How could a science fiction society look like if it could not use robots and ai at all?

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Well a lot more effort dropped in high energy physics, genetics and different mental development programs. Speed reading, ability to multiply three-degree numbers in mind and memory techniques being normal for people in developed societies.

Even without any digital devices you can substitute analogue variants for many of them. Though neural interface to control drones would be really desirable in the long run.

FTL capable spaceships will need navigator squads making calculations with logarithmic rulers. For main characters you can have some genius capable of doing that work alone.

I guess they would go mental over some desert planet and shit.

Breddy gud meng

>I have no audio output and I must scream

No robots/AI doesn't necessarily mean no computers. We've had computers capable of making complex calculations since 1950s, yet still don't have true AI.

the answer then becomes dependant on the circumstances in which the ancient ayy entered in contact with this science fiction society and the original look of this last one.

Lame.

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In such a case what is the difference with our world?

Even without AI you can easily automate most processes as long as you have good computers.

Notice that OP said "science fiction".
I am pretty sure our world isn't science fiction.

>How could a science fiction society look like if it could not use robots and ai at all?

There is a shitton of science fiction works without prevalent AIs and robots.

>Machine spirits
>Tau

Makes me wonder what effect would be had today if we had half of the mental abilities demostrated in the Dune books. I remember in the Butlerian Jihad books one of the scientist guys had literal rows of Buddhistlamic kids run different math calculations in a row passing off their answers to each other when done.

Sauce?

And I've just made a screencap of this storytime. Enjoy it!

But that begs the question of how do you not eventually develop robots and AI?

All an AI is, is a program that is able to make decisions autonomously, without human input. As soon as you can do IF -> THEN, you have all you need to build AI. And a robot is just an AI with a physical body, that allows it to interact with its environment and act on direct sensory input.

As soon as this hypothetical sci-fi society starts working to improve its computers (and why wouldn't they - even basic computers can be very useful), then they are inevitably going to build AI. Because all a computer is, ultimately, is a tool for doing your thinking for you. Making your thinking-machines smarter is just the next logical step.

Oh thank the emperor, I came to this thread ready to ree about people not bringing Dune up.
This is really the only answer. No AI means you either need low fantasy to explore the galaxy or you need tens of thousands of years. Dune embraces the low fantasy side and actually runs through the ramifications of the social and political effects of the spice.

>No AI means you either need low fantasy to explore the galaxy

I have no idea what you mean.

He means you need space-magic.

I feel like this doesn't get explored much.

growing them as plants or raising them as animals, Biopunk as the future could be really interesting. just have to engineer them enough so they don't self evolve and start eating their creators.

You can hack a computer that has no external access and uses only wires using Van Eck Freaking. Essentially, you spoof electrical signals in the wires to fake input. Its complicated to make these spoof signals translate into actual input, but not impossible for us. An advanced AI would obviously have it easier.

The neat thing is you can essentially steal signal from a closed wire through a wall, and use it to ghost someones feed from their monitor to yours, so you see what they see. Doing the reverse then allows you to input commands to their computer as if they were the ones pressing the keys.

In theory, with more advanced technology you could do this from a longer distance, and basically allow you to hack into any electronic system without any kind of direct access.

Using cable toners, its already hard enough to hear a noise that you are purposely putting into the cable for the purposes of cable identification. And I'm talking with just regular old unshielded CAT5e. Once you start using shielded CAT5 or CAT6 or, god forbid, CAT7, the idea of using EMI to listen in or introduce a signal into wiring sounds like a pipe dream. This is also assuming as well that the cabling and electronics is then not also surrounded by any form of faraday cage.

Like Stalin get marry to Poison Ivy.

Pure biotech
If you can't make A.I. you just make a guy with a giant brain
If you need robots you manufacture bio-soldiers

Spice-magic.

Well, speed reading, three-digit multiplication and memory techniques are all the skills you can teach yourself. They exist nowadays. Though they degrade pretty fast if you don't use them on a daily basis.

Ehh, depending on how your FTL works you can do it without spice. Alcubierre-like warp drives should be pretty ok even when calculations are done on logarithmic rulers because you can hit your target making multiple "jumps". As if you are playing golf.

Though it will have pretty large influence on how your setting looks. Because you won't be able to make really long jumps skipping multiple star systems. instead you'll jump to one of the closest stars in the direction you want to go, then next one and so on. It would somewhat resemble hyperlanes.

How are you going to do genetic engineering without computers?

Who said anything about not having computers?

Dune is the extreme case.
40k is the case where there is a ban on robots but they found a few dozens of loppholes arund this ban.

Machine spirits are cortex plates, which is

>Sauce?
Did you try using GIS first