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

"We follow the scientists around and look over their shoulders."
- Larry Niven

Earplug Decision (Restraint of Advertising)  
  A Supreme Court judgement that declared that earplugs used to block advertising were unconstitutional.  

Again and again he and Mavis had warned Grandmother that her advanced years would not keep her from being clapped into jail, and they hadn’t. She’d gone absolutely wild on the day the Supreme Court had handed down the Earplug Decision. It was the climax of a long and terribly costly fight by the MV Corporation. The sale of earplugs had grown rapidly during the years MV was expanding, and just at a peak period, when MV had over 3,000 accounts. National Earplug Associates, Inc. had boldly staged a country-wide campaign advertising earplugs as the last defense against MV. The success of the campaign was such that the Master Ventriloquism Corporation found itself losing hundreds of accounts. MV sued immediately and the case dragged through the courts for years. Judges had a hard time making up their minds. Some sections of the press twaddled about “captive audiences.” The MV Corporation felt reasonably certain that the Supreme Court justices were sensible men, but with its very existence at stake there was nerve-wracking suspense until the decision was made. National Earplug Associates, Inc. was found guilty of Restraint of Advertising, and earplugs were declared unconstitutional...

MV’s representatives in Washington soon were able to get Congress to put teeth into the Supreme Court’s decision, and eventually, just as Fred and Mavis predicted. Grandmother joined the ridiculous band who went to jail for violating the law prohibiting the use or possession of earplugs.

Technovelgy from Captive Audience, by Anne Warren Griffith.
Published by Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1953
Additional resources -

Hard to believe, but there was a time before the MV put commercials into every product package:

That evening the children were allowed to sit up late so they could talk to their great-grandmother after the MV went off at 11. They had been told she’d just returned from a “trip,” and when they asked her about it now she made up stories of far away places where she’d been, where there wasn’t any MV. Then she went on, while they grew bored, to tell them stories of her girlhood, before MV was invented, long before, as she said, “that fatal day when the Supreme Court opened the door to MV by deciding that defenseless passengers on busses had to listen to commercials whether they wanted to or not.”

“But didn’t they like to hear the commercials?” Billy asked.

Fred smiled to himself. Sound kid. Sound as a dollar. Grandmother could talk herself cross-eyed but Billy wouldn’t fall for that stuff.

“No,” Grandmother said, and she seemed very sad, “they didn’t like them.”

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

Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Captive Audience
  More Ideas and Technology by Anne Warren Griffith
  Tech news articles related to Captive Audience
  Tech news articles related to works by Anne Warren Griffith

Articles related to Culture
'Spikeless' Brand Swizzle Stick Detects Spiked Drinks
Musk Proposes Sites For Martian Cities
Who First Thought Of A Tin Foil Hat?
Robot Baristas Learn Their Trade Without Paying Royalties

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

Have AI Researchers Given Up On 'Bio-Babies'?
'You couldn't have the capstone without the pyramid to hold it up.'

Bunker Busters and Bore-Pellets
'The first revelation of the new Soviet bore-pellets.'

'Spikeless' Brand Swizzle Stick Detects Spiked Drinks
'the unobtrusive inspections with tiny remote-cast snoopers...'

Heart Patches Grown In The Lab Repair Hearts
I'm hoping that this procedure becomes a normal part of medical practice!

Humanoid Robots Spotted In Homes Performing Household Chores
'... nothing was perfected until M. Pantalon announced the completion of his automatic valet.'

Musk Proposes Sites For Martian Cities
'...its streets were of remarkable width, with few or no buildings so high as mosques, churches, State-offices, or palaces in Tellurian cities.'

Bambot Open Source Cheap Delivery Robot
'Not since the time he rewired the delivery robot...'

Robot Collective Acts Like A Smart Material
'...it was all composed of tiny, identical cubes, carefully laid to form a tilelike surface.'

Vipera Electric Skis From Frigid Dynamics
'JOAN strapped on her power-skis...'

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.