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"All fiction is propaganda, and the fiction we like is the propaganda we believe in, and the fiction we don't like is the propaganda we don't believe in."
- Samuel R. Delany
 |
| Tri-Type Record | ||
| A printed card that stores information about a person, including a perfect three-dimensional representation. |
Aile Farr, traveler to Iszm, is under some suspicion due to his profession; he is a botanist. The Iszic provide house trees to the rest of the galaxy and guard their expertise jealously.
| "If the Sainh pleases - his tri-type for our records."
Farr patiently stood on the disk of gray metal. "Palms forward, eyes wide." Farr stood quietly. Feeler-planes brushed down his body. "Thank you, Sainh." Farr stepped up to the counter. "That's a different type than the one at Jhespiano. Let's see it." The clerk showed him a transparent card with a man-like brownish splotch on its middle. "Not much of a likeness," said Farr. The Szecr dropped the card into a slot. On the counter-top appeared a three-dimensional replica of Farr. It could be expanded a hundred times, revealing finger-prints, cheek-pores, ear and retinal configuration. |
| From The Houses of Iszm,
by Jack Vance. Published by Better Publications in 1954 Additional resources -
|
A hologram - the picture itself - doesn't look like much, either.
Compare to the personal metallic record disk from The Ancient Brain (1929) by A.G. Stangland.
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''... major cities of Earth have free electrical power conveniently processed from their own noise.'
'The appearance was enough like a giant witch's broom to justify the nickname.'
'A vast circle of scarlet stars came up into the greenish desert dusk.'
'He had constructed an organ, a brain, of metal, entirely inorganic and lifeless...'
'I shall never forget the sight... when the yellow gleam of the precious metal appeared under the star dust.'
Oh, and now I suppose someone will develop the robotic porch pirate.
'This thing will start at one end of ...a house and build it complete to the other end, following drawings only.'
