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"The SF approach: an awareness that things could have been different, that this is one of many possible worlds, that if you came to this world from some other planet, this would be a science fiction world."
- Neal Stephenson
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| Bore-Pellets | ||
| Anti-underground bomb shelter ordinance. |
When this short story was written, it was the height of the cold war. Plans for building bomb shelters were in every popular magazine.
But can you keep up with the Joneses, and still be safe? What if those pesky Soviets come up with something new.
| The next day the news-machines shrilled out the news. The first revelation of the new Soviet bore-pellets.
Bob Foster stood in the middle of the living room, the newstape in his hands, his thin face flushed with fury and despair. "Goddamn it, it's a plot!" His voice rose in baffled frenzy. "We just bought the thing and now look. Look!" He shoved the tape at his wife. "You see? I told you!" "I've seen it," Ruth said wildly. "I suppose you think the whole world was just waiting for you in mind. They're always improving weapons, Bob. Last week it was those grain-impregnation flakes. This week it's bore-pellets..." |
| Technovelgy from Foster, You're Dead,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Star Science Fiction Stories in 1955 Additional resources -
|
In the story, PKD combines cold war paranoia and capitalist sales hucksterism. Bob's despair doesn't end with the fact that his bomb shelter had been made obsolete. There was something new for him to buy! See the entry for grill-screen adaptor.
Also, sf fans with that underground bunker mentality may want to take a look at the robot earthworms from Harry Harrison's 1962 story War with the Robots.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Foster, You're Dead
More Ideas
and Technology by Philip K. Dick
Tech news articles related to Foster, You're Dead
Tech news articles related to works by Philip K. Dick
Bore-Pellets-related
news articles:
- Bunker Busters and Bore-Pellets
| Bunker Busters and Bore-Pellets |
| Can A Swarm Of Deadly Drones Take Out An Aircraft Carrier? |
| Has Turkey Been Stealing Rain From Iran? |
| We Need To Build Anti-Drone Systems For Civilian Spaces |
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'You couldn't have the capstone without the pyramid to hold it up.'
'the unobtrusive inspections with tiny remote-cast snoopers...'
I'm hoping that this procedure becomes a normal part of medical practice!
'... nothing was perfected until M. Pantalon announced the completion of his automatic valet.'
'...its streets were of remarkable width, with few or no buildings so high as mosques, churches, State-offices, or palaces in Tellurian cities.'
'...it was all composed of tiny, identical cubes, carefully laid to form a tilelike surface.'
