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"It was my preferred entertainment when I was a kid, so when I set out to be a writer, it was perfectly natural that I should write the sort of stories that I used to enjoy reading."
- John Brunner
 |
| Tiny Nuclear Generator | ||
| A complete nuclear-based generator of power no bigger than a walnut. |
What happens when a user of superior technology encounters the less sophisticated? Trader Hober Mallow shows his personal force-shield to a tech-man from further out in the provinces.
| "Where's the power?"
Mallow's finger fell upon the largest knob, dull in its leaden case. The tech-man looked up, and his face was congested with blood. "Sir, I am a tech-man, senior grade. I have twenty years behind me as supervisor and I studied under the great Bler at the University of Trantor. If you have the infernal charlatanry to tell me that a small container the size of a - of a walnut, blast it, holds a nuclear generator, I'll have you before the Protector in three seconds." |
| From Foundation and Empire,
by Isaac Asimov. Published by Doubleday in 1952 Additional resources -
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SF writers popularized and elaborated on this idea a generation before the first patents were filed.
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