Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

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

"Science Fiction is speculative fiction in which the author takes as his first postulate the real world as we know it, including all established facts and natural laws."
- Robert Heinlein

Selective Electric Eye  
  A facial recognition device.  

Then she turned to the entrance.

But the selective beam of the electric eye refused to swing open the portal. Already the orders of the master of the house had barred the door against her. The actuating mechanism that should have operated by the imprint of her image on the telephoto cell, remained dead. She stared uncomprehending for a moment, then a flush of anger suffused her cheeks. The little fists clenched. "Oh, despicable!" she exclaimed, "he's made me a prisoner, a prisoner in my own room!"

Well she knew the futility of battering furiously against the barrier. None but those for whom the mechanism were set could pass through.

Technovelgy from Exiles of the Moon, by Nat Schachner (w. AL Zagat).
Published by Wonder Stories in 1931
Additional resources -

Joseph Gilbert and Fred Fischer use the same idea in Escape (1943):

Jean Rogers stepped out of the magnetic lift, paused before the door of her apartment, and waited quietly while the relays connected to the multicellular photoelectric bank on the door hummed a little electric song — checking her with the pattern it was set for. It approved the result, and the door split in half, sliding silently back into the frame.

Compare to facial recognition from Rogue Psi (1962) by James Schmitz, face recognition sunglasses from The Water Knife (2015) by Paolo Bacigalupi and the cephalic pattern door from The Zap Gun (1965) by Philip K. Dick.

The earliest reference to a biometric recognition lock is probably the phonographic lock from A Journey to the Year 2025, by Clement Fezandie, published in 1921.

Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |

Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Exiles of the Moon
  More Ideas and Technology by Nat Schachner (w. AL Zagat)
  Tech news articles related to Exiles of the Moon
  Tech news articles related to works by Nat Schachner (w. AL Zagat)

Selective Electric Eye-related news articles:
  - UK School Face Recognition: Kiddie Orwell Tech
  - Chinavision Face Recognition Door Lock
  - Merchants Get Face-Recognition Via The Cloud
  - US Customs Now Doing Facial Recognition At DC Airport
  - Amazon's Rekognition System Sees Criminals In Congress
  - Chinese Face Recognition Mistakes Bus Ad For Jaywalker
  - Facebook Unexpectedly Turns Away From Sfnal Face Recognition
  - Goodness Gracious Me! Google Tries Face Recognition Security
  - Seeing Faces On Grains Of Sand (AI Pareidolia)

Articles related to Surveillance
FTC: Says Ring Employees Illegally Surveilled Customers
Perching Ambush Drones
India Ponders Always-On Smartphone Location Tracking
LingYuan Vehicle Roof Drones Now Available, ala Blade Runner 2049

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>

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

 

 

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 Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Science Fiction in the News

Worm Disrupts Physics Simulations Undetected For A Decade
'It diverts integers of the data, the fundamental message-units, so that they no longer agree.'

Muxcard Redditor's DIY Credit Card-Sized Computer
It's a computer, but just barely.

'Soft Assembly' Fashions That Fashion Themselves On The Wearer
'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color and texture that can approximate only crudely to the vagrant human figure...'

Orwell's Nightmare Of AI-Written Novels Comes To Pass
'Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.'

ISS Plagued By Leak - Again!
'There were perhaps a dozen bladder-like objects in the tunnel...'

Ridiculous 'Ghost Murmur' Tech Still Science Fiction
'...it rears and spreads its fan. It can pick one man out of a crowd.'

Infrared Contact Lenses To See In The Dark
'I can see in the dark, Case.'

What'll You Have? Extinct Animals Returned, Or Synthetic Eggshells?
'...a new plastic with the characteristics of an avian eggshell.'

Sunbird Pulsar Fusion Like Leinster's Space Tug
'It was a pushpot, which could not possibly be called a jet plane because it could not possibly fly. Only it did.'

More SF in the News

More Beyond Technovelgy

Home | Glossary | Science Fiction Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.