Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

Latest By
Category:


Armor
Artificial Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work

"It wasn't until I was past forty that it bacame clear that I was going to be quote, successful, unquote."
- Isaac Asimov

Probe Screen Hood  
  A device that blocks attempts to see into the contents of the brain mind.  

When some humans gain telepathic abilities, they try to subjugate the normals. Should people with the power to determine with certainty the contents of your mind also have the political power to control you and control society?

He had done nothing disloyal. Nothing, except open the morning mail, find the hood, deliberate about it, and finally put it on. He remembered the small instruction tag:

GREETINGS! This probe screen is sent to you with compliments of the maker and the earnest hope that it will be of some value to you. Thank you.

...Should he wear it? He had never done anything. He had nothing to hide - nothing disloyal to the Union. But the thought fascinated him. If he wore the hood his mind would be his own. Nobody could look into it. His mind would be long to him again, private, secret, to think as he wished, endless thoughts for no one else's consumption but his own...

There was some sort of an Anti-Immunity bill up in Congress to make wearing of a probe screen a felony, but it hadn't been passed yet-

Technovelgy from The Hood Maker ('Immunity'), by Philip K. Dick.
Published by Imagination in 1955
Additional resources -

Here's another bit:

He tapped his hood. "This alloy - opaque to probes. Discovered by accident, by one of these men. Teeps came after him instantly, but he escaped.

"The teeps can't file a framed report on a man whose mind is opaque to probes... The teeps have to get the hoods off... If a man is innocent why shouldn't he want his mind probed? The bill makes wearing a probe shield a felony."

"Teeps" are telepathic humans.

I can find quotes for the opposite idea - see the entry for the Control Helmet from a 1938 story by Edmund Hamilton.

Compare to the Tin Foil Hat (Tin Pulpit) from The Tissue-Culture King (1927) by Julian Huxley, which is apparently the original story from which the "tin foil hat" idea is taken. See also the thought screen helmet from Gray Lensman (1942) by E.E. 'Doc' Smith

Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |

Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Hood Maker ('Immunity')
  More Ideas and Technology by Philip K. Dick
  Tech news articles related to The Hood Maker ('Immunity')
  Tech news articles related to works by Philip K. Dick

Probe Screen Hood-related news articles:
  - 'Brain Breathalyzer' For Astronauts

Articles related to Surveillance
FTC: Says Ring Employees Illegally Surveilled Customers
Perching Ambush Drones
India Ponders Always-On Smartphone Location Tracking
LingYuan Vehicle Roof Drones Now Available, ala Blade Runner 2049

Want to Contribute an Item? It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add it here.

<Previous
Next>

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

 

 

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Science Fiction in the News

FTC: Says Ring Employees Illegally Surveilled Customers
'Then she looked up with a smile and moved closer to the camera.'

Switzerland May Cap Population At Ten Million
'The population of Castle Hagedorn was fixed...'

Project Silica Offers 'Long-Term' Digital Storage
'... folios and tapes and playable discs of platinum alloy.'

Can 'Tactical Umbrellas' Shield One From Drones
'... another corner of his mind began to think about the shields.'

Crystalline Structures In Space, You Say?
A massive space borne lifeform from ST:TNG.

Garçon! A Menu For Artemis II, S'il Vous Plaît
'Michel Ardan, as a Frenchman, was declared chief cook, an important function, which raised no rival.'

Amazing Photonic Crystal Light Sail
'That sail will be twenty thousand miles at the wide part.'

Rogue AI Replicated Itself
'Sapiro’s computer just kept dialing at random, hanging up on humans, until it got a fellow computer of the same type as itself.'

HandelBot Helps Two-Handed Robots Learn Piano
'I request that you feed the correlation between those dots and the levers of the panel into my memory banks.'

More SF in the News

More Beyond Technovelgy

Home | Glossary | Science Fiction Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.