Posted by Parsifal Pankarow on February 23, 1997 at 22:11:58:
Am I making too much out of this, or has anyone noticed what I have in a remarkable early scene in "The Killing Machine" ?
Gersen is in the IPCC office discussing his search for Kokkor Hekkus. Using something that sounds awfully similar to the people-search functions of the Internet today, he is able to locate one of the demon prince's henchmen, Rob Castilligan.
Mr. Vance published the book in 1964. I have no recollection of whether, in the early 1960s, any sort of computer network existed on which these kinds of searches could have been made. Am I just not remembering, or was this a case of Mr. Vance's prescient ability?
Read the section and tell me what you think, please. (pgs 32 and 33 of the Berkley edition)