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"As the rate of technological development speeds up, the gap between science fiction and what we’re living now is getting narrower all the time."
- Richard Morgan
 |
| Defuser | ||
| Electroshock cellphones to keep unruly individuals under control. |
| "Oh, and this is your private... sponsorbaby security force?", Tendeka says, whirling on the cop, who is already aiming his scanner at him."
"[The police dog] barks in warning, echoed by a bleep from Ten's cellphone as the cop isolates his SIM from all the others in the room with the scanner. "Yeah.. You don't.. log a warning on me. I have the constitutional right to express my f***ing opinion. Ever heard of freedom of expres--" The cop doesn't bother to register a second warning. He goes straight for the defuser. Higher voltage than necessary, but when did cops ever play nice? Tendeka drops straight away, jerking epileptic and setting off the damn dog with excited yipping. I'm reckoning there's 170 to 180 volts right there. Anything over 200 requires extra paperwork. Some wasters I know set off their own phone's defuser, on low settings for those dark and hectic beats. Even rhythm can be induced kids. But, it's not easy. You have to hack the hardware, and if you don't know what you're doing it will crisp you KFC. Or worse. It's a disconnect offense to tamper with a defuser. You can't play nice by society's rules? Then you don't get to play at all. No phone. No service. No life. |
| Technovelgy from Moxyland,
by Lauren Beukes. Published by Jacana Media in 2008 Additional resources -
|
Compare this device with Frederik Pohl's joymaker from his 1965 novel The Age of the Pussyfoot, and in particular the tranquilizing spray feature that could sedate the user, if, in the judgement of the network, the user was becoming violent or overwrought.
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'...there's a narrow belt where the climate is moderate.'
'He wore spectacles with thick wavy lenses. The spectacles were intended to make him not only half blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides.'
'... with the Master-operator all you have to do is push one! A remarkable achievement!'
'Not like me. A T-1000, advanced prototype. A mimetic poly-alloy. Liquid metal.'
'It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
'The massive feet working the pedals, arms and hands flashing and glinting...'
