XPost: rec.arts.sf.written   
   From: noone@nowhere.com   
      
   On 23/02/22 09:02, Michael F. Stemper wrote:   
   >> In    
   >> J. Clarke  writes:   
   >>   
   >>> The thing is, I was wondering if it had been used anywhere in the   
   >>> context of humans giving orders to robots or AIs _before_ "Freefall".   
   >   
   > I just came across the term "direct order" in Vonnegut's _The   
   > Sirens of Titan_ (1959), but it's a Martian giving an order   
   > to a human conscripted into the Martian army.   
   >   
   > So it's an older use of the term, and in SF.   
   >   
   > Oh, and the human has just come out of a mind-wipe treatment,   
   > so he's almost a robot. And the order is to strangle his best   
   > friend. (Shades of _The Manchurian Candidate_!)   
   >   
   .   
   Vonnegut's _The Sirens of Titan_ was once my favourite book but much of   
   it is now forgotten unfortunately. I own less than 50 paper books that I   
   have bought for myself and Sirens is one of them, a cheap US Dell   
   edition, $2.25 ($2.75 in Canada). I have just got a copy for the Kindle   
   so will re-read it as I suspect it will pass the test of time, (fingers   
   crossed).   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)