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"[Science fiction is ] That branch of literature which is concerned with the impact of scientific advance upon human beings."
- Isaac Asimov
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| Nerve Control Lines | ||
| Designs that take control of human nervous systems. |
| It could have spent the night marking up the tableland with elled nerve control lines — he’d have to make sure he never looked directly at the ground — or it could simply be waiting for the arrival of the greater ship that had dropped it onto the planet...
Jamieson sighed with the intensity of his hope, and prepared to retreat. As he turned away, quite incidentally, accidentally, he glanced at the rock behind which he had shielded himself from possible direct fire. Glanced at it, and saw the elled lines in it. Intricate lines, based on a profound and inhuman study of the human nervous system. Jamieson recognized them, and stiffened in horror. He thought in anguish: Where, where am I supposed to fall? Which cliff? With a desperate will, wdth all his strength, he fought to retain his senses a moment longer. He strove to see the lines again. He saw, briefly, flashingly, five vertical and above them three lines that pointed east with their wavering ends. The pressure built up, up, up inside him... |
| Technovelgy from The Rull,
by A.E. van Vogt. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1948 Additional resources -
|
Now, from the point of view of the Rull:
Finally, with a tireless patience he examined the approaches to his own ship. At key points, he drew the lines that-could-seize-the-minds-of-men. There was satisfaction, shortly after the sun came up, in seeing the enemy “caught” and “compelled”.
Ultimately, the man succeeds in using food to prime a Pavlovian response in the Rull, eventually making his argument that the two races should make peace.
...he hovered on the perimeter of the man’s defensor energies, studying the lifeboat, and pondering the possible actions the other might take against him.
(Conditioning the Rull)
Compare to Van Goom's Gambit from Van Goom's Gambit (1966) by Victor Contoski, Display-Induced Epileptic Seizure from Press Enter (1984) by John Varley, BLIT from Blit (1988) by David Langford and the ugly T-shirt from Zero History (2010) by William Gibson.
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Tech news articles related to works by A.E. van Vogt
| California Fireman Arrested For Starting Fires |
| Tether Cryptocurrency Flow Rate US$190Bn Per Day |
| Poul Anderson's 'Brain Wave' |
| Waymo Cars Shout At Each Other, Autonomously |
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'... they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to.'
'... the expressionless face before me was therefore that of the golem-wrestler, Rolem, a creature that could be set for five times the strength of a human being.'
'Waldo put his arms into the primary pair before him; all three pairs, including the secondary pair mounted before the machine, came to life.'
'... the glittering little rocket bolted to the black iron behind him.'
'The slender stalks of a sunshade-photocell collector...'
'The operation that had transformed half his body... had located the control switchboard in his teeth.'
