve humans. If it had been outfitted with a gun instead of a pulse-weapon, it could have shot him.
I, Robot in Year’s Best SF 11 (2006) 465
Research requirements
antedating 1941
Earliest cite
I. Asimov 'Reason'
Research History
Mike Christie submitted a 1941 cite from Isaac Asimov's 'Reason'.Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 1936 cite from James Blish.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2005 cite from Cory Doctorow.
Earliest cite in OED2: 1948; updated to the 1941 Asimov example in OED3.
Last modified 2023-02-01 22:10:40
In the compilation of some
entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries
in OED.