Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"The way you write science fiction is: you sit down at your writing machine and you open your mind to the first thought that comes through."
- Frederik Pohl
 |
| Holo-Printing | ||
| Errors introduced in data storage media when recording under improper conditions. |
This phenomenon (on computer tape drives and disk drives) was probably known by the time Dick wrote the novel, but he makes epic use of it.
In this scene, Fred is watching holographic surveillance data and notices a problem.
| And then, as Fred watched, Connie's hard features melted and faded into softness, and into Donna Hawthorne's face...
Standing, Fred walked into the holo-cube, into the three-dimensional projection, and stood close to the bed to scrutinize the girl's face. Halfway between, he decided. Still half Connie; already half Donna... ...maybe it's a visual interruption or breakdown electronically, he pondered. What they call printing. Holo-printing: from one section of the tape storage to another. If the tape sits too long, if the recording gain was too high initially, it prints across. Jeez, he though. It printed Donna across from a previous or later scene, maybe from the living room. |
| From A Scanner Darkly,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Not Known in 1977 Additional resources -
|
It's interesting to compare what Philip K. Dick describes in the novel with actual software used to retrieve images from damaged hard drives. This from a document on using Symantec Norton Ghost:
In the novel, Dick finishes manipulating the reader by having Fred continue watching the hologram. Arctor watches Donna sleeping, then watches her face turn into Connie's. It was not technical interference.
Incorrect operation and use of the Ghosting programs may lead to very serious consequences, as the data previously held on the hard disk that is to receive the image will often be completely overwritten. This is not always the case though, as sometimes the disk receiving the image may be considerably larger than the original disk. Ghosting to a disk of this type will almost certainly destroy the file system and root directory structure but some of the data that was previously on the hard disk may still be recoverable. Other problems exist too, such as Ghosting in the wrong direction, unexpected program termination or system crash...
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from A Scanner Darkly
More Ideas
and Technology by Philip K. Dick
Tech news articles related to A Scanner Darkly
Tech news articles related to works by Philip K. Dick
| String Art Courtesy Of Robot Artist |
| Tetraplegics Dominate Avatar Races |
| IBM's Grain Of Sand Computer |
| Can An Entire Brain Be Simulated In A Computer? |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
'Of course not a vehicle moved by means of internal explosions of a derivative of rock oil...'
'When he had first built them, they had been crude indeed, flying mechanisms with little more than a reflex-response unit.'
'If you couldn't see the ads, how would you know what was fashionable?'
'Its lines wavered, flowed, and then painfully reformed.'
'Had these machines in some incredible fashion been provided with brains?'
'I used my implant to tell MILLIE what we wanted and she took care of it'
'Under the lower roof there was no water, but a clear and luminous atmosphere...'
