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"Science fiction writers, I am sorry to say, really do not know anything. We can't talk about science, because our knowledge of it is limited and unofficial, and usually our fiction is dreadful."
- Philip K. Dick
 |
| Nexialist | ||
| A person with a coordinative knowledge across a variety of sciences. |
| The plan involved heat projectors, muscle-straining acceleration, and partial extermination of both groups of scientists. Captain Leeth failed even to mention the aliens, nor did it seem to occur to him that he was describing his intentions to an emissary of what he regarded as the enemy. He finished by saying, "Where your services will be important, Mr. Grosvenor, is in the science department. As a Nexialist, with a co-ordinative knowledge of many sciences, you can play a fairly decisive role against the other scientists..." |
| Technovelgy from Voyage of the Space Beagle,
by A.E. van Vogt. Published by Granada in 1950 Additional resources -
|
Here is another illustrative passage:
Grosvenor worked rapidly, and since he merely put marks on an already printed chart, it was not long before he had his graph. It was an intricate affair. It would not be easy to explain it to someone who was not already familiar with Nexialism.
Thanks to Winchell Chung and to Fred Kiesche for suggesting this item.
His high-probability chart contained, among other things, check marks in the proper printed spaces showing the amount of volcanic dust in the atmosphere, the life history of various plant forms as indicated by preliminary studies of their seeds, the type of digestive tracts animals would have to have to eat the particular plants examined and by extrapolation, what would be the probable ranges of structure and type of the animals who lived off the animals who ate such plants.
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More Ideas
and Technology from Voyage of the Space Beagle
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and Technology by A.E. van Vogt
Tech news articles related to Voyage of the Space Beagle
Tech news articles related to works by A.E. van Vogt
Nexialist-related
news articles:
- Medical Researcher 'Discovers' Integration
| SensorWake Scent-Based Alarm Clock |
| Ulm Sleep Pods For The Homeless |
| Prophetic Offers Lucid Dreaming Halo With Morpheus-1 AI |
| Navajo Say Human Cremains On The Moon Is 'Desecration' |
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Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
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1940's 1950's
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2000's 2010's
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
'The car had no steering wheel, and no one drove!'
Now that's power walking that Hugo Gernsback would have approved.
'It was disturbing to think of the Flatline as a construct...'
'...he rewired the delivery robot so that it would serve him midnight snacks.'
'On went the electric-yacht faster and still faster.'
'...the huge vessel had spun, with a sickening lurch, through a complete half-circle, the instant the power was reversed.'
'...he realized that it was not quite a clear lens. Speckles of colored brightness swirled and gathered in it.'
'...a universal cryptogram — yet it is one which can be interpreted by any intelligent creature on any planet in the Solar System!'
