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"I've come across more and more people who've actually tried reading science fiction and can't make it make sense."
- Samuel R. Delany
 |
| Modded Dog | ||
| A canine whose ancestors were genetically modified for higher intelligence; the trait breeds true in offspring. |
In the town of Precipice, the human residents get lots of help from dogs that have higher intelligence than usual. And the visitors get extra attention.
| ...something moved, emerging from shadow beside the workbench. A dog. A vast, slow-moving graceful dog whose ancestry might have included Great Dane, Irish wolfhound, possibly Husky or Chinook... plus something else, something strange, for its skull was improbably high-domed and its eyes, deep-set, were disturbingly uncanine.
"No need to be alarmed," the man rumbled... "Never met a dog like this before? You're in for an educational experience. His name is Natty Bumppo. Hold still a moment while he reads you. Sorry, but this is S.O.P. for any visitor. Nat, how do they rate? Any hard drugs - excessive liquor - anything apart from being a bit scared? The dog curled his wrinkled upper lip and inhaled a long slow breath, then gave a brisk headshake and a faint growl. Elegantly, he lowered his massive hindquarters to the floor, keeping his eyes on the newcomers. "He says you're clear... I understand this poker pretty well. Not as well as he understands us humans, but there you are. |
| Technovelgy from The Shockwave Rider,
by John Brunner. Published by Harper and Row in 1975 Additional resources -
|
Dogs have about 25 times more olfactory receptors than humans. They can sense odors at concentrations 100 million times smaller than people can. When a dog breathes normally, the air does not pass directly over his smell receptors. That's why dogs take a deeper sniff; the air travels to the receptors, near the back of the snout.
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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.'
