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"I started writing in the 1930's when I was eighteen years old. And deep inside me I'm still eighteen and it's still 1938."
- Isaac Asimov
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| Galactic Damping Field | ||
| A vast field of force emanating from the center of the galaxy. |
| "...we're pretty well agreed here at the Institute that Dr. Corinth's theory is the right one. This postulates a force-field of partly electromagnetic character, generated by gyromagnetic action within atomic nuclei near the center of the galaxy. It radiates outward in a cone which, by the time it has reached our section of space, is many lightyears across. Its effect has been to inhibit certain electromagnetic and electrochemical processes, among with the functioning of certain types of neurones is prominent. We suppose that the Solar System, in its orbit around the galactic center, entered this force-field many millions of years ago - hardly later than the Cretaceous. Doubtless many species of that time died out. However, life as a whole survived - adapted nervous systems compensated for the inhibiting force by becoming that much more efficient... The general effect of the world's coming out of the inhibitor field was, of course, a sudden zooming of intelligence in every life form possessing a brain. Suddenly the damping force to which every living organism was adjusted, was gone." |
| Technovelgy from Brain Wave,
by Poul Anderson. Published by Space Science Fiction in 1953 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the poison space cloud from The Poison Belt (1913) by Jules Verne and the more modestly-sized meteoric dust cloud from Secret of the Buried City (1939) by John Russell Fearn.
See also the idea that space bursts from When Space Bursts (1937) by Edmond Hamilton.
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More Ideas
and Technology from Brain Wave
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Tech news articles related to Brain Wave
Tech news articles related to works by Poul Anderson
Galactic Damping Field-related
news articles:
- Speciation Driven By Cosmic Cycles?
- Vast Cosmic Structures And Spooky Alignments
- Space Weather To Universe Weather
| The New Habitable Zones Include Asimov's Ribbon Worlds |
| Will Space Stations Have Large Interior Spaces Again? |
| Reflect Orbital Offers 'Sunlight on Demand' And Light Pollution |
| Chrysalis Generation Ship to Alpha Centauri |
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'...there's a narrow belt where the climate is moderate.'
'Not like me. A T-1000, advanced prototype. A mimetic poly-alloy. Liquid metal.'
'It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
'The massive feet working the pedals, arms and hands flashing and glinting...'
'There were cubic miles of it, and it glistened like a silvery Christmas tree...'
'Jason had been guiding the caravan of cars as usual...'
"The robot solemnly hit a ball against the wall, picked it up and teed it, hit it again, over and again...'
'There was a wall ahead... It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
