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"Science fiction is really sociological studies of the future, things that the writer believes are going to happen by putting two and two together."
- Ray Bradbury
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| Vision Implant | ||
| Photoelectric cell implanted in the forehead grants some vision to the blind. |
This is an early view of aid to the blind that is surprisingly practical.
 (Vision Implant from 'He Who Shapes' by Roger Zelazny) Dr. Shallot was a woman, somewhere in the vicinity of her early thirties. Her low bronze bangs did not fully conceal the spot of silver she wore on her forehead like a caste mark. Render inhaled, and her head jerked slightly as the tip of his cigarette flared. She appeared to be staring straight up into his eyes. It was an uncomfortable feeling, even knowing that all she could distinguish of him was that which her minute photoelectric cell transmitted to her visual cortex over the hair-fine wire implants attached to that oscillator-converter: in short, the glow of his cigarette. |
| Technovelgy from The Dream Master (He Who Shapes),
by Roger Zelazny. Published by Ace Books in 1966 Additional resources -
|
In the last few years, there have been a variety of attempts to give sight to the blind. Most involve using sensors mounted in glasses and special processing units carried at the side (Robert J. Sawyer uses the clever name eyepod for these). Zelazny uses the idea of the bindu, the red dot worn by devout Hindus just above the eyebrows and centered on the forehead.
Zelazny was probably already researching or writing his Hugo award-winning novel Lord of Light at the time that this book was published; Hindu philosophy was probably on his mind.
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'Looks like she has bought the Avatar Construction Set and put together her own...'
'Across the ground something small and metallic came, flashing in the dull sunlight of midday.'
'A broken circle with arrows pointing to a right-hand flow appeared in the chalf.'
'The object seemed melted together like wax — nothing was distinguishable.'
'Midges have many capabilities. To the untrained eye, they look like sparrows.'
'I made disks of my own voice to the number of five hundred very carefully chosen words.'
'His sensors out and working, and the whirring of the tape that sucked up sight and sound and shape and smell and form...'
