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"The point sticks in your head: physics rules. Virtue does not triumph unless the physics allows it."
- Larry Niven

Optic Television  
  An eye that "sees" more than just its surroundings.  

There is a lot to see in the future world of this novel; so much that ordinary vision may not suffice. Nikolai had a few modern innovations installed to keep up with current events.

It was astonishing how much room there was in an eye socket, when you stopped to think about it. The actual visual mechanisms had been thoroughly miniaturized by Mechanist prostheticians. Nikolai had some other devices installed: a clock, a biofeedback monitor, a television screen, all wired directly to his optic nerve. They were convenient, but difficult to control at first. His wife had to help him out of the hospital and back to his apartment, because the subtle visual triggers kept flashing broadcast market reports.
Technovelgy from Twenty Evocations, by Bruce Sterling.
Published by Interzone in 1984
Additional resources -

It's interesting to me that he needs to learn to use it; that he inadvertently gets more information than he can readily assimilate or control.

Be sure to see the entry for Tleilaxu Eyes, from Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Twenty Evocations
  More Ideas and Technology by Bruce Sterling
  Tech news articles related to Twenty Evocations
  Tech news articles related to works by Bruce Sterling

Optic Television-related news articles:
  - The Blind May See - In The Dark

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