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"I was involved in a cloning project. .. to send me into outer space along with a lot of other people. Not the whole me - just a hair from my head, while I still had some. I would thus pop up in another galaxy in the distant future."
- Arthur C. Clarke
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| Dixon Pump | ||
| An temporary mechanical heart to circulate blood. |
Although this is a fairly early sf reference, the first machine to replace the heart in circulating blood to the body was created in 1952 and used successfully in several different procedures. Prototypes used successfully in animals date from 1949.
| He glanced up from his work for a moment. Into the girl's chest he had plugged a Dixon pump; it had taken over temporarily the job of her uneven heart...
"Keep the people back," Parsons said, and resumed work. The throb of the robot pump gave him confidence; it had been inserted very well, and the load had left the girl's circulatory system. |
| Technovelgy from Dr. Futurity,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Ace Books in 1960 Additional resources -
|
Here's another description, this time detailing the installation process:
Dick implies that the mechanical heart is effectively a robot; it is a self-regulating device.
He punctured the rib cage and plugged the Dixon pump into the vascular system, bypassing the suspended heart. The pump went immediately to work. Blood flowed.
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Tech news articles related to Dr. Futurity
Tech news articles related to works by Philip K. Dick
Dixon Pump-related
news articles:
- Patient Walks Out With Fully Artificial Heart
| MouthPad Supports Head And Tongue Tracking |
| Drug Induces Hibernation-Like State In Humans |
| Drug To Regenerate Teeth In Humans |
| Illustrating Classic Heinlein With AI |
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'You’re the robopsychologist of the plant, so you’re to study the robot itself...'
