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"Science Fiction is speculative fiction in which the author takes as his first postulate the real world as we know it, including all established facts and natural laws."
- Robert Heinlein
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| Portable Ident-Plate | ||
| A small, thin device that will capture biometric data from a person's finger. |
I think this is a pretty good prediction of an item that is commonplace today.
| He took out his wallet and aimed its lens first at Spivey and then at the man's glowing credential. Quickly he dialed the private security service he used for such things and pressed his thumb to the ident-plate. In three seconds the tiny screen flashed a terse confirmation. |
| Technovelgy from Earth,
by David Brin. Published by Bantam in 1990 Additional resources -
|
These are now available on a variety of laptop computers and even small, pocket-sized PDAs.
Take a look at this tiny USB key with a fingerprint reader; the CR-FP2 and CR-FP3 USB keys have a sensor with a with what is described as 1/10000000 precision. The CR-FP3 has 512MB of memory and weights 11g.
(Elecom USB with fingerprint reader)
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Science Fiction
Timeline
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'It’s smart enough to go wrong in very complicated ways, but not smart enough to help us find out what’s wrong.'
'...like a spray of tulips mounted fanwise.'
'You hate the whole idea that some bored drone pusher in a remote driving centre has got your life... in his hands.'
'My homeland is being threatened by the Replicators. Thus far all attempts to stop them have failed.'
'A robobus had just rolled up to the curb.'
'And there in the next room by the sofa sat a familiar suitcase, that of his psychiatrist Dr. Smile.'
'He found a barber shop which, he thought, would be good for an idle hour.'
'Thirty rounds of fighting is tough work. Even for machines.'
'...the excavations were already in progress, for he saw gray slopes of rubble.'
