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"In 1970 I found little difficulty staying 30 years ahead of the man in the street, and now I find it difficult to stay 18 months ahead of the man on the street."
- Vernor Vinge
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| Thought Screen | ||
| A material screen that is worn by the user, upon which are projected the mental images of the user. |
Very handy device for aliens - although you still need to interpret the symbols.
Joe and Al, intrepid space explorers who stumble onto an unknown universe on their way to Pluto, encounter unusual alien beings.
| Two orange, dome-shaped creatures, somewhat like diving bells. The front of each bell was flattened, and in the center was a huge oval opening, covered by a translucent mica-like substance. Directly over and on each side of the opening protruded two antennae, at the end of which were round faceted knobs...
On the translucent mica-like coverings over the orifices, appeared reddish characters. There were four of them, delicate, intricate tracings, lit up by some interior fire. They resembled somewhat the old cuneiform writing of the Babylonians or the Egyptian hieroglyphs. Al was greatly excited, "I believe they're trying to communicate with us..." |
| Technovelgy from The Emperor of the Stars,
by Nat Schachner (w. AL Zagat). Published by Wonder Stories in 1931 Additional resources -
|
The thought screen also presented an interpretation of emotion:
You just don’t read this kind of empathy for alien races these days:
The Ruler emanated unnuterable sadness, and a host of pallid red glyphs flashed in rapid succession on the thought screen.
“Did the Prostak scientists watch the transcendental spectacle in their powerful telescopes? If so, what joy there must have been in that world, what a waving of tentacles, what a shimmering procession of bright red glyphs across their strange communication disks! How that orange glowing air must have vibrated to emanations of joy and of thankfulness!”
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Emperor of the Stars
More Ideas
and Technology by Nat Schachner (w. AL Zagat)
Tech news articles related to The Emperor of the Stars
Tech news articles related to works by Nat Schachner (w. AL Zagat)
Thought Screen-related
news articles:
- T-Sketch The Whiteboard T-Shirt
- Solar-Powered Bra
- Transparent Thin Film Transistors Fabbed With Nanotubes
| Vesuvius Challenge Accepted - Ancient Burnt Scroll Read! |
| Humans Love Helping Other Species |
| AI-Powered Jesus Hologram Accepts Confessions |
| Miss Alabama Beauty Contest Offers Different Standards |
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'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
'Oscar picked up a trowel. 'I'm the tool for the mortar,' the little trowel squeaked cheerfully.'
'... he waited for the robotrix attendant to finish fueling up his ship.'
The Roujin Z system provides care to fully bedridden patients - and then some!
'Aerostat meant anything that hung in the air. This was an easy trick to pull off nowadays.'
'The Ringworld had no horizon. There was no line where the land curved away from the sky.'
'An adjustment panel outside the door would cause it to extrude various appurtenances in memory plastic...'
'Annealed in any shape for a time, and codified, the structure of that shape is retained down to the molecules.'
It's not really polite to tear the limbs off robots.
'...the imaginary companions discovered by needful children.'
