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"[Science fiction] is the only kind of writing that allows you to look at the world we live in and change one piece at a time."
- Frederik Pohl
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| Spotcast | ||
| A new form of one-to-many communication. |
I don't think anyone is really using this as a word; it's strangely evocative of podcasting or Periscope or other technology that let's one person speak to many.
And maybe the powerful would rather they didn't.
| “I was thinking about a columnist... Tenning.”
She shrugged. “I know about him. He isn’t with the Star now. He spotcasts.” “That’s... a radio—” “Not any more. Tenning’s a hot shot now, Dave. Everybody listens to him.” “What does he talk about?” “Gossip. And politics. People listen — ” Yeah, people listen to that dirty ringer, and he moulds public opinion. He moulds it the way the big boys want. That’s why they grabbed me in nineteen forty-five. I wasn’t at the top then, but I had the public ear. I was getting good audience reactions. Spotting key men to work out their plan for them — Ringers, doppelgangers, in the right places. Painless psychology, sugar-coated propaganda. And a world moving, leaving Dave Tenning behind, a simply immense sphere beginning to turn from its course, gathering momentum as a thousand doppelgangers shoved it along. |
| Technovelgy from The Little Things,
by Henry Kuttner. Published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1946 Additional resources -
|
Compare to True-vu lenses from Earth (1990) by David Brin, fido from Riders of the Purple Wage (1967) by Philip Jose Farmer and Newstaper Gear from Flash Crowd (1972) by Larry Niven. See also the televisor from Newscast (1939) by Harl Vincent.
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Science Fiction
Timeline
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'What would you do,' Eric asked the robot cabdriver, 'if your wife had turned to stone, your best friend were a toad, and you had lost your job?'
'those suits they wear -- call them 'stillsuits' -- that reclaim the body's own water...'
'Now, except for weight and heat, the same conditions prevail in this chamber as in space.'
'there were so many worms and counterworms loose in the data-net...'
'Now, look, let's start with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics...'
'..the synthetic intellects at the Place of Knowledge had far outstripped the minds of men.'
'But after washing and drying clothes had to be smooth - free from fine lines and wrinkles ...'
