What is the “genie” in The Genie in the Machine?
The genie is a computer equipped with artificial invention software, which enables the computer to automatically transform an inventor’s abstract description of the problem he wants a new machine to perform – the “wish” – into a design for a machine that solves the problem – the “wish come true.” The Genie in the Machine documents a wide variety of technologies that behave like genies in this way.
