Science Fiction Trivia

[Cody]

Already got that one (I think). It's the third one I can't get - yet.

[Cody]

Hmm, I wonder...

Bomb #20
The Lazy Gun
The Terminator

Is a cyborg assassin an intelligent weapon?

[Disembodied]

Bomb #20 and the Lazy Gun I can accept … I can't take the Terminator, though. It's more a killer robot than an intelligent weapon. I suppose the difference would be that, like an intelligent warship, it could do other things if it wanted to. Still one more for the win!

[Cody]

Phew! The prize awaits he who dares!

[Norby]

Bolo, the tank? Usabe to compact ground too but this is a rare case imho.

[Disembodied]

I'd have to rule out an intelligent tank … it's a vehicle with weaponry mounted onto it. It could have its weapons removed, and still be a functioning vehicle. Bomb #20 is a bomb; a Lazy Gun is a gun; but a Bolo is a vehicle with a gun. So we're still looking for one more intelligent weapon.

[Malacandra]

Well, after looking around a bit I've been unable to confirm that Changeling (sword from C J Cherryh's "Morgaine" series) is intelligent, so even if the series counted as science fiction I've got nothing.

[Disembodied]

There are numerous examples of one type of intelligent (albeit a bit dim) weapon in a 2007 video game …

[Disembodied]

… and there's a mercenary with a smart gun in a 1995 novel, set in a near-future balkanised UK …

[Disembodied]

… and there's a British comic-book character from the early 1980s (who might still be going; to be honest I don't know) who has a rifle with a personality …

[ffutures]

These are intelligent, but I can't remember them having names as such:

The slaver weapon that took a lot of different forms in Larry Niven's The Soft Weapon. One of the forms turns out to be a self-destruct, which is bad news for the Kzinti that find it.
Knife Missiles in Banks' Culture - they're at least semi-sentient.
Judge Dredd's Lawgiver - took verbal instructions

[Disembodied]

If we were to get nitpicky, the device in The Soft Weapon is multi-functional … but knife missiles and Dredd's Lawgiver are both fine. Ffutures gets the shipper!

Other examples could have included: the sentry turrets from Portal (they're described as "tripod robots", but since they can't move - the tripod is just a stand - and all they can do is talk and shoot, I'd argue that they are intelligent autonomous guns); Moh Kohn's rifle, in Ken MacLeod's The Star Fraction; Gunnar, from Rogue Trooper. There's also an intelligent weapon in Michael Swanwick's short story, "The Little Cat Laughed to See Such Sport" …

[ffutures]

Well, if you're sure...

Name THREE novels or short stories by three DIFFERENT authors (so you don't score easily with a trilogy) which use Wells' War of the Worlds as background - and no, not The War of the Worlds itself, or direct films / adaptations / concept albums etc... It needn't be the most important part of the background, but it should be in there.

Bonus kudos if you can find one that isn't mentioned in the Wikipedia articles on War of the Worlds and its derivative works! I know of five, there are probably others.

[zevans]

… and there's a mercenary with a smart gun in a 1995 novel, set in a near-future balkanised UK …

I don't think you meant Snow Crash's Reason, but that description is pretty close. Does Reason count?

[Disembodied]

… and there's a mercenary with a smart gun in a 1995 novel, set in a near-future balkanised UK …

I don't think you meant Snow Crash's Reason, but that description is pretty close. Does Reason count?

No, I don't think so … Reason was a very advanced weapon but it didn't have a personality – whereas you could hold a conversation with Moh Kohn's rifle.