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"The science fiction method is dissection and reconstruction. You look at the world around you, and take it apart into its components. Then you take some of those components, throw them away, and plug in different ones, start it up and see what happens."
- Frederik Pohl
 |
| Personal Metallic Record Disc | ||
| A stamped metal record that contains all of a person's data in a convenient form. |
| I sat down in the chair, surrounded by delicate looking apparatus that was meaningless to me. The recorder adjusted a long tube that arched over my head. Suddenly, it glowed dully, and crackled with a high pitched note, continuing so for five minutes during which the recorder tabulated the readings of various instruments arranged in a bank.
 (From The Ancient Brain, 1929) He took the data and typed on the typing machine which in reality was a machine for photoelectrically recording the data on wire. When referred to, it was to be run through a revisualizing instrument which permitted one to see the particular datum desired. Jak explained that this method of filing took up very little room. Next, my examiner placed rings on my wrists and took accurate data on the state of health of my body, as Jak afterward told me. Finally, he handed me a stamped metallic disk. “That is all, sir. Your name has been registered as William 55203NL484 — it is on your stamp here. I found that you possess a large potential intelligence, and that health is excellent. I sincerely hope that you adjust yourself successfully to this world. And it will not be difficult with such wonderful assets." |
| From The Ancient Brain,
by A.G. Stangland. Published by Science Wonder Stories in 1929 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the feeler-planes and the trip-type record from The Houses of Iszm (1954) by Jack Vance.
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'The world ... is drenched in unfamiliar information all the way to the horizon.'
'He saw one hiss by him as he rounded the corner, trailing a short whip antenna...'
'It may be organic damage. It may be permanent. Time'll tell, and only after you are off Substance D for a long while.'
It's the polite thing to do, and has been the polite thing to do for about four generations.
