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"I went back to science fiction to try a few experiments …and my first experiment was a disaster…"
- Alfred Bester
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| Death-rattle File | ||
| A cache of information set to destroy itself upon the death of its owner. |
| "I note everything, Lars. Yes, it's in my death-rattle file." Death-rattle ... the fireproof, Third-World-War proof, Titanian bolecricket-proof, well-hidden file-cases which were rigged to detonate in the event of Morris' death. He carried on his person a triggering mechanism sensitive to his heartbeat. Even Lars did not know where the files currently existed... |
| Technovelgy from The Zap Gun,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Galaxy Publishing in 1965 Additional resources -
|
One of the reasons I included this item is that it is a very early reference to the idea of a tag or medallion that performed a medical monitoring function, and then communicated particular events wirelessly to another location.
For us today, this is an old idea; we've all seen the commercials for medic-alert medallions worn by people who say "I've fallen, and I can't get up..."
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'If the biological robots were not living creatures, they were certainly very good imitations.'
"Everybody and his dog, it seemed, wanted to live out in the country; transportation and communication were no longer isolating factors."
'... the new typewriter that could be talked to, and which transposed the spoken sound into typed words.'
'... underneath they consisted of networks of cooling tubes against the skin.'
'My cars talk to one another. I have no doubt about it...'
'... the imprint of her image on the telephoto cell.'
