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" I sometimes suspect that we're seeing something in the Internet as significant as the birth of cities. It's really something new, it's a new kind of civilization."
- William Gibson
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| Decibel Alarms | ||
| Alarms that would go off if the noise in public gathering places was rising to riotous levels. |
This item not only predicts recent developments in surveillance technology by thirty years (see related links below), but also provides some instruction on how to evade this technology as well. That's full-service futurism.
| Decibel alarms were legally required in every meeting hall, including churches, but clever agitators could and had sabotaged them so that the suppressant gases were not released when the "noise" level reached the sharp pitch of incipient riot. The professional agitators had also learned how to modulate their voices below the danger level, carefully goading their victims into the spontaneous combustion which neither gas nor water jets could control. |
| From A Bridle for Pegasus,
by Anne McCaffrey. Published by Analog in 1973 Additional resources -
|
Thanks to Erika for sending in this item.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from A Bridle for Pegasus
More Ideas
and Technology by Anne McCaffrey
Tech news articles related to A Bridle for Pegasus
Tech news articles related to works by Anne McCaffrey
Decibel Alarms-related
news articles:
- Detect Aggressive Voices With Sigard By Sound Intelligence
| Stick-On Tape Speakers, As Predicted By Bruce Sterling |
| Has Climate Change Already Been Solved By Aliens? |
| Skin Electronics 3D Printed |
| Super-Resolution Microscopy Provides '4D' Views |
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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 Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
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'...lifted themselves to skimming flight upon whirling helicopters."
'Twenty rocket tugs towed it from its Earth hangar out into space.'
I don't need it to go fast, it just needs to amble along.
'The program raced up the screen one scan line at a time, subtly smoothing, deleting and coloring.'
'... a sound tape to supply the noise'
'The spotter descends, and we think it searches the vicinity, looking for the victim's face...'
